What are Protein Rich Foods?

We all know that protein is the building block of our body and has a variety of benefits like muscle building and repair, increased muscle strength, helps in boosting metabolism and maintaining weight loss.

Protein also plays a vital part in the processes that fuel your energy and carry oxygen throughout your body in your blood. It also helps in protecting our immunity by making antibodies that fight off infections and illnesses and maintain healthy cells.

How much Protein does one need?

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is a modest 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. This is the amount of protein you need to meet your basic nutritional requirements. Not getting enough protein can affect one's health and body composition. Protein levels are also dependent on factors like age, weight loss, muscle building and level of activity one does.

Here is the list of five Healthy Protein-rich Foods, that are easily available:

• Cottage Cheese:

Cottage cheese aka. paneer is high in milk protein and low in fat and calories. It is a rich source of minerals like calcium, phosphorus, selenium, Vitamin B12, riboflavin, and various other nutrients. It helps in satiety and helps burn more fat. They make an excellent source of a complete meal or a snack. One cup of cottage cheese has 28g of protein.

• Eggs:

Whole organic eggs are considered to be the most nutritious when it comes to protein. An egg typically contains all 20 amino acids and hence is referred to as a complete protein. With the benefits of complete protein eggs also are packed with vitamins and minerals and essential fats. These are mostly present in the yolk (yellow of the egg). They are also rich in choline, which plays a critical role in growth and development during pregnancy. An egg comprises 6g of protein.

• Whey:

Milk proteins are rich in proteins like casein and whey. Whey offers good quality protein that helps build lean muscles and provides wholesome protein. Whey along with branched chain amino acids helps in muscle building and proves to be an ideal food after working out to fuel your needs for the next day.

• Pea:

Peas are a storehouse of fibers and nutrients like folate, iron, and manganese. One cup of pea offers 8.6g of pea protein. It comprises essential amino acids that are not synthesized by the body.

• Brown Rice:

Brown rice is the unpolished rice before processing. This has high amounts of vitamins and minerals as processing and polishing techniques often remove all the impurities along with essential nutrients. One cup of brown rice offers 5g of protein. It consists of plant nutrients like phenols, and flavonoids that have anti-inflammatory properties.

Consuming protein has multiple benefits as mentioned above. And it is extremely crucial that one's protein requirements are maintained and the RDA is met. It is not necessary that protein is available only from animal sources; with the new age of veganism and plant-based diets, there are many plant-based protein sources available in the market. However, if one does not meet their protein needs one can choose protein supplements like protein powders.