Why dal isn't the answer, and what a full vegetarian day looks like when you count it properly. By Pranav Raut, postpartum coach for NRI mothers.
The short answer
Hitting a protein target on an Indian vegetarian diet isn’t difficult, and you don’t have to leave Indian food to do it. It just isn’t automatic, and most people are a long way short without knowing it.
The reason is that the foods we think of as our protein, dal above all, carry far less than people assume and come with a lot of carbohydrate attached. A katori of moong dal has about seven grams of protein and eighteen grams of carbohydrate. It’s a good food, just not a protein source in the way a plan needs one.
First, the target
If you’re breastfeeding, the current official recommendation is around 1.05 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Research using more modern methods suggests the real requirement may be considerably higher, in the region of 1.7 to 1.9 grams per kilogram.
You’ll see one gram per kilogram quoted everywhere. Treat that as a floor rather than a goal. For most feeding mothers I work towards 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram, settled with whoever is managing your nutrition.
For a 60 kg mother that’s roughly 72 to 96 grams a day.
Write your number down before you read the table below, or the figures won’t mean much.
The numbers, per typical Indian portion
Food, portion, calories, protein in grams.
- Paneer, low-fat, 100 g: 120 cal, 18 g protein
- Paneer, full-fat, 100 g: 290 cal, 18 g protein
- Tofu, 100 g: 130 cal, 14 g protein
- Soya chunks, dry, 50 g: 172 cal, 26 g protein
- Curd, low-fat, one katori, 100 g: 60 cal, 3.5 g protein
- Milk, toned, one cup, 200 ml: 120 cal, 6.6 g protein
- Moong dal, cooked, one katori, 150 g: 105 cal, 7 g protein
- Toor dal, cooked, one katori, 150 g: 120 cal, 7 g protein
- Rajma, cooked, one katori, 150 g: 140 cal, 9 g protein
- Chana, cooked, one katori, 150 g: 160 cal, 9 g protein
- Whey protein, one scoop, 30 g: 120 cal, 24 g protein
Three things stand out once you look at the list closely.
Soya chunks are the cheapest protein in an Indian kitchen by a distance. Fifty grams dry, which swells into a substantial portion, carries twenty-six grams, and nothing else vegetarian comes close for the price.
Low-fat paneer carries the same protein as full-fat for less than half the calories. If paneer is a daily food in your house, that one swap is worth more than most diet changes.
Dal is mostly a carbohydrate food with some protein in it. Two katoris, which is a lot of dal, get you fourteen grams, and that’s less than a fifth of your day’s requirement.
What a full vegetarian day looks like
The target here is roughly 80 grams, for a mother around 60 kg.
Morning. One cup of toned milk with your tea or coffee, 6.6 g. One katori of low-fat curd with breakfast, 3.5 g. Running total: 10 g.
Breakfast. Two besan chilla, or poha with a katori of sprouts, or idli with sambar. Call it 10 to 12 g depending on what you make. Running total: around 22 g.
Lunch. One katori of rajma or chana, 9 g. Roti and rice as usual, which carry a few grams between them. One katori of curd, 3.5 g. Running total: around 37 g.
Afternoon. This is the gap in most Indian days, and it’s where the laddu usually goes. One scoop of whey, 24 g, or 50 g of soya chunks cooked into something, 26 g. Running total: around 61 g.
Dinner. Paneer, 100 g low-fat, 18 g. Vegetables, roti. Running total: around 79 g.
That’s a normal Indian day. No chicken, no eggs, nothing you wouldn’t cook anyway. The only real change is that the afternoon carries protein instead of sugar, and the paneer is the low-fat one.
If you don’t use a supplement
Whey does the afternoon job in one step, but you don’t need it, and plenty of my clients do this without it.
Replace that scoop with 50 g of soya chunks, which carries more protein than the whey does, costs less, and fills you up considerably more. Cook them into a sabzi, a pulao or a curry once and eat across two days.
Roasted chana, a handful, gets you partway. Paneer cubes work as a snack, and so does a second katori of curd.
The principle is the same either way: one protein anchor at every eating occasion, including the afternoon.
If you’re vegan
Your options are soya chunks, tofu, tempeh, rajma, chana, peanuts and a pea or soy protein powder. Plant milks vary enormously in protein, so check the label rather than assuming. Many carry almost none.
Watch B12 specifically, because plant foods can’t reliably supply it. That’s a conversation for your doctor, and it usually ends in a supplement.
Three common mistakes
Counting dal as the protein and stopping there. It’s a common reason your total sits near 35 g when you believe it’s near 70.
Using full-fat paneer daily. You get the same protein for more than double the calories, and it’s a quiet reason many plates run over.
Leaving the afternoon empty. Most Indian days have a four o’clock gap, and if protein doesn’t fill it, sugar will, and then the evening goes wrong too.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to combine proteins at each meal?
No. The older advice about combining complementary proteins at every meal has been superseded, and eating a variety across the day is enough for most people.
Is whey protein safe while breastfeeding?
Whey is a milk protein, and for most mothers it’s food rather than a drug. Check the label for added ingredients, and if you have a medical condition or your doctor is monitoring something, ask them first.
Is soya bad for hormones?
The concern comes largely from animal studies at doses far above normal human intake. Soya in ordinary food amounts is generally considered fine. If you have a thyroid condition, mention it to your doctor, because timing relative to medication can matter.
How much protein is too much?
For a healthy person this range isn’t a concern. If you have kidney disease or your doctor is monitoring kidney function, your protein intake is a medical decision, not one to take from an article.
I am not breastfeeding. Does the target change?
Yes, it comes down somewhat. Around 1 to 1.4 grams per kilogram is a reasonable working range for a woman doing resistance training and losing fat.
The one line to take away
Write down your number, put a protein anchor at every eating occasion including the afternoon, and stop counting dal as your protein.
Where to go next
Parent Fitness Coach on Instagram carries our latest postpartum guidance and the experiences of the mothers we coach.
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If you’d rather not count every dish yourself, How to Get Your Pre-Pregnancy Body Back in 90 Days has the full Indian food chart with calories, protein, carbohydrate and fat for every common dish, vegetarian and non-vegetarian. It also covers fibre targets, a complete vegetarian day built out, regional swaps for South Indian, North Indian and Maharashtrian kitchens, and a pantry list for mothers living abroad. 232 pages.
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If you would like a food plan built around your own reports and kitchen, you can book a one-to-one consultation call.
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Mothers describe their experience in their own words in this video interview series.
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About the author
Pranav Raut is a postpartum coach for NRI mothers and the founder of Parent Fitness Coach and the Reverse Fat System. A certified nutritionist, he has spent six years in the postpartum space and coached more than 1,000 working mothers, including NRI mothers in the USA, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Singapore, Doha and Dubai.
Sources
- Protein requirements of healthy lactating women: Journal of Nutrition https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2475299123081714
This article is for education and is not medical advice. Do not ignore the advice of your healthcare professional.