Don’t obsess about protein. Take a leaf out of grandma’s book instead

Many parents are trying to foster healthier ideas about food and weight than the ones they grew up with. To help them navigate these queries, Leading nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar answers their questions...

➤ I am vegetarian and I worry about my kids getting adequate protein. How can I ensure that they’re getting enough?

If I could stand on the rooftop and scream one thing, it would be this – vegetarians are not protein deficient. One can find nutrient-dense foods from both vegetarian and non-vegetarian sources. And you don’t need to compromise on personal preferences or cultural beliefs to get more protein.

But there is just too much noise about protein. And to navigate our way through the ever confusing and conflicting “expert views” in the mainstream and social media, here are a few things we need to understand:

1. The international panel of experts on sustainable food systems (IPES) released a report last year called ‘Politics of Protein’ in which among many other things they identified five key ways we get the problem wrong. One of them is the overemphasis on protein even when evidence clearly shows that there is no such thing as a ‘global protein gap’. Protein is just one of the many nutrients that are missing in the diets of those suffering from malnourishment, and insufficiency of those diets is primarily due to poverty and access to food. Essentially, it’s not a veg or a non-veg issue, it’s a hunger and poverty issue, it’s an issue of lack of access to adequate amounts of nutritious food, and we need policy intervention for that. At a personal level, we should pay our taxes and urge our governments to address this on a war footing.

2. We must also understand that just like there is big food and big pharma, there is big protein; a handful of companies who decide how you must think about and address the perceived lack of protein in our diets. If you have lived for 40 years on earth, then you have seen how the peanut seller got pushed into extinction and how the market for peanut butter emerged. Small money from many hands shifts to big money in fewer hands. Peanuts go from being banished for being high fat, to getting processed and packaged into bottles with long shelf life, high price, and a hashtag of protein rich. The practice of eating peanuts and chana with the afternoon chai went out, and the peanut butter scoop pre-workout or as a late-night snack with your chocolate shake emerged. This is one of many ways in which ‘big protein’ pushed us into making poorer (and more processed) choices for our waistline and improved profits at the bottom line.

3. Lastly, remember that one of the main roles of protein is to grow, repair and maintain bodily tissue, including muscle. And for this, simply take a leaf out of grandma’s book and make life simple. Here are a few pointers (right) Yes, life is simpler than we make it out to be. It’s time to shift conversations from protein to policy. Intelligent food conversations would also mean focus on sustainable food systems and not on single nutrients like protein.

➤ Start your day with dry fruits & nuts or eat a handful of them with breakfast or munch on them on the bus on your way to school
➤ Include a cup of dahi or chaas with lunch and dinner
➤ Eat nuts like peanuts or chana as an evening snack after coming back home
➤ Don’t forget the lentils and pulses, eat them every day
➤ In winters, eat the til chikki, gajak, panjiris, goond laddoo etc
➤ If you like milk, have a glass daily. If you don’t, skip it. But don’t have it for protein by masking its taste and flavour with chocolate and other powders
➤ If you eat meat or fish, continue to eat them in the frequency (few times a week), combinations (with rice and veggies for example) and recipes that your grandmom approves of for optimum benefits
➤ Exercise/ play daily, at least 60 mins if you have a growing body. Because without the right stimuli, muscle protein synthesis cannot be optimised
➤ Night outs are not so cool. A couple every year won’t harm but do them often and no amount of protein ingestion will repair the damage brought about by poor recovery and sleep debt
➤ Lastly, know that whether you are a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian or a non-dairy person, for optimum protein assimilation, eat more at home, exercise regularly, sleep on time and don’t bother with converting from veg to non-veg or vice versa.