Does Protein lead to Weight Gain?

I was a plump kid for most of my childhood and later turned out to be a "healthy" teenager. I grew up knowing that what gets into our bodies plays a very important role in shaping your general wellbeing and health. And while we could live carefree as children, it definitely helped me establish healthy eating habits early on.

Since I was a teenager, I made a choice to be a vegetarian while my family continues to be hardcore non-vegetarian. To our surprise, paneer (cottage cheese), cheese, rajma (kidney beans), chole (chickpeas), and soybeans were my favorites. This has also helped me a lot, as these sources give me enough protein in my meals and can continue to ensure it. In addition, my eating with various foods such as Spinach in a sandwich, paneer pieces on salads, a glass of milk or buttermilk every day and, above all, a lot of healthy desserts to calm my sweet cravings have made me feel full longer and avoided junk eating.

One thing that always bothered me as a teenager was that my mom kept stopping me from consuming foods like cheese and peanut butter, claiming they were harmful to my health and the cause of my weight gain. Food misinformation is known as one of the least discussed topics in India today. And because of the vast amount of information circulating in digital space, misinformation and false news about nutrition can spread like wildfire among people. And protein is one of the few macronutrients that is subject to multiple misunderstandings.

Right to Protein, a campaign aimed to raise awareness and educate Indians about the natural sources of protein foods for daily consumption, recently commissioned a nationwide survey of over 2,000 mothers to understand why protein continues to be from our Indian Diet slips out. The poll results were shocking and reflected some of the misconceptions that most mothers still believe to be true. The survey found that only 3 maternal high protein foods were correctly identified out of a list of 11 ingredients. The survey also found that 81% of Indian mothers with children believed that dal, roti and chawal were enough to meet their daily protein needs.

In addition, the survey found that more than 75% of mothers with children believe this A high protein intake leads to weight gainand this belief ultimately affects our daily protein consumption habits to a very large extent.

Protein, which is known as the building block of our lives, helps build muscle, makes you feel full longer, repairs tissue and much more. Also, eating enough protein will help you lose less muscle when you lose weight, which will keep your metabolism going. While the recommended daily protein intake is 60-90 grams, Indians typically only consume around 10-30 grams of protein per day during their meals. And that gap is only widening.

One habit that has worked in my personal favor to ensure my family is consuming enough protein is to check my family's protein score using the Protein-O-Meter, a free online tool to measure your protein -Scores. The tool asks basic questions about body profile, type of lifestyle and type of meals eaten at different times of the day, and calculates the average protein requirement based on the amount consumed on a given day.

I'm a strong advocate for my meals to be balanced and high in protein, especially when the focus is on maintaining a healthy weight. Eating the right amount of protein doesn't result in weight gain – and my journey to health was the greatest classroom experience here. With so much information and resources related to protein, we need to educate ourselves on the right ways to consume this important macronutrient to stay energized and keep the pounds off!

#proteinweightgain #righttoprotein #Indiaproteinparadox #proteinometer