10 World’s Best Protein Sources Ranked Low to High (No Meat or Dairy)

10 World’s Best Protein Sources Ranked Low to High (No Meat or Dairy)

Author Name:Satvic Movement

Youtube Channel Url:https://www.youtube.com/@SatvicMovement

Youtube Video URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDEgZzJlY7s



Transcript:
(00:00) Today, we're going to reveal 10 of the world's best veg protein sources and rank them from a source which has 7 g of protein all the way to a source with 27 g of protein all in just one serving. Starting at number 10 is Bhuna Chana or roasted brown chickpeas. This small katori will give you 7 g of protein and costs just 6 rupees.
(00:28) Did you know Indian wrestlers are pehlwans have had Bhuna Chana for centuries? It was their go-to energy boost long before protein powder even existed. You can eat it directly as a snack or enjoy it in the form of a mid-meal chaat >> [music] >> by mixing it with chopped cucumber, tomato and capsicum and a creamy dressing or chutney.
(00:50) Coming in at number nine is a food that's so affordable it's often nicknamed as the poor man's almond. If you haven't already guessed, I'm talking about peanuts, moongphali. Just one handful gives you about 8 g of protein and would cost just 8 rupees. While all nuts have some amounts of protein, peanuts are amongst the highest.
(01:13) You can eat them straight as a snack in a mid-meal or roast and crush them [music] over your poha, upma or chaat. Or even have it in the form of peanut butter and top it on fruits or blend it into your smoothie. Harsha and I love having it just added over a banana. It's so delicious. 2 tablespoons of peanut butter will also give you 8 g of protein.
(01:38) Moving to number eight is a food I think all Indian mothers love, green peas or matar. One cup of cooked peas also gives you 8 g of protein. You can eat it as a sabzi with chapati, mix it into khichdi, stuff it inside rotis or add it to rice or millets to make a pulao. This is what my mom does knowing how much I love it every time I visit her in Delhi.
(02:03) Also, what I find fascinating is that if you just blend a cup of cooked peas with water, coconut milk, fresh mint, ginger, lemon, salt and pepper, you'll have a creamy protein-rich pea mint soup ready to enjoy. All right, now before we proceed, we need to clear one big misconception that protein is only for big muscles. That's actually the smallest thing protein does inside your body.
(02:30) It has three far more important roles. First, protein is basically a body's building material. Think of your body as a house. Protein is basically the bricks. Your organs, your nails, your hair are all built from it. Remove it and over time the structure begins to weaken. Second, protein enables your everyday function.
(02:50) It strengthens the functional muscles that are attached to your skeleton. When they are strong, you move through the world with ease. You get out of a car without effort, climb stairs [music] without holding the railing, carry groceries without your arms shaking. And third, protein determines how well you age.
(03:09) Did you know that after the age [music] of 30, your muscle mass naturally begins to decline? After 60, that muscle loss becomes even more rapid. You can't stop [music] this, but you can drastically slow it down by eating enough protein while also strength training. So, how much protein do you actually need each day? [music] And currently, are you even meeting that mark? We'll get to that very soon.
(03:34) But first, let's see what's at rank number seven, sprouts. Now, you may already be growing moong sprouts at home, which are fantastic, but there are three other varieties that pack nearly double the protein of moong and almost nobody is talking about. These are black chana, masoor and kulthi sprouts. Kulthi is also known as horse gram.
(03:58) Do you know that kulthi is so high in protein that it's traditionally fed to horses before a race for high energy? That's literally how it got the name horse gram. All three of these sprouts give you approx 9 g of protein in just 100 g, which is about this katori. But wait, who has the time to make sprouts? It's such a hassle.
(04:20) Actually, that's not true. Sprouting is very simple, just three steps. First, soak your legume overnight. Second, wrap them in a cotton cloth in the morning, place them in a bowl and cover. And third, rinse [music] once a day to keep them slightly damp. That's it. In 24 to 48 hours, you'll see tiny tails emerging.
(04:43) And that's your sprouts. [music] You can lightly steam them, add lemon and salt and eat them with any meal. But I already eat chana and masoor as dal. That doesn't count? It absolutely does. Cooked dals are also fantastic sources of protein giving you about 8 g in a bowl. Sprouting just [music] makes them lighter to digest and slightly more bioavailable, meaning your body can absorb [music] the nutrients from them a bit more effectively.
(05:16) When we get to rank number five, I'll also share with you another way to eat lentils that most people have never even heard of. And once you see it, you'll never look at dal the same way again. But first, let's see what's at rank six. It's a food so powerful that farmers in Bihar and UP have been carrying it to their fields for generations [music] mixing it with water and chugging it down before full days of extremely hard physical labor.
(05:43) This was probably India's [music] original protein shake decades before industries decided to put protein in a kulfi. Well, this is a drink of sattu, which is nothing but roasted chana ground into a flour. One glass of sattu drink gives you 12 g of protein and costs less than 8 rupees to make. To make it, just blend half a cup of sattu with one cup of cold water, lemon, [music] cumin, black salt, a bit of green chili and top with some fresh coriander and mint.
(06:14) It even tastes great. Before we move to the next and I feel the most surprising food in this video, we must discuss probably one of the most controversial questions when it comes to protein. Okay, so green peas 8 g of protein, sprouts 9, sattu 12. But I still don't get it. How much total protein do I need in a day? Well, the World Health Organization says you need about 0.
(06:43) 8 g of protein per kg of your body weight. But that's just the bare minimum so that your body doesn't start losing muscle. For most people living fairly sedentary lives, a more ideal number is 1 g protein per kilogram of body weight per day. So, for example, if you weigh 55 kilos, aim for roughly 55 g of protein in one day.
(07:03) That's it, no calculator needed. But for people who are training hard, let's say lifting heavy weights, doing CrossFit, intense gym sessions, your muscles are going through a lot of wear and tear. In this case, you need more building material. So, the requirement goes up to around 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your body weight per day.
(07:25) So, for example, a 75 kilo person training seriously will need on the higher side 120 g of protein. Now, can you really get 55 or even 120 g of protein in a day without touching animal-based foods? And are plant proteins really incomplete proteins or is that the biggest myth of all? We'll get to that very soon, but first, let's see what's at rank number five.
(07:49) How many of you have grown up eating this, masoor? But almost always in one form, dal. But what if I told you the same humble lentil can turn into this? Soft, sliceable red lentil tofu which you can use as paneer. And one serving of it gives you 13 g of protein and costs just 7 rupees. When I first made this, I was shocked.
(08:16) It took barely 10 minutes in the kitchen, needed no fancy equipment, no chemistry, just two really simple ingredients, red lentils and water. To make it, soak half a cup of red lentils overnight. Next morning, drain out the water and blend the soaked lentils with one cup of fresh water until smooth. Then cook this mixture on medium heat stirring it continuously until it thickens into a paste like this.
(08:43) Add a pinch of salt, pour it into a container and refrigerate for an hour to set. And suddenly, you have this beautiful block of red lentil tofu which you can cut into cubes. This entire block contains 26 g of protein. Which means if you eat about half of it in a meal, that's 13 [music] g of protein right there.
(09:05) Now, the first time I tasted this plain, quite honestly, I did not like it. It tasted a bit weird to be honest. And then I realized you're not supposed to have it as it is. You have to cook it, marinate it like a paneer tikka, add it to a gravy, toss it into a sabzi. And suddenly, this red lentil tofu becomes one of the tastiest things in your day.
(09:29) You can also make this tofu with the masoor with the skin on and even with whole moong. It turns out just as good. I'm also very excited to tell you about another block which gives you almost double the protein as red lentil tofu coming in at number one. And no, it's not got even a drop of cow's milk. But before that, I quickly want to share that we've uploaded quite a few recipes using this red lentil tofu on the [music] Sattvic app.
(09:57) And not just that, here you'll also find many other delicious recipes of breakfast, [music] lunch, dinner, snacks, soups, salads, guilt-free desserts, all free of cost. Simply select what you want to make. You can even see the reviews that others have left for that dish. Keep your phone on the counter, follow the step-by-step instructions, and by the end, you'll have a delicious dish ready on your plate.
(10:22) Over 3 lakh people have already downloaded the app. Moving to rank number four is something most Indian homes eating for generations. Besan ka cheela. Two cheelas give you 16 g of protein. That's more than a two-egg omelet. Wait, pause. Let that sink in. Because the next time your friend, your family member, your gym trainer tells you that you need to eat meat or dairy to get enough protein, you can show them this.
(10:49) To make one cheela, take about 40 g of besan, which is slightly less [music] than a cup. This contains 8 g of protein. Add whatever vegetables you have at home, along with a little salt, cumin, turmeric, and water. Mix, pour it on the pan, and that's it. You can enjoy these for any meal. You can even make them colorful.
(11:11) Blend some spinach into the batter, and suddenly you've got a green cheela. Grate some beetroot, and your breakfast turns bright pink. The price? Each cheela costs [music] around 12 rupees. If you want variety, you can also make cheelas from moong [music] dal. They give you about the same amount of protein. But wait, I have heard that plants are incomplete proteins, and they miss some essential amino acids.
(11:36) This is not a problem, because the amino acid that one plant lacks, another plant is full of. [music] And the moment you eat them together, they complete each other. Take a simple example of rice. >> [music] >> Rice is slightly low in an amino acid called lysine. If you eat rice every [music] day for 3 months, you'll get lysine deficiency.
(12:00) But nobody on earth does that. We eat rice with dal, and dal is rich in lysine. So the moment you combine dal and rice, the amino acids complement each other, and suddenly you have a complete protein meal. Moving to number three is a food that's been widely misunderstood, but nutritionally, it's one of the strongest plant proteins on earth.
(12:21) It's also one that contains all nine essential amino acids on its own. Well, I'm talking about soy. Which can be consumed in three delicious forms, each of which gives you roughly 17 g of protein in a serving. First is tofu. Brands like Health on [music] Plants, Moose, Mother Nature, and Urban Platter have relatively clean quality tofu that you can order.
(12:44) Interestingly, tofu is priced roughly the same as dairy paneer. But if you have the ability, make tofu at home. It's also pretty simple. [music] In fact, the didi who helps us in the kitchen has become so trained now that [music] she makes amazing quality tofu for us every week. We've also shared the full step-by-step process of how to make soy tofu on the [music] Satvic app.
(13:06) Tofu absorbs flavor like a sponge, so you can stir-fry it with vegetables, add it to salads, crumble it into wraps, or cook it just like paneer. Second, tempeh. Tempeh is basically fermented soy, and comes with a slightly nutty, almost like an earthy flavor. Currently, there's just one brand in India selling a clean version of it, which is called Hello Tempeh.
(13:29) Just slice it, pan-fry it for a few minutes, and it becomes a wonderful side dish that you can add to your [music] meals. And lastly, you can even enjoy soybeans as whole. Just cook them exactly how you would cook like your chola or rajma. 100 g of firm tofu, tempeh, or cooked soybeans gives you roundabout 17 g of protein.
(13:51) All right. Now, before we move to rank number two, I just want to say that our team works for over 2 months straight, you know, on the research, trials, shooting, editing of every YouTube video that you watch. And this time they have decided that if this video crosses 2 million views, we'll make a part two where we go undercover and investigate one of the biggest protein industries in the world, the egg industry.
(14:19) So subscribe to Satvic Movement if you don't want to miss out what we find. Coming to number two is something we've received hundreds of questions about. It is plant-based protein powder. One scoop of this typically gives you around 24 g of protein. Now, before I tell you the cleanest ones available in the market, you must ask yourself [music] whether you surely even need this.
(14:44) If you're easily meeting your protein needs through whole foods like the [music] ones we've covered today, you absolutely don't need this. But if you're struggling to meet your protein requirements through whole [music] foods alone, especially if you're doing strength training, let's say, then a plant protein [music] powder can help you.
(15:04) To be honest, in the beginning of my health journey, I was completely against any protein [music] powders, because most of them on the supermarket shelves are loaded with sugar, artificial flavors, and really nasty things. But as I went deeper into the subject, I realized that there are a few brands doing honest work in this space. Just to be clear, none of them are sponsored.
(15:26) We at Satvic Movement don't make a single rupee recommending these to you. These are Cosmic Plant Protein, True Basics Clean Plant Protein, The Whole Truth Plant Protein, Origin Nutrition Plant Protein. If you do [music] decide to try one, use it for a week or two, and observe how your body responds, because everyone digests protein powders differently.
(15:50) Each scoop on average costs around 85 rupees, making this the most expensive source of protein on this list. But as I said, not everyone needs it. But one chicken breast gives you almost double the protein of this powder. Wouldn't it be easier to just eat meat? Sure, if protein was the only thing that [music] mattered.
(16:11) But food is never just about protein. Animal flesh brings protein, yes, but along with saturated fat, cholesterol, and the biological stress that the [music] animal experienced before slaughter. The tension, the fear, the terror, the stress hormones, all of which unknowingly enter our human system when we consume it.
(16:32) Whole plant foods, on the other hand, are completely different. They also bring protein, but they arrive with fiber, minerals, and protective nutrients that actually [music] help your body heal. Which is why large population studies consistently show that people who replace animal protein with plant protein have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, and even certain cancers.
(16:56) So yes, a plant-based diet does require more careful planning, but in the long run, it's a far healthier and more compassionate way to nourish your human body. All right. Are you ready for the number one plant protein source on this list that gives you 27 g in just one serving? Just like soy, this is one that contains all the essential amino acids, and hence is a complete protein.
(17:19) Well, this is something nobody expects. Watermelon seed paneer. Watermelon seed paneer? Yes, paneer made entirely from seeds. But why not just regular dairy paneer? Well, if you're still asking this question, it means that you haven't watched this video, where Harsh and I went inside the dairy industry of India with hidden cameras to see what really lies behind the dairy we consume.
(17:47) What we saw were probably the most painful, heart-shattering things we have ever witnessed. That's why we make paneer with seeds, and it gives you the same amount of protein as dairy paneer. [music] Plus, it's much cleaner, because it doesn't contain the artificial growth hormones and antibiotics [music] that cow milk paneer does.
(18:06) And the taste? Take my promise that if you serve it to someone without telling them, they will not even realize it isn't made of dairy. Watermelon seed paneer? Oh my god. Here's how simple it is to make. Take two cups of watermelon seeds, also called magaj. Soak them for about 6 hours, then blend them with four cups of fresh water until completely smooth.
(18:30) Strain it, and you'll get a rich watermelon seed milk like this. Now, heat that milk in a pan, and something magical happens. It begins to curdle. The solids separate, then strain it through a cloth, remove the excess water inside, flatten the residue, and place something heavy on top to press it firm. 30 minutes later, you'll be left with a block of protein-packed plant-based [music] paneer, which contains about 80 g of protein.
(18:58) Assuming that you'll eat about a third of this block in one serving, that's 27 g [music] of protein. Oh, and also, you can make this exact same paneer with pumpkin seeds, too. Same measurements, same [music] process. Once ready, you can use this in every paneer dish that you already love. All right. Now that we've learned the 10 sources, what do you think? Is it really possible to get your needed amount of protein, be it 55 g or 120 g a day, without animal-based foods? Well, let's see.
(19:29) Meet Mini, our [music] Satvic team member. Her daily protein requirement is about 55 g. Can we make it happen? Well, if she starts her day with a morning smoothie, bananas, coconut milk, and 2 tbsp of peanut butter, that's [music] 12 g of protein for breakfast. Mid-morning, she grabs two handfuls of roasted chana. [music] That's another 6 g.
(19:50) For lunch, she eats one bowl of cooked peas, two chapatis, and a big bowl of veggies. That's 18 g of protein. In the evening, she snacks on a handful of roasted peanuts. That's 8 g. And for dinner, she enjoys a warm vegetable soup with 100 g of tofu stir-fry on the side. That adds another 17 [music] g.
(20:10) If you add it all up, she's got 61 g of protein in the day. She didn't just meet her goal, [music] she comfortably exceeded it with regular everyday food, no supplements, no complicated products. It honestly really puzzles me why people suddenly become nutritionists and start asking, "But where will you get your protein?" the moment you say that you're on a plant-based diet.
(20:33) Now, let's look at Skanda, another Satvic team member. He weighs 75 kg and does heavy weight training everyday. So, as we had seen earlier, he needs 120 g of protein in a day on the higher side. That sounds like a lot. How do we meet it? Let's see. He starts his morning with one scoop of protein powder blended with water. That's 24 g of protein.
(20:55) For breakfast, he has two besan cheelas along with a side of steamed sprouts. That's 25 g. Mid-morning, he snacks on two small sesame peanut laddus, adding another 8 g. For lunch, he has one katori of dal, three chapatis, a big bowl of veggies, and half a serving of seed paneer on the side. That's 33 g. In the evening, he drinks a glass of sattu, another 12 g.
(21:20) And for dinner, he has a red lentil tofu stir-fry with millets on the side, giving him 19 g more. If you add that all up, it brings his total to 121 g of protein for the day. And we have met the protein need even for someone doing intense weightlifting just through plant-powered foods. That's all from my side. I will see you in the next video.