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A recent research proved that 80% of the Indians are not getting enough protein daily. The study was conducted with 1260 people having both males and females belonging to age group of 30-55 years. They were of different socioeconomic classes in seven major cities of India (Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Vijaywada). Read details on the study here.
The vegetarians are even at higher risk of lower protein intake daily. Even Delhi had recorded to be 99% deficit in protein. The Indian states with more vegetarian diets are not getting quality proteins. They need to be even more vigilant. Vegetarians mostly get their protein from dairy products and legumes. These are often not enough.
In general, animal proteins are better in quality of protein. Eggs and chickens have lots of branched chain amino acids or BCAA, which are needed in protein synthesis. Plant proteins are not that rich. They lack all the amino acids needed from diet. Even rich source of protein like soya is proved to contain phytoestrogens and is bad for men. Long term soya intake is also not friendly to liver.
Do you want to have enough good quality protein from veg sources? Well possible, but you have to mix it up. An example is like rice is mixed with lentils and roti with legumes. But the problem is that most sources come with lots of carbs too. These add up and increase the total calorie value. That is why vegetarian bodybuilders find it difficult to hit proper amount of quality protein without supplements like whey.
Protein content of various Indian food
But are the proteins that important? It definitely is. People even has delusion that high protein is bad for their kidney. No way. If you have healthy kidneys with creatinine level within normal range, you can take even upto 2 gram per body weight of protein.
Actually those doing regular exercise need higher amount of protein (both weight training and endurance type). In fact, in protein deficient stage, heavy exercise can lead to muscle breakdown and make you weaker. If you are looking for building muscles, you have to take 1.5 to 2 grams per body weight protein. People take even higher without any effect. Supplements come extremely handy to supply enough protein without carbs and fats (as in most whole foods).
Anyway let us discuss on cheap Indian food sources which are protein rich and are easily available. Diet watchers may find this particularly useful. They often need to cut calories with enough good protein, that too in tight budget…
These are amongst the best 3 sources of protein. Standard Indian poultry eggs contain about 6 grams of protein, egg white and yolk containing about 3 grams each. One egg provides hardly 70 – 75 kcal, in total. Eggs contain maximum BCAA that are mainly needed to build and maintain muscles in body. Egg whites are perfect sources of almost pure protein.
That is why bodybuilders had been several eggs at breakfast for ages. Yolk contains good fat source and other micronutrients too besides good protein too. For cheap breakfast, lunch or post workout you can easily take 6 to 8 egg whites with 1 or 2 yolks too. 10 eggs per day may cost around 50 to 60 INR. That too for 30 grams of pure and high quality protein. Besides, eggs can be component of amazing recipes and menus. Starting from boiled eggs and omlette to fancy recipes, there are endless options you can enjoy.
Just a word of caution, egg allergy and intolerance is not uncommon. But people have lots of taboo with eggs in their culture and try to avoid them. Get ahead of your superstitions and start eating more eggs. For more information, read my post on: are boiled eggs bad for you?
Chicken is another common food used as good protein source all over the world. Chicken breast is the best lean source of protein. Legs are also great sources but have little lesser protein. 100 grams of chicken breast contain about 25 to 30 grams of protein depending on size.
Chicken breast also contains about 3.5 grams of protein and about 160 kcal total per 100 grams. It is also great quality and complete protein source with good amounts of BCAA too. It also contains many micronutrients too.
Food choices with chicken seems to be endless. But for best nutritional values, go for fresh chicken from meat shop rather than those preserved / iced chicken preparations from supermarket. Preservatives may not destroy protein, but they lead to intake of lots of chemicals and salt. Those are not good for your long term health. Enjoy sausage or salami if you enjoy it, but do not regularity it.
And regarding food options with chicken, I need not say anything here! Food options with chicken preparations seem to be endless. A peek in the menu of any non veg restaurant seems to be full of chicken preparations. Regarding pricing, 100 grams may hardly cost you 20 – 25 INR if bought raw. Non veg guys, never miss such a great protein source.
Rohu fish
This is a food regarding which Eastern part of our country really loves. From my experience I can tell you, if you are non veg and from different part of India, you may not like it that much. There are several jokes on Bengal’s obsession with fish. But let me assure you, if you start eating it as a habit, you will surely start loving it with time.
The deep water fish are great sources of omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acid are anti inflammatory and cardioprotective. Tuna, salmon, sardine, hilsa, pamphlet etc. are great sources of great omega 3 fatty acid. Fish is also great source of iron, calcium, Vitamin D3 and other micronutrients. These fatty sea fish may have higher fat content, but the fat is of great quality and totally with it.
Besides, fish is an amazing lean source of protein. The common one, Rohu contain almost 22 grams of protein in 100 gram, that too good quality. The fat is negligible (around 1 gram) with only total below 100 Kcal per 100 gram Rohu. Katla provides 19 grams of protein and 110 Kcal per 100 gram. To get the macros of common Indian fish, click here.
Cook fresh fish with spices and you have a superfoods on your plate. There are also lots of choices for you, there whole lots of fish with varying aroma and taste, but with great nutritional properties. Regarding price, it may be little costlier than the first two options. Still you get around 20 grams protein at 30 INR or even less from local market.
Cheese Slicer Appetizers Dairy Product Crackers
Cheese is derived from the casein part of milk. It is not very popular in rural part of India but slowly making inroads. Even urban people use cheese with caution. Don’t worry, it’s a great food.
Cheese is really tasty and makes an amazing protein rich Indian breakfast. Serve it with bread and you have a great balance of all macros and micronutrients. Use cheese cubes while cooking yummy dishes and cheese spread on various servings. Cheese is a versatile add on providing you good quality protein and fat.
One slice of standard cheese from Amul contains 4 grams of protein (besides 5 gram fat) for a total of around 60 Kcal. Cheese cubes provide 5 grams of protein for total of 80 kcal. You can buy 100 grams of cheeses (20 grams of protein and 240 kcal) at around 60 INR. Still not very costly eh?
This also technically known as cottage cheese (just desi paneer does not contain any salt). This is another great source of protein. This is extremely popular amongst the vegetarian population of India as a staple protein source.
In processing paneer, whey (remaining liquid after curdling) is discarded but the curd is not pressed and thus some amount of whey is left. Thus paneer contains all the micronutrients of milk too except iron.
100 grams of full fat paneer (Amul) provides you with 14 grams of protein for 250 kcal. The fat content is 25 grams. As it is higher and all saturated fat, it may concern you if you are looking for weight loss. For calorie watchers, paneer made from low fat milk, is a great choice.
Paneer can be cooked for great dishes. Also you can use it in raw form in salads. You can get 100 grams of fresh paneer at around 30 INR. Almost 30 grams of good protein at around 60 INR (less than a dollar!)
Yogurt is an amazing food, dairy product. It can fill you up with decent amount of protein and some slow absorbing carb (lactose based) and some negligible amount of protein. You can use yogurt in several other food items as fillers and also as a stopgap meal option or a great diet friendly snack.
100 gram of Amul yogurt contains 4 gram of proteins, 4 grams of carb and about 3 grams of fat (low fat variations may contain half of that). Thus it makes a low calorie diet of around 60 kcal in one serving. You gale all the benefits of the dairy, including calcium, vitamin D3 etc.
It is also a great natural source of probiotics. These keep your gut flora in good shape and is a unique feature of the lactobacillus rich yogurt. Just avoid sugar rich versions for best results. The price for yogurt is not much, around 60 to 70 INR for 400 grams good quality yogurt. By that much price you can get 15 to 18 grams of protein,besides good lactose and limited fat too and lots of micronutrients. Real great filler food option, that too only in a dollar.
This is a legume which is very popular in rural India. The ‘palwans’ of India have used it for breakfast and post workout for ages. You can eat them raw, after overnight soaking in water with salt or cook them into your favourite dishes.
The flour derived from it, known as ‘sattu’, is taken by people of Bihar and Jharkhand. It is commonly taken as a tasty smoothie in breakfast, (with black salt, pepper and lemon) which gives lots of proteins, carbs and micronutrients. Try this fiber rich drink, I am sure you will enjoy it in long run.
1 cup of uncooked chickpeas contain 14.5 grams of protein and a total of 269 kcal. You also get 12.5 grams of dietary fibers (total 45 grams of carbs, which is on the higher side) with that and many micronutrients too. In 100 grams of cooked chickpeas you get 9 grams of protein.
The fat content is much lesser, around 4 grams, thus making it an ideal choice for guys with hard labour work. The price is damn cheap too, you can get 100 gram of even organic chickpeas at around 30 INR. Join gym and you have an amazing cheap food in your Desi basket in form of chickpeas.
Lentils or pulses (daal) are good source of protein too. But they are incomplete source and you should take it with rice or roti, as per our traditional meals. There are several types available of different colors and flavors. Moong deal is the highest protein source amongst the lentils.
Lentils contain 9 grams of protein per 100 grams of cooked lentils. You also get around 20 grams of carbs and 7.9 grams of dietary fibers and a total of 116 kcal. Fat content is negligible but you get lots of follies and other micronutrients from it. Mix and match intelligently and you can get great source of protein, fiber and micronutrients. You can get a kilogram of lentil for 150 INR.
Good information given. Thank you for this valuable health building guidance.
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