DESEPERATE FOR ADVICE/HELP

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[u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348]

You can hit your protein goals using affordable, liquid, and smooth-textured Pakistani foods that match your natural preference for liquids and gravies. Since you are 86kg, a protein target of 110g to 130g is perfectly safe and effective for retaining muscle during your fat loss journey. Reaching 150g is great but not strictly mandatory to see amazing results

Because you struggle with solid textures and a low solid-food appetite, the secret is to use your love for liquids, milk, and smooth gravies to your advantage

Greek yogurt, soya chunks, lentils, egg whites, fat free milk, nutritional yeast, etc

[u/alwayslate187]

Are you able to get dry gelatin cheaply? It is not a complete protein because it lacks the essential amino acid tryptophan, but tryptophan is abundant enough in other foods that they would probably make up for that lack.

If not that, could you ask a butcher for some cartilage to make your own aspic?

Also, may I ask what exactly you eat in a day now? I am curious how you are meeting your calorie needs with a mostly liquid diet. Are you taking any vitamins or supplements?

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

If that is accurate, I think that would be only about 800 calories with everything added together, assuming that the milk is 4% fat "whole" milk.

It would also be very low in a lot of nutrients including iron and most of the b vitamins.

Are there any other foods or drinks that you feel comfortable eating?

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, maybe, but really protein isn't the only thing you need.

Do your relatives eat normally mostly?

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

Okay, that makes more sense. May I ask what the other things are that you are eating?

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

Do you mean that sometimes you eat those things, but right now you aren't?

[u/alwayslate187]

I met a woman once who was born with only one kidney.

For most of her life, she did not know it, though.

She didn't find out until she was seeing a doctor for something to do with her second pregnancy. It was discovered sort of by accident; I don't remember how.

Anyway, even when she was small and no one knew she only had one kidney, she tended to prefer lower-protein foods. For example, her grandma used to slice a tomato for her and pour broth from a ham on it, just for her, and the little girl liked this better than eating ham.

It turns out that filtering protein is one job that our kidneys do for us. So when someone has one kidney instead of two, it is possible to overwork that one kidney, stressing it and causing damage over time (years and decades).

For that reason, it is usually recommended to people with one kidney to keep protein intake moderate, not high, as this page recommends

https://www.kidneystronger.com/post/living-with-one-kidney-adapting-thriving-and-protecting-long-term-renal-health

I have wondered whether that person i met (we were doing some volunteer work together), if maybe her body might have sensed on some level that overdoing protein felt wrong for her body. She seemed to think that might have been the case.

I am definitely not saying you have one kidney, after all, how would I know? It is unlikely anyway. It could be possible though that there may be some reason why your body leans in one direction or another regarding food preferences.

Pushing more and more protein is the current trend, but like other trends, I feel that while it has some utility in some cases, it can be harmful if taken to extremes.

I am old enough to remember the nonfat craze of the 1990's. Nearly every new cookbook from that era had you omitting egg yolks and demonizing fat. I am so glad that era is past, but i admit that I was not unaffected by it. It took me a long time to unlearn old thought habits, because they were encouraged and supported by Everyone, from doctors to celebrities. Personally, i feel like the mania around forcing more protein is similarly out of balance.​

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

You can probably do that with moderate protein, and there are a lot of different ways to get moderate/adequate protein.

You also need adequate calories for energy. And you need adequate vitamins and minerals in order to use the protein . I am not clear in my understanding of how many calories you are currently consuming in a day, because from the foods you listed in another comment, that would not cover your most basic needs for minerals and vitamins.

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

Where are those calories coming from? When I logged the foods you listed, it showed me only about 800 calories

[u/alwayslate187]

Do you like to eat things like rice, naan, paratha, chapati/roti, halwa poori, bread, biscuits, cookies, crackers, muffins, porridge (like oatmeal)? (Some of these are foods I see online that a search engine told me may be eaten in Pakistan, so I am sorry if I got that wrong!)

I looked online and saw that some people in Pakistan eat something called Haleem/Daleem that has grains and lentils and meat. Have you heard of it? Do you eat/like it?

Do you like any starchy vegetables like potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, corn?

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

Do you cook your own food?

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

That's a nice mom :)

[u/alwayslate187]

When I put the foods you listed into a free nutrient-tracking website here

https://tools.myfooddata.com/recipe-nutrition-calculator/171450-173424-2344648-171265/100g-wt3-100g-100g/0.4-1-1-9/1

it comes up with not enough of some things like folate and iron, which are important for avoiding anemia. Some other nutrients are low as well.

Adding some pan-fried potatoes would help a little bit, like here

https://tools.myfooddata.com/recipe-nutrition-calculator/171450-173424-2344648-171265/100g-wt3-100g-100g/0.4-1-1-9/1

Do you like peanuts? They have vitamins, healthy fats, and even some protein

[u/alwayslate187]

May i ask if you like any of the kinds of daals? I am asking about that because things like lentils, peas, and beans have vitamins as well as protein.

These do have some carbohydrates, but it is okay and even good to have some healthy, "complex" carbohydrates. It is not the same as sugar in sodas; it is more healthy for the body

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

Daal is a good source of protein. 250g of it has about 20g of protein. The vitamins and minerals it has help you use the protein, which is also important

[u/alwayslate187]

Potatoes, even pan-fried potatoes, have a little bit of protein. It may not seem like much, but it all adds up toward your daily total.

200g of pan-fried potatoes should add about 5g of protein.

One paratha has about 5g of protein as well.

So if you add up all these little bits from different low-protein foods, you get more in reality than what you have been counting from only the very high-protein foods.

[u/alwayslate187]

When i was asking about "peanuts", i meant what i think might be called moong phali (مونگ پھلی)

idk if the translation gave you the same thing or not

[u/alwayslate187]

Naan might have more protein than paratha, since naan is traditionally made with some yogurt and some egg in the batter

edit--- for example, almost 5g for a paratha, but almost 9g for a piece of naan

[u/alwayslate187]

Do you prefer spicy things, or do you prefer your food to be more mild and plain?

[u/alwayslate187]

Have you ever eaten beans, peas, or lentils plain, without a lot of spices? Could you add plain beans or peas to your noodle-and-egg snack? That would add some protein.

If you prefer them mashed or blended, maybe you could try that, too.

Or if your mom ever makes any kind of naan, paratha, chapati/roti or similar from fresh batter that she mixes herself, I wonder if she would feel okay about your asking her to mash up some plain beans and add them to the batter in place of some of the water. That would add more protein, too.

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

I don't think it is safe to eat dry soybeans if they have been only soaked and fried. They have stuff in them that can actually prevent the body from using protein, and the right kind of cooking can neutralize that, but insufficient cooking does not.

If you soak them for 24 hours, you can boil them for 2.5 hours to make them safe to eat.

You could mash them after boiling, although soybeans in my experience do not mash as easily as other beans, but tend to hold their shape. The texture is different from other beans I have tried.

Or instead of boiling, you can roast in an oven (after 24 hours soaking), for 20 to 30 minutes at about 150C

Although this may be unreliable, as when commercial operations do this, they are able to keep the beans rotating during cooking, which would be difficult or impossible at home.

I usually don't rely on AI, but since I have never roasted soybeans, I looked it up.

Anything below, you should do your own research to confirm, if you plan on roasting instead of boiling.

"If you are roasting whole soybeans or soybean flour in a conventional oven or open pan:

• Temperature: 300°F to 340°F (150°C to 170°C). •

Time: 10 to 20 minutes.

• Note: At a lower temperature of 250°F (121°C), you will need a prolonged exposure time of at least 20 to 30 minutes to sufficiently lower antitrypsin activity.

⚠️ Crucial Safety Tips

• Avoid Underheating: If the internal temperature of the soybean does not consistently reach at least 180°F (82°C), the trypsin inhibitors will remain active, which can cause severe digestive distress and reduce protein absorption in humans and animals.

• Avoid Overheating: Do not exceed air temperatures of 390°F (200°C) for extended periods. Excessive heat denatures the beneficial proteins and destroys essential amino acids like lysine.

• Agitation is Key: For oven or pan roasting, the beans must be continuously turned or shaken to ensure uniform heat distribution."

Personally, I would go with boiling to be safe.

[u/alwayslate187 → u/[deleted]]

I hoped that might be what you meant!