The 30-30-30 diet – is it suitable for vegetarians?
- Updated on Aug 06, 2024
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Introduction to Quick Weight Loss
One of the most common things I hear when I speak to people for the first time about weight loss is that they are keen to lose weight quickly. And this makes total sense.
Quick results are satisfying, they’re motivating and they’re a sign that you’re on the right track, right? Well, not necessarily, and this is one of the biggest problems with diet culture in general now.
Many of these diets are unrealistic and aren’t sustainable, and can put you at risk of nutritional deficiencies and harm your health.
So any time a new diet crops up, like this 30-30-30 diet, I’m always skeptical and want to investigate it properly.
By the way, you can hear an audio version of this article as a podcast here.
Introduction to the 30-30-30 Diet
This was a diet that my brother, Dave, one of the co-founders of Hurry The Food Up, mentioned and sent me some info on it.
It sounds catchy – the 30-30-30 is easy to remember and kinda feels fun – and clearly it’s popular. He asked whether it’s something that had any real scientific basis and whether it’s something that vegetarians should follow.
I’m going to give you all the info on this but first I figure it’s worth explaining what this diet actually is and how it works.
What is the 30-30-30 Diet and Why Could It Work?
The whole concept is to eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, followed by 30 minutes of low-intensity exercise, hence the 30-30-30.
The idea is that you give your body a big blast of protein first thing, because protein is satisfying and makes you feel full, and it’s also involved with appetite regulation later in the day as well as contributing to healthy functioning muscle.
Now this is absolutely true and deeply rooted in science. We have heaps of evidence to show that protein is beneficial, especially so if you’re trying to lose weight.
Benefits of Protein
Because protein helps you to feel full and satisfied, it can reduce cravings and the need for snacking, and that can then help you to stay in a calorie deficit which is what you need to lose weight.
It also contributes to muscle maintenance, and I’m talking just healthy functioning muscle here, not anything like big stronger bodybuilder muscles although it does help with that too, so I always recommend it, especially as you get older, because generally protein needs increase throughout your lifespan.
Another benefit of protein is that it has the highest thermic effect of food out of the macronutrients, so carbohydrates, protein and fat, which means you actually burn a little more energy digesting protein than the others, so your overall calorie burn is higher on higher protein diets.
The Importance of Protein in the Morning
And eating a good amount of protein in the morning is a fantastic thing to do – there’s evidence to show that by having a high protein breakfast you reduce the likelihood of overeating later in the day which for people trying to lose weight is definitely a helpful benefit!
There was also a study in 2022 that demonstrated that spacing protein intake evenly across the day was associated with an improved body composition (so more muscle and lower body fat) in females.
It’s one of the reasons we’re so keen at Hurry The Food Up to promote a good source of protein in every meal, and why we try to build this into our meal plans.
Unfortunately, one of the places that people fall down on with their protein intake is at breakfast, so this approach from the 30-30-30 diet in prioritizing protein at breakfast should mean that more people eat more protein at breakfast, which is a great outcome in my eyes.
Exercise Component of the 30-30-30 Diet
Then there’s the exercise component of the diet. 30 minutes of low-intensity exercise after consuming your 30 grams of protein.
In theory, this is awesome because if you were following this you’d be doing 30 minutes of exercise a day which, if we’re being honest, is probably far more than a lot of people do.
I am a big, big fan of exercise because it’s super beneficial for health, whether it’s cardiovascular training, so the classic running, cycling, dancing, or resistance training, so lifting weights or yoga involving lifts and strength positions.
Exercise helps to create new healthy muscle tissue, it helps with controlling blood sugar levels, it improves immune function and it can reduce the risk of so many long-term diseases.
The Benefits of Low-Intensity Exercise
The focus with the 30-30-30 diet is on low-intensity exercise, and let me say that I love this.
Low-intensity exercise means exercise where your breathing doesn’t really increase above your baseline – so you can still talk fully and breathe in and out through your nose.
If you like numbers, then loosely speaking this would correspond to about 65% of your maximum heart rate.
For a lot of people, this can feel pretty alien and like you aren’t really doing anything but I can promise you it is doing you good, and actually, I’d encourage this approach for a lot of people.
It’s such a common theme to see people exercising way too hard, too frequently, which means they end up burning out and not being able to stick to their exercise routine over the long term, which defeats the purpose of it.
So aiming for low intensity is definitely a good option for many people, especially if you’re new to exercise, and this might be as simple as walking at a slightly brisk pace.
Understanding Fat Burning and Calorie Burn
I have seen a video from Gary Brecka (a well-known Human Biologist) suggesting that by doing low-intensity exercise you burn more fat, which in some senses is true but that’s not the whole story.
You might burn more fat for energy, but this doesn’t mean you burn more calories overall or that you burn more body fat.
This is a subtle but crucial point to highlight, so don’t be fooled.
Unfortunately, this diet and low-intensity focus on exercise won’t magically burn and reduce your body fat percentage, because it’s your overall calorie amounts that are going to be the true player in that.
But the 30-30-30 diet is ticking some of my favorite concepts within nutrition that contribute to just being generally healthy, so I’m a huge fan of this approach.
The Lack of Evidence Behind the 30-30-30 Diet
I should highlight that at the point of recording this, the 30-30-30 diet doesn’t actually have any evidence behind it.
There aren’t any trials involving this dietary approach, so there’s no way to quantify the benefits of it, but it definitely does follow some good dietary principles.
However, like with most things, it isn’t quite as clear-cut as this and there are some potential drawbacks to the diet which we should go through.
A quick interlude to that say if you’re trying to lose weight and aren’t seeing results, check out our free week’s vegetarian weight loss meal plan.
It includes a shopping list, super tasty recipes including ingredients and instructions, and has all the meals planned out for you.
Downsides of the 30-30-30 Diet
Ok, so while I think the 30-30-30 diet has some real benefits I don’t think it’s quite as simple as saying it’s the best diet for either normal healthy living or for weight loss, and we should dive into this.
The first issue is that whether you’re a veggie or whether you eat meat, with your classic breakfast foods it’s actually pretty difficult to get 30 grams of protein.
If you eat meat then it’s definitely easier, but things like cereals or toast don’t have heaps of protein, meaning this is going to be more difficult for you to achieve.
If you want to consume whole foods, as in not a protein shake, and you’re a vegetarian, then your best option is going for something like low-fat dairy.
So 200 grams of low-fat Greek yogurt or cottage cheese, and then something like bran flakes or oats.
Or go down the egg route, so omelets, eggs on toast or our Hurry The Food Up egg muffins.
Challenges with Protein Shakes and Breakfast Options
Now you can of course have something like a protein shake, which is a convenient and easy way to get protein in, and I’m not specifically against that, but I think where possible this shouldn’t be an everyday thing for breakfast.
So I think, logistically, this might be quite difficult for many people to do, and honestly if everyone got over 20g of protein in their breakfast I would be super pleased as that’s a great start to the day.
Now I also always think about things from a sport and exercise perspective, and one of my worries about this diet is that it’s encouraging people to exercise soon after eating.
Unless you are going to just consume a protein shake without anything else, you’re going to end up eating a reasonable amount of slow-digesting food here and that means you’re at an increased risk of having stomach upset, especially if you do something like running.
Flexible Exercise Timing
So I think one of the nuances that I would recommend here is to say that if you do exercise and you don’t get any tummy problems then that’s fine, but actually you can exercise at any point of the day.
I’d be more keen for you to just work out when it fits into your schedule and lifestyle rather than saying it has to be first thing in the morning.
So you could wait a couple of hours after breakfast to exercise, or you could exercise in the afternoon or evening if that’s better for you.
Basically, just exercise whenever it works for you in the day. It’s way more beneficial for you to just do it consistently, and if morning doesn’t fit your routine – that’s ok.
Lack of Comprehensive Dietary Guidance
The other thing which is super important to highlight is that this diet doesn’t really give much advice for the rest of the day. Sure, you’ve followed the 30-30-30 rule first thing… Then what?
Do you need to worry about your diet? Can you eat whatever you like at other points of the day? Do you need protein at lunch and dinner?
The problem with it is that it doesn’t really give enough context on your diet as a whole or enough guidance.
Maybe that wasn’t ever the intention, but I’ve learned through my experience with working with clients that generally the clearer, more actionable advice you can give, the better.
Potential Pitfalls in Weight Loss
With regard to weight loss, I could see this as a problem, where someone thinks because they’ve followed this protocol for the morning they don’t really need to worry about their diet for the rest of the day.
So, they are much more lenient at lunch and dinner time, and even with snacking too.
On top of that, because the rule emphasizes protein at breakfast, they don’t bother much with it at other points of the day, meaning they fall short of their protein requirements.
This could easily lead to someone’s weight loss efforts derailing because they aren’t managing the rest of their diet appropriately.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Maybe I’m overthinking it but these are the things that spring to mind for me.
I think if I were to improve this, I would say it’s the 30-30-30-30-30 diet, where you focus on 30 grams of protein for breakfast, lunch, dinner and as snacks throughout the day, plus 30 minutes of exercise at any point, but that’s not as catchy.
Maybe 30 by 5. 30 to the power of 5? Dunno, if you ever popularize that approach after listening to this episode then please give me some credit, haha.
But in short, you definitely could use this as a vegetarian, either for general healthy living or to lose weight, but you’ll need to follow more than just this rule.
You’ll still need to eat satiating, filling, healthy food that is high in protein, fiber, wholegrain carbs, veggies, and healthy fats over the day, but I think the essence of the rule isn’t bad at all.
How to get 30 grams of protein as a vegetarian or vegan
Ok, so you’ve decided that you’re going to give the 30-30-30 diet a trial. It can definitely be tricky to do it as a vegetarian (and especially as a vegan) but the good news is that it is definitely possible.
Here are some ideas, and I’ve included breakfast instructions right here 😋
30-30-30 Breakfast (vegetarian) – Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 tsp coconut oil (or butter)
- ⅓ cup low fat cottage cheese
- ½ cup rolled oats (no pre-cooking necessary)
- 2 eggs
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Get a bowl or, even better, use a blender.
- Throw in all the ingredients and whisk/mix until smooth.⅓ cup low fat cottage cheese, ½ cup rolled oats, 2 eggs, Salt to taste
- Add the oil (or butter) to a pan and fry the batter on low to medium heat.1 tsp coconut oil
- Flip with a spatula once bubbles start to appear. Cook until both sides are golden brown.
- Simple as!
NOTES
Make-ahead? Yes, just keep toppings separate. Freezable? Yes! Again, either the batter or the pancakes. Here are some ideas on how to pimp these pancakes up! (All optional of course) Batter ideas: 1 tbsp of coconut powder
* A small handful of hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts
* 1 tbsp of peanut butter
* 1 tbsp of protein powder
* 1 tbsp of raisins
* 1 tsp of cinnamon
* 1 tsp of vanilla extract
* A few thin slices of apple or pear Topping ideas:
* Honey
* Maple syrup
* Cherries, strawberries
* Yogurt
* Sugar and lemon juice EQUIPMENT & PRODUCT TIPS:
You’ll need a non-stick pan for successful pancake action, but that’s it. See what you think about this pan. I recently started using coconut oil instead of butter for frying. It works great, especially for pancakes! If you want, give this one a shot. IF YOU LIKED THIS RECIPE: Then you definitely have to check out our Banana Egg Pancakes! Probably even easier to prepare and absolutely delicious. Or if you’d rather like to go into no milk, no egg direction, check out our roundup of these 24 awesome vegan pancakes!
Nutrition
1. 30-30-30 Lunch (vegetarian) – Hot Quinoa Salad
2. 30-30-30 Dinner (vegetarian) – Aubergine & Lentil Moussaka
We also have more 30g+ protein recipes here.
And finally as a caveat, remember that you don’t need to become worried or stressed about getting 30 grams of protein every single time you eat.
Just aim for generally high-protein recipes and take the ‘protein-first’ approach to each meal (adding a good veggie or vegan protein source to each recipe).
The Vegetarian Protein Fix is based around this school of thought and delivers outstanding results.
James LeBaigue MSc
James has a Masters Degree in Sport and Exercise Nutrition, as well as an Advanced Diploma in Human Nutrition.
He loves combining his scientific knowledge along with food in the real world, and these recipes are the result.
He’s on top of all the latest evidence and guidelines to make sure our nutrition advice on the website is as accurate as it can be.
By day he works as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in a busy NHS GP Practice.
Each recipe is tested and then eaten (much to James’ delight), many times before it is deemed worthy to be published. Bon appetit!
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