Are you a vegetarian gym junkie and have no clue to what you should eat to gain those biceps? And of course, Protein is not just required to gain those muscles but also to get healthy and shiny hair. It helps you to feel fuller for a longer time by taking more time to digest than carbs. It is good to aim for 75 grams of protein every day. But the real question is if these meat-free proteins are complete?
?Complete proteins? are basically Amino acids and there are 20 different amino acids required to from protein, but 9 of these aren?t produced by our body. Hence, a complete protein will be something which has all these 9 amino acids. Meat and eggs do fall under this category by being the sources of proteins which are complete, but unfortunately beans and nuts don?t. But fear not, most dieticians say that plant based diets have a wide variety of amino acid profiles that vegetarians can easily use to get their daily share of proteins. Here is a list of things, which are sources of proteins, every vegetarian can eat.
- Quinoa
Quinoa is full of fibre, iron, manganese and of course it has its fair share of proteins. 1 cup or Quinoa has 8 grams of protein which makes it an amazing substitute for rice. You can use it to make muffins and cookies if you want to spice things up.
- Soy
This complete protein has 10 grams of protein per ? cup serving. It should be your go to substitute for protein as it can be found in different forms. You can have the tofu or the Natto, both of which are amazing sources of proteins.
- Rice and Beans
Beans are low in methionine and high in lysine, while rice is low in lysine and high in methionine. Put them together and you get the best protein content. You can replace your beans with lentils or chickpeas which will have the same effect. You can have rice and beans after an intense workout or as your dinner. This combination has 7 grams of protein per cup of serving.
- Hummus and Pita
This middle eastern staple dish has 7 grams of protein per serving of hummus and pita. You can also substitute your chickpeas with other beans like cannellini and edamame.
- Peanut butter sandwich
This is everybody?s favourite and is surprisingly quite rich in protein. You can get up to 15 grams of protein per sandwich and of course it is probably the tastiest thing on this list. But remember to use the whole wheat bread to make your sandwich to provide a high dose of amino acids.
- Chia seeds
These seeds have all the nine essential amino acids. These are very helpful to lose weight as well. Chia seeds have omega-3 which can decrease the risk of heart disease. You can add these seeds to your smoothies or to your yogurt.
- Hemp seeds
These seeds with 3.3 grams of proteins can help to fight heart disease and obesity.? They are highly rich in fiber and omega-3. You can simply eat these as an afternoon snack or you can mix these in your salads.
- Buckwheat
This classic gluten-free seed has 3 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber which helps to lose weight. Have buckwheat based noodles or make pancakes.
- Vegetables
Cooked spinach has about 5 grams of protein, which is almost as much protein as an egg. You can also add sun-dried tomatoes in your sandwich which have about 6 grams of proteins and a lot of antioxidant. Peas have about 8times the protein of a cup of spinach. So next time remember to get a lot of vegetables.
- Greek Yogurt
These have probiotics which help to reduce weight and are also high in protein with about 20 grams of protein in a serving.
