skip tracking – Registered nutritionist Sophie Gastman says counting macros can push people into overthinking. Instead, she focuses on building meals around high-protein ingredients—like tinned fish, eggs, and frozen edamame, peas, and vegetables—so protein adds up without tr
When Sophie Gastman counts macros like protein, she says it can tip people into overthinking. “Staying away from hyper-focusing on any kind of number is more helpful,” she told Business Insider.
Gastman’s workaround is simple: she doesn’t track her meals or count macros. She builds her day by incorporating high-protein ingredients into dishes, paired with generous portions of vegetables and fibrous foods like beans, along with healthy fats like avocados.
Her approach comes as social media trends such as protein-maxxing keep sparking debates about how much of the muscle-building nutrient we really need for optimal health. Gastman, author of “Find Your Healthy,” argues most people already eat enough protein without trying to calculate it.
Research she points to suggests active people should aim for between 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. For context, a 130-pound woman should aim for around 90 to 130 grams of protein a day, while a man weighing 176 pounds should aim for between 125 and 176 grams a day.
She offers a concrete example of what that might look like in a single day: eating a half-cup of Greek yogurt, two eggs, a chicken breast, a cup of beans with rice, and a glass of milk.
Instead of planning and tracking, Gastman says she relies on easy protein sources she keeps stocked in her kitchen—foods that can quietly turn ordinary meals into protein-forward ones.
Tinned fish is one of her go-tos. Gastman adds it to everything from salads to pasta dishes. She describes it as affordable, high in protein, and able to last for months—even years—if it’s left unopened in a cool, dry place. “I’ve got tuna, sardines, mackerel, salmon, literally always,” she said.
She’ll chop or scatter it into a salad, smash it onto toast, or stir it into a stir-fry or a bowl of rice. “You could literally put them on anything,” she said.
Eggs are another everyday staple in her kitchen. Gastman says one large egg contains about 6 grams of protein and cooks in minutes. She uses them in salads, breakfast tacos, and the classic avocado on toast.
For frozen options, she turns to edamame beans and peas. Peas and edamame beans have a regular spot in Gastman’s freezer. and she loves adding them to stir-fries. salads. and rice bowls. A 100-gram serving of cooked edamame beans contains 11.5 grams of protein, while the same amount of peas contains around 4.7 grams.
“Those make meals really satisfying,” she said of the ingredients. Gastman added that once you combine ingredients like eggs and edamame beans and peas, you end up with “something that is actually quite high protein.”
Sophie Gastman nutritionist protein macros protein-maxxing tinned fish eggs edamame peas Greek yogurt muscle building active people nutrition