You might be fooling yourself about peanut butter, plus 5 other protein mistakes

Optimizing your protein intake can be tricky. It’s not just how much protein you eat that matters, but when you eat it, and the foods that you get it from. You may even have higher protein needs than you think depending on your overall health, your age, your activity levels, and other factors.

Protein makes up our muscles, vital organs, and skin cells, and it influences our metabolism, appetite, and immune system. While our bodies can make some amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein, others we can only get from eating certain foods.

“We store carbohydrates, we store fat, but we don’t store protein — so we do need to eat it every day,” said Anne Kozil, a registered dietitian nutritionist in the food science and human nutrition department at Colorado State University. “If we consume too little protein for too long then we resort to consuming our muscle mass as a protein source, which you don’t want to do.”

We spoke to experts and analyzed studies to identify common protein pitfalls. Here are six of the biggest mistakes that people make when it comes to eating protein.

Think about your daily meals. Are you getting most of your protein at dinner? It’s common for people to eat relatively little protein at breakfast, slightly more protein at lunch, and then a high-protein meal for dinner, Kozil said.

Some studies estimate that Americans on average get about half their total daily protein intake at dinner alone.

That is in part because chicken, burgers, steak, and other protein-rich foods are dinnertime staples. But many popular breakfast foods — such as bagels, cereals, breakfast bars, muffins, and other pastries — tend to be relatively low in protein and high in refined carbohydrates.

That’s a problem because eating protein promotes satiety and helps to balance your blood sugar levels. If you skimp on protein at breakfast, then you’re more likely to experience hunger and cravings as the day goes on, making you more likely to reach for foods such as doughnuts, candy, and potato chips, Kozil said.

Clinical trials in children and adults have found that when people are given high-protein breakfasts, they tend to feel fuller and are less prone to snacking throughout the day compared with people who are given breakfasts that are relatively low in protein.

Kozil said she sees this in her nutrition counseling practice all the time.

“People tell me ‘I just can’t stop snacking throughout the day,’ or ‘I’m craving sweets all day,’ ” she said. “And then we work on getting more protein at breakfast and that helps them a lot. It’s kind of miraculous. It gives people a sense of control. They don’t feel so out of control with their food choices anymore.”

Every person’s protein needs are different. But in general, you should aim to eat about 25 to 30 grams of protein at breakfast, Kozil said. If you’re far below that number, then increase your protein intake gradually. If you typically have a bagel for breakfast, then add a scrambled egg or two. If you eat muffins for breakfast, try switching to a cup of plain Greek yogurt with some nuts, seeds, and berries on top.

Some other good options are cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs, or breakfast burritos with scrambled eggs, beans, and cheese or avocado. You could also make a smoothie with a high-quality protein powder made from egg whites or whey, soy, or pea protein.

You have probably heard that peanut butter has a lot of protein. Some popular peanut butter brands even boast about their protein content on their labels.

But in a report published in a top sports nutrition journal last year, exercise and sports nutrition scientists cautioned that peanut butter isn’t as high in protein as many people think. The report noted that peanut butter is an “energy dense” food: Ounce for ounce, it has a lot more dietary fat and calories compared with eggs, Greek yogurt, lean meats, chicken breast, beans, fish, and other high-protein foods.

Peanut butter is certainly nutritious. It contains fiber, vitamins, minerals, and heart-healthy unsaturated fats. But it contains at least twice as many grams of fat as protein. You should consider it a great source of fat, rather than a great source of protein, said Jose Antonio, an author of the report and a professor of health and human performance at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

“If you read the nutrition label on any jar of peanut butter, you will see that it’s mostly fat,” said Antonio, who is also the chief executive of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. “The fat is good for you. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’re getting a lot of high-quality protein.”

Two tablespoons of creamy peanut butter — the amount in one serving, or one ounce — has about seven grams of protein, 16 grams of fat, and 190 calories.

The authors of the report noted that people who use peanut butter to help them meet their protein needs should consider eating it in moderation because of its high calorie density. Otherwise, the authors warned, they may be setting themselves up for “unintentional weight gain.”

“Peanut butter is a healthy food, but calories still matter,” Antonio said. “If you want to gain weight, eat a bunch of peanut butter. It’s not a great source of protein.”

The National Academy of Medicine says that the amount of protein the average adult needs on a daily basis is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, or the equivalent of 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. This translates to about 54 grams of daily protein for the average sedentary adult, around the equivalent of eating four ounces of grilled salmon, a 3-ounce grilled chicken breast, and one hard-boiled egg.

But this amount — known as the recommended dietary allowance — is just the bare minimum that you need to avoid being malnourished. If you are an athlete or someone who exercises regularly, then you need to eat more protein — anywhere from 0.54 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. You also need to eat more protein if you’re pregnant and in your second or third trimester (about 0.5 grams per pound of body weight).

But what many people don’t realize is that the protein requirements also depend on your age. As we get older, our muscle mass starts to dwindle, and this decline grows steeper after the age of 60. At the same time, our muscles become less responsive to protein as we get older, which makes it harder for our bodies to build and repair muscle tissue — a phenomenon known as anabolic resistance.

“As people age, we have less and less muscle mass, which makes it even more important to protect the muscle that we have,” said Katie Dodd, a registered dietitian nutritionist who runs a blog on nutrition for seniors called the Geriatric Dietitian. “We need muscle to do everything — even simple things like getting out of bed, walking down the stairs, and brushing our teeth.”

To counter this age-related muscle loss and anabolic resistance, it’s critical that older adults eat more than the recommended dietary allowance for protein, Dodd said. If you are 65 or older, you should aim to eat about 0.45 to 0.54 grams of protein per pound of body weight, she added. That is about 68 to 81 grams of protein a day for the average senior who weighs 150 pounds.

Research suggests that a substantial number of older adults do not consume adequate amounts of protein. One study of older adults in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands found that up to 30% did not meet the recommended dietary allowance of 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight.

Studies show that the top sources of protein in the American diet are chicken and red meat. Not far behind are milk and cheese, “cured” or processed meats, breads, rolls and other refined grains, and eggs.

But processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon, sausages, and deli meats typically contain a lot of sodium, saturated fat and preservatives. Red meats such as beef, pork, lamb, and veal are also high in saturated fat, which can increase LDL cholesterol, the kind associated with cardiovascular disease.

People who eat a lot of red and processed meats may be at higher risk of cancer, especially colorectal cancer, which has been rising among young adults. The American Institute for Cancer Research recommends eating no more than three portions of red meat weekly, which is equivalent to about 12 to 18 ounces of cooked meat. As for processed meats, the institute says that you should eat “little, if any.”

Seafood is one of the most nutritious high-protein foods you can eat. It is chock full of vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids, an essential nutrient that our bodies need but can’t produce. A 3.5-ounce serving of wild salmon has at least 22 grams of protein — the amount in nearly four eggs.

Health authorities recommend that you eat at least two servings of seafood each week. Yet 90% of adults in the U.S. fall short of this goal. If you’re in this group, then you could be missing out on some major health benefits.

Studies have found that eating seafood promotes brain and heart health and lowers your likelihood of early death. One meta-analysis of studies involving about 670,000 adults found that people who ate the most seafood were less likely to die prematurely from any cause. People who ate half a serving of fish per day, which is roughly two ounces, were 12% less likely to die early than those who ate little or no seafood.

The healthiest types of seafood include the following:

Another healthy source of protein you are probably overlooking is pulses, which include beans, peas, and lentils. Pulses are brimming with not only protein, but also vitamins, minerals, and fiber, a nutrient that promotes gut health and weight loss and improves blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Eating just a single cup of cooked lentils, black beans, or pinto beans (or a combination of the three) would deliver 15 to 18 grams of protein and about 15 grams of fiber — more than half your daily fiber needs. Pulses are also among the most affordable high-protein foods in the world.

Yet the average American eats only a half cup of beans, peas, or lentils each week — less than the one to three cups that health authorities recommend.

Many people tend to rely on red and processed meats for protein while forgetting that there are plenty of excellent plant sources of protein as well, Kozil said.

“I’m certainly not demonizing meat,” she added. “But I think beans are the best food in the entire world. They have a lot of fiber — which we don’t get enough of as a society — and they’re cheap, filling, and full of protein.”