Proteins are the building blocks for your body. It is very important to have a good protein diet even if your day to day work does not include much of physical work. We never usually pay attention to our regular protein diet which start showing symptoms when you start having mid life crisis. Proteins help in building and strengthening the muscles. Not just that, it also helps in speedy recovery of tissues, hormones and other body chemicals.

Proteins are classified under macro-nutrients.

But how much do you really need to sustain a healthy balance?

I’d recommend based on your body weight. 1g per kg of weight if you are not into heavy workout. If you are working out and going to the gym regularly(which you should), lifting heavy weights etc and you have an aim to build a really attractive body, you need to double your protein intake. So, for example if your body weight is 75 kilogram, you need to consume 150 grams of protein everyday.

As excess of everything is bad, excess of its intake is also bad? But how much is too much? Well, you will find answers to both of your queries in this post.

There are various studies online of which some suggests that there is nothing like excess of protein if you are taking other macro-nutrients with it in the right form. However, other studies talks about how a body is unable to digest more than 50 grams of protein per meal.

In my opinion, people who are indulged in working out, for them, there is no such thing as excess of protein. For the others, who are not able to take out time(which will be an excuse but nevertheless) for themselves, they may want to limit the protein intake after certain levels. Another important feature of protein is that our body does not store excess of it. It will either get converted into fat or will pass away in an undigested form.

Usually, these are not the concerns for vegans as they have very limited sources of protein which contains limited amounts of it. Thus, vegans are mostly struggling to maintain their daily quota of intake. I am also a vegetarian although mostly would qualify me as a black sheep because I love eggs. But I cannot consume fleshy products as my instinct does not allow me to.

In this post, I will be giving you a complete satisfying protein diet if you are an absolute vegan.

First of all let us discuss easily available sources of proteins for a vegetarian.

1. Cottage cheese
2. Curd or Greek yogurt
3. Milk
4. Soy products
5. Lentils
6. Black beans
7. Dark chocolate
8. Peanut butter
9. Spinach
10. Peas
11. Dry fruits
12. Oats
13. Vegan dietary supplements

These are all easily available form of proteins which can be consumed in various ways to make the day to day meal interesting for yourself.

But consuming recommended intake of protein is difficult by taking naturally available sources. Thus, it becomes essential especially for gym goers to include dietary supplements. Most of us have the dilemma that they have negative impact more than the positive benefit we gain out of it.

I have a question to ask from them, while we were young, weren’t we fond of Horlicks or Complan and various other such mixers. But were they really just mixers to improve the taste of the milk? They were also supplements which increased the qualities of the milk. They were supplement for that age. But now since we all are grown up, the requirement of our body has also increased and thus those drinks will now have almost negligible effect on us.

Hence, we will need a supplement that is for our current age which would be able to fulfill the current requirement.

Let us also discuss the other essential daily intake.

The diet that I am recommending below is for the ones who are going to the gym(in evening time) and have a goal to build muscles and not just “staying fit” .

Following are the items which we need to consume on a daily basis to maintain protein intake.

1. 100 grams of cottage cheese
2. Curd or Greek yogurt twice
3. Oatmeal
4. Peanut butter smoothie
5. 1 scoop whey protein
6. 250 grams of skimmed milk
7. Boiled Eggs (whites) (Optional)
8. 2.5-3 liters of water

It is important to keep your protein diet up to the mark, otherwise you feel fatigue, out of energy and will not be able to see results. And for vegetarians, it is extremely difficult to fulfill the daily requirement of protein with just milk and related products. Thus, it is vital to fulfill the requirements of the body. And most of all, it is important to work out. Here are the reasons and the motivation you need to hit the gym regularly. Please remember that when you take protein supplements, your stomach gets disturbed if you do not follow proper routine. Follow these easy and natural ways to keep your stomach healthy.

Breakfast:

4 eggs boiled(only white)/Mixed dry fruits, 250 grams of skimmed milk with biscuits/oatmeal cooked in milk

Snack:

100 grams cottage cheese, Apple

Lunch:

Full meal (may have brown rice, chapattis, cooked vegetables and curd)

Snack:

1 banana

Before gym:

Black coffee

Right after workout:

Whey protein shake (1 scoop) (I am using carbs free Isopure whey protein)

1 hour later:

Peanut butter smoothie

How to make it:

Ingredients: 100 grams of milk, 100 grams of curd, 2 spoon peanut butter, coffee/chocolate powder, 1 banana.

Put all of them in a blender and blend. (It is a myth that you cannot consume milk and curd together. Don’t worry it is a very famous smoothie and is very tasty as well. Just go ahead and try it out.)

Dinner:

Light

This is a diet which will provide you sufficient protein intake for the first six months of you regularly hitting the gym. You are not supposed to start this diet from day 1. Once you have completed one month of your training, after that you can start this diet. Before which you can keep the remaining diet same and only remove 1 scoop whey protein and black coffee from the order.

We’d love to hear from you about your workout sessions and how this diet chart is helping you out.