My trainer Dan at Apex Fitness said something last week that made me chuckle and made me beam with pride.

“I forget you can handle more [weight] than most [women].”

“I still got it?” I asked.

He laughed.

Dan is very good at using full body motions even on isolated body part days. So on leg day we’ll throw in some bicep curls after those deadlifts and on upper body day, we do things that focus on form and stretching the lower body in addition to burning out the arms and chest.

I’m noticing much more flexibility in my body and that my chiropractor has gotten more agressive as well.

And I get to play with Dan’s super adorable baby and we talk a lot about food. He just picked up a client who is a vegetarian and doesn’t like tofu and some other stuff. We were brainstorming protein sources.

I thought I’d make a list.

Here’s my favorite vegan athlete on YouTube: Simnett Nutrition. Look at the sheer volume of food he eats. That is why I can’t be vegan. It has nothing to do with the diet— I just couldn’t stomach that much food.

For more gourmet cooking, check out Gaz Oakley, the Avant Garde Vegan (here).

My favorite vegetarian proteins that are not tofu

• Greek yogurt
• Cabot cottage cheese
• Silk unsweetened soy milk
• Nut butters (morning hack— coffee, nut butter and yogurt smoothie. Add dates if you want to feel trendy)
• Homemade salad dressings featuring tahini or peanut butter
• Add black beans or chick peas to anything you can
• Add hummus or tahini and/or sprouts to sandwiches. Pick bread with higher protein.
• Nuts and seeds (including chia, flax and hemp) on salads, oatmeal, in baked goods or smoothies
• Ancient grain or chick pea pasta
• Peas and lentils
• Frozen lentil pasta
• Morningstar vegetarian breakfast patties
• “Wheat meat”/seitan
• Brussel sprouts
• Adding beans or eggs to soups
• Eggs & cheese
• Snap pea snack crisps
• Special K nut and fruit protein bars
• Sweet Earth frozen foods

And for vegetarian meal services/meal kits:

• Purple Carrot offers meal kits and prepared food. They have low calorie and high protein options are plant-based and get on the table in about 40 minutes. Purple Carrot is expensive, and requires a minimum of three dinners a week. Read my previous blogs on Purple Carrot here.
• Hungryroot has more flexibility than Purple Carrot and offers “free protein”with each box. You can order meal kits, prepared foods or groceries. I get one or two meals and spent the rest of my credits on groceries. A lot of their recipes include extra ingredients— instead of a small jar of a tablespoon of Chile sauce for example, they send a tub. So you can use the extra for other meals. They can get on the table very quickly. They use a lot of “whole” main ingredients coupled with prepared sauces which keeps nutrient value high but prep time low. Read about my impressions of Hungryroot here.
• Hello Fresh has a lot of great recipes and offers vegetarian food. All the sauces are incredible. But you spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Also expensive. Servings tend to be small. I am told Every Plate is cheaper. My experience with Hello Fresh is here.
• Green Chef, have not tried it