The Powered by Protein Cookbook: A Cookbook

Introduction

If you’re reading this, there’s a pretty good chance you’re here because you’ve seen my protein-forward cooking videos online, where I used to post as atlowcarbstateofmind. (I’ve since changed my handle—more on that later!) I’m so honored that millions of people have turned to my videos as a way to help them take control of what fuels them, and to have a delicious time doing it.

Growing up, some of my favorite memories were going out to eat with my grandma, watching just about anything that aired on Food Network, and making (extremely silly) YouTube videos with my little brother and childhood friends. So looking back now, it’s no surprise I ended up doing what I do today—creating cooking videos. My first job when I was in high school was a delivery driver position at a small, family-owned place called Adamo’s Pizza. It had a tiny kitchen, but a kitchen nonetheless, and that was the start of my journey with cooking.

In college, I was always the one cooking for my roommates and friends. I will never forget the first steak I ever cooked in my first apartment, my sophomore year of college. My mom sent me back to school with a pack of Omaha steaks—to cook them, I remember she recommended I broil them in the oven, from start to finish. Surprisingly, they turned out great. I also remember the time I attempted to make guacamole in a Magic Bullet after a night out . . . let’s just say, as much as I love shortcuts—you’ll see lots of them in this book—that was a shortcut I never took again! After college, a group of my friends hosted dinner parties almost every weekend, and that’s when I began to realize how much I really loved cooking. I was thirsty to learn how to cook all of my favorite dishes.

Fast forward five years later—now, I create recipe videos online and have a weekly newsletter. I am so grateful to have such a large community that loves and enjoys my recipes, whether they cook them word-for-word or just take inspiration from them to create simple, easy, protein-forward dinners. This book is a collection of mostly all-new recipes that I’m so excited to share with you, as well as some existing ones that have gotten so much attention online that I wanted to put them all in one place for you—like my Greek Salad with Chicken (page 82), Sesame-Crusted Tuna with Soy-Ginger Sauce (page 162), BBQ “Chicken Crust” Pizza (page 89), and so many more.

Before I started creating content online, I struggled quite a bit with my own health, which is actually what led me to start sharing my recipes in the first place. I had always struggled with my weight growing up, but as I got older, my overall health started to scare me. Like a ton of people, I gained the “freshman 15” when I went to college, but for me, it ended up being more like the “freshman 30,” and it sadly didn’t stop when I came home. I honestly thought it was kind of a normal thing for people to deal with the symptoms I was dealing with. I was in my early 20s, I didn’t have a regular menstrual cycle, I had heartburn constantly, and had absolutely zero confidence in myself.

My health journey truly began with the keto diet. I was an Ironworker for Local 63 in Chicago, and my work partner at the time said something to me that really hit home. I had just joined this fairly big company, and I was still very green. As a more experienced journeyman, he was giving some advice: “To do well in this industry, you really have to be healthy.”

Sometimes, you already know something deep down, but it takes hearing it from someone else for it to really click. Jim’s words were a big realization moment for me, and I decided I was going to learn how to take better care of myself—not only for myself, but because I genuinely wanted to do well in my career! A close friend had just started following a strict keto diet and lost about 30 pounds, so I decided to quietly try it myself. I didn’t tell anyone, just in case I gave up or didn’t see results, but keto actually worked pretty well for me, for a while—I lost around 60 pounds. Losing the weight was great, but to be honest, the best part was all the other feelings of well-being that came with it. For the first time in a long time, I completely stopped getting heartburn, my cycle slowly began to regulate, and I was actually feeling confident and motivated in my life. It may sound silly to some, but before I started the keto diet, I struggled to take care of myself. Just doing things day to day was not always easy for me, especially my job, which was quite labor-intensive. Like many people who start a health journey and lose some weight, I started feeling more confidence, which is not something I had a lot of before, and overall, I was a lot happier. Around that time, I began making videos of my keto recipes online, which is how most of my audience first found me in 2020.

While the keto diet was clearly helpful for me, looking back now it was really just a stepping stone for me with learning more about my health and how to better take care of myself. After a while, I realized that cutting out an entire food group—carbs—wasn’t sustainable for me long-term. Which I unfortunately learned the hard way, maybe so you don’t have to! I found myself overeating carbs whenever I did have them, and that’s why I no longer recommend being super restrictive and why I ended up changing my social media handles from atlowcarbstateofmind to my full name instead. Over time, I found that a more balanced approach with carbs—more so just mindful about not overeating them—was crucial to finding a healthy balance for me in my diet. And that’s key to this, too—I believe our diets shouldn’t feel so complicated or restrictive at the end of the day. Getting rid of the “all or none” mentality around carbs and sugar helped me so much, and I think everyone has to find a way of eating that is sustainable—and enjoyable—to them.

Now, my meals are less about what I avoid and more about what I prioritize, specifically protein. Learning how to get around 30 grams of protein at each meal has been a gamechanger for me. Every day I strive for at least 100 grams of protein (I aim for 1 gram per pound of my ideal body weight). Protein keeps you feeling full, especially important when eating with a calorie deficit, and helps you keep muscle mass while losing body fat. That’s why I created this book—to share easy, proteinforward recipes that make meeting your protein goals easy, accessible, and yummy.