Is Plant Protein nutritious? How it benefits the health

One of the most common misconceptions heard about plant proteins is that they typically lack in essential nutrients especially protein. This is completely fabricated as plant-based proteins provide amazing health benefits. Complete proteins contain all essential amino acids that our body can’t produce itself. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein that are required for digestion, repair body tissues, muscle and hair growth, and for the production of various enzymes and antibodies.

Animal sources of protein such as dairy products, beef, poultry and fish contain all nine essential amino acids required for further growth and development but Plant proteins, such as those found in peas, leafy greens, nuts, buckwheat, quinoa, and soy are also a complete and nutritious form of protein that are low in calories and high in nutrients as compared to animal protein.

Benefits of Plant Protein

1. Help our mother earth: A big benefit for choosing plant-based protein over animal protein is that it has positive effect on the environment. Manufacturing plant-based protein is healthy for our mother earth as it requires less land, water, and other resources to grow and harvest crops than it does for animal protein.
   Plants are biodegradable and create less waste and keep the environment clean and healthy. Large livestock farns create a ton of waste that is responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions that our world suffers from. If you want to create less impact on earth, buying plant protein is a helpful step for a cleaner environment and also for a healthy and fit body.
2. High in fiber: Plant-based proteins offer high levels of fiber. For example, one cup of cooked lentils has about 15-16 grams of fiber, which is just about half the daily recommended amount of fiber required for body. Fiber offers many health benefits and its well-known benefit is to enhance the digestive health.
   
   Consuming optimal levels of fiber per day in your diet can help reduce the cons of digestive-related issues like constipation, bloating, gut inflammation etc. Fiber helps to control blood sugar levels by slowing down the absorption of sugar thus minimizing the risk of diabetes. It helps to maintain a healthy weight, lower the risk of cancer and heart diseases. In addition to it, fibre helps to keep you full for a long time by controlling your appetite which is the key to consuming fewer calories.

3. Loaded with healthy fats: When it comes to getting the daily intake of plant based healthy fats, incorporating nuts and nuts butter in your diet should always be your preference as they are extremely healthy and more delicious. Nuts and nuts butter are not only a convenient way to add healthy fats to your diet which control sugar levels, blood pressure, balance hormones, and maintain proper appetite but they're also easily broken by body thus, improve overall digestion and immunity.
4. Supports weight loss: If you are trying to lose weight or struggling with your weight loss plan than maintaining a standard level of protein in your diet is extremely important. Protein helps keep you full, reduce hunger and sugar cravings and boost your metabolism. If you’re hitting the gym and doing workouts with the goal of weight-loss then consider protein as your best gym friend. Plant-based proteins carry a specific advantage for dieters over other proteins as they are low in saturated fats and calories but high in fiber. So instead of bulking your body with many calories they provide minimum calories with maximum benefits.
5. Improve athletic performance: Plant based diet provides all the nutrients the body need for training and further competition. Most people look at athletes and assume that they're consuming an endless supply of animal protein to get those big, toned and ripped muscles. But it’s not the truth. So many athletes adopted plant-based diet and because of that they're playing better than ever with enhanced energy level and fast recovery.

Sources of Plant Based Protein

• Green Peas (9g/serving)
• Spinach(9g/serving)
• Flax Seeds (18g/100g)
• Beetroot (4g/cup)
• Almond Butter (8g/serving)
• Black Beans (15g/cup)
• Chickpeas (14.5g/cup)
• Kidney Beans (8g/cup)
• Lentils (18g/cup)
• Chia Seeds (4.5g/ounce)
• Hemp Seeds (9g/serving)
• Nutritional Yeast (9g/serving)
• Oatmeal (14g/cup)
• Pumpkin Seeds (12g/cup)
• Quinoa (8g/serving)