A System for Choosing Less-Fattening Sources of Protein

Below the writing here is a chart/list of ranked foods. Smaller numbers mean healthier foods, but before you take my advice, please read the following:

One day I was "pigging out" on raw pumpkin seeds and raw sunflower seeds. I know--that shouldn't count as pigging out, but I was really shoveling them into my mouth, and it made me wonder: of all the healthy foods I eat, which should I really be eating with abandon, and which should I eat only in little measured servings? I compared the packages on the seeds, and both had lots of protein, fiber, calcium and iron, but I couldn't tell which was better.

To figure it out, I came up with a basic little formula that compares the daily allowances of "bad" things in a food to "good" things. It's structured around what I personally look for in a food, so if you have your own particular dietary needs, I highly encourage you to modify it for your own purposes. If you only care about protein, carbs, and fat, don't even use daily values--I'd recommend comparing the straight up calories of each per gram. So this is just a loose rule of thumb, but I've run a lot of foods through this formula with enough expected results to confirm its correctness and enough unexpected results to make it worthwhile.

Here's the formula:

(%DV Fat + %DV Saturated Fat + %DV Carbohydrates + %DV Sugar) / (%DV Protein + %DV Fiber + %DV Calcium + %DV Iron)

This is just a ratio where I've put the good stuff on the bottom, so A LOWER RESULT MEANS A HEALTHIER FOOD.

I am aware that "saturated fat" is a subset of "fat," and "sugar" of "carbohydrates". I am also aware that within each of those categories are many different types of each, some good, some bad. Like I said, this is just a rule of thumb.

Also, I came up with my own Daily Values for sugar and protein. I just take the number of grams and divide by 0.75 (this means I allow/want 75 grams of sugar/protein per day). Weirdly, that makes sugar count against a food quite a bit, but makes the protein count for less. If you want, you can weight your protein value, paradoxically saying you want less per day in order for it to count more in your number. I tried variations, and in most foods it didn't matter much, so I just stuck with dividing both numbers by 0.75 for ease.

Another thing to watch out for is that some foods will be fortified with extra calcium and iron (for example, Clif Bars, Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats), allowing them to add a lot of sugar or fat without damaging their rating too much. Or, they will simply have a lot of everything in them naturally and end up balancing out pretty well numerically when what you really want may be something that doesn't have much fat or sugar in it at all. On the flip side, things like sauerkraut won't have very big numbers for anything and will come out looking good when they don't have much going for them protein-wise. Likewise, many foods have lots of fiber but no protein (like blueberries). I left the system the way it is because I value the fiber, calcium and iron and much as the protein, even though I'm mainly interested in maximizing protein.

Some foods simlpy can't be rated because they have zeroes across the bottom of the ratio, but there will still be differences. For example, root beer and olives are both impossible to rank, even though olives are much healthier because of nutrients not accounted for in the formula (and for the healthiness of their fat, which ends up on the "bad" side of the ratio despite it's usefulness in limiting bad cholesterol).

So please, please, please just use this as a guide or a way of comparing foods that seem relatively similar. For example, I thought simple, wholesome Heartland Bread Co.'s Honey Whole Wheat Bread would fare better than Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Honey Wheat Bread, but the latter came out slightly ahead. This is because the clever people at Pepperidge farm sweetened their bread not just with honey but with sugarcane fiber as well, which adds not just fiber but iron; added chicory root for even more fiber; and added wheat gluten, which makes dough more workable but also adds protein. The difference is not very big, but it does mean that with your 4 grams of protein per slice, you are getting less fat and sugar, and more iron from the Pepperidge Farm bread.

Another unexpected thing was the healthiness of whole grains overall as opposed to nuts. Someone looking for a high-protein vegan snack would probably choose peanuts over bread (I mean, isn't bread "a carb"?), not realizing that peanuts have carbs as well, and lots of fat to boot. 

And as far as those seeds go, pumpkin beats sunflower, but both are about as healthy as it gets.

Grains and Grain-Based Products

Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats--0.26*

Arrowhead Mills Puffed Kamut--0.27 (They market this as a rediscovered ancient grain, but the name is registered, so is it a GMO?)

White Whole Wheat Flour--0.29

Wheat Germ--0.33

Arrowhead Mills Organic Blue Cornmeal--0.36

La Tortilla Factory Green Chile Corn Tortilla--0.37

Bob's Red Mill Extra Thick Rolled Oats--0.44

Nature's Own Honey Wheat Enriched Bread--0.44*

Pepperidge Farm Jewish Rye Bread (Seeded)--0.46

Pepperidge Farm 100% Whole Wheat Bread--0.46

Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Honey Wheat Bread--0.55

Triscuits (both Rosemary & Olive Oil and Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil varieties)--0.56

Bob's Red Mill Golden Couscous--0.65

Heartland Bread Co. Honey Whole Wheat Bread--0.75

Heartland Bread Co. Mega-Grain Bread--0.77

Brown Rice--0.77

Xochitl Totopos de Mais (corn chips)--0.91

Jasmine Rice--1.3

Garofalo Penne Pasta--1.3

King's Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls--2.2


Lentils, Beans and Peas

Lentils--0.13

Black Beans--0.15

Fresh French Green Beans--0.15

Pinto Beans--0.17

Lima Beans--0.21

Le Sueur Very Young Small Sweet Peas (canned)--0.38

Garbanzo Beans--0.45

Nuts and Seeds

Flax Seed--0.38

Hemp Hearts Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds--0.65

Raw Pumpkin Seeds--0.87

Raw Sunflower Seeds--0.94

Wonderful Shelled Pistacios (roasted)--1.2

Peanuts (dry roasted)--1.5

Cashews (roasted in peanut oil)--1.8

Walnuts--2.0

Jif Creamy Peanut Butter--2.1

Vegetables

Gundelsheim Barrel Sauerkraut--0.11

Seapoint Farms Eat Your Greens Blend (frozen)--0.15

Broccoli--0.22

Imagine Organic Vegetable Broth--0.29

Gimme Organic Roasted Seaweed Snacks--0.32

Fruits


Wyman's Fresh Frozen Wild Blueberries--0.64

Del Monte Pear Halves in 100% Juice (canned)--1.6

Sun Maid Organic Raisins--2.7

Sweetened Dried Cherries--3.2

Reese Mandarin Orange Segments in Light Syrup (canned)--3.3

Animal Products

Chicken Breast--0.22

Simple Balanced Organic Cage-Free Brown Eggs (Target brand?)--0.89

Salmon--0.97

Eggs (according to online Nutrition Facts)--0.98

Veg-a-Fed Cage Free Eggs--1.1

Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese--1.4

Whole Milk--1.4

Oscar Meyer Bologna--5.1

Cookies, Snack Foods and Chocolate

Clif Blueberry Crisp--0.72*

Clif Builder Bar (all varieties)--0.9*

FigBar (Peach Apricot)

Cherry Pie LaraBar--1.82

FigBar (Blueberry, Raspberry, Apple Cinnamon)--1.9

Sunspire Chocolate Baking Bar (65%)--2.1

Endangered Species Natural Dark Chocolate (72%)--2.9

Chocolove Holiday Fruits & Nuts in Dark Chocolate (55%)--3.2

Theo Organic Fair Trade Orange 70% Dark Chocolate--3.2

Theo Organic Fair Trade Cherry Almond 70% Dark Chocolate--3.2

Nonni's Almond Chocolate Biscotti--3.4

Newman's Own Dark Chocolate (54%)--4.6

Anna's Ginger Thins--12.4 (These scored incredibly badly because they are made with lots of palm oil, for crispness. I would have assumed that was totally healthy, but there is some controversy over whether the saturated fats in palm oil are any healthier than animal fats.)

Beverages

Sweet Leaf Sweet Tea (Original)--6.0

Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice--8.3

Frozen Meals and Canned Soups

Amy's Tamale Verde--0.54

Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup--0.66

Amy's Mattar Tofu--0.68

Amy's Enchilada Verde--0.71

Amy's Mushroom & Olive Pizza--0.87