High protein on an Indian food diet?

saanjana
saanjana Posts: 20 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi All…was wondering if any others are mostly on an Indian food diet? I struggle to get enough protein intake eating Indian food, especially since I do eat a lot of vegetarian food (I am not a strict vegetarian, but thats just what I enjoy).

I was wondering if others have found ways to balance this. I do eat quite a bit of:

beans
lentils
Indian cottage cheese/paneer
greek yogurt
eggs
milk


However, when I look at my food logs, I really do struggle with the protein. How are others, especially those who are eating Indian food and are vegetarian managing this?

I feel if I am careful this should not be difficult. Somewhere I am not managing this properly. My trainer suggest I take 80-100 grams of protein a day. I am lucky if I hit 50 :)

Replies

  • vgag2004
    vgag2004 Posts: 2 Member
    Honestly, you need to eat a lot of daal/ dahi, and I got a plant-based protein shake to add about 20 grams of protein a day. Even then its hard, but I can get to 60-80 grams a day. I would cut all rice, and minimize roti too. Its sounds miserable, but I would literally eat a bowl of daal and subzi and a big bowl of dahi on the side. I eat eggs too.
  • saanjana
    saanjana Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks....its a struggle it seems. Adding greek yogurt to each meal has helped tremendously.

    What do you think of whole wheat roti? It appears to have a good amount of protein.

    I'm a little surprised there aren't more of us on here because the food logs appear to have tons of Indian food on there. However, I noticed much of the meters are off - for example, cup of chai has 15 grams of fat!

    Will send you a friend request and maybe we can keep each other in check :)
    -
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Those are good sources of protein. Eat more of them and less bread and rice.
  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
    I don't cook/eat Indian food specifically, but this is what I've done to increase protein without saturated fat, which just tends to lead to more vegetarian food.

    Maybe substitute other whole grains for rice? It depends if you can get hold of them easily, but quinoa, barley, wheat berries, rye berries all have more protein in them than rice. Also, if you use potatoes in dishes for thickening, then you can switch beans in. Nuts and seeds are really good sources of both protein and healthy fats, and they help liven up texture. Yes, they do have quite a lot of calories, but I love them.

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