In today’s world, we all are struggling to stay fit, healthy and beautiful. We eat sufficient carbs and fat in our diet but somewhere our protein intake is adversely hampered due to our bad food choices and food habits.

Protein in our diet is responsible for our body’s growth, muscle building, healthy hair and skin, stamina, endurance, etc. Proteins obtain from animal sources like egg, milk, and flesh are of good quality whereas proteins obtain from plant sources like cereal, pulses and nuts are of moderate quality that means animal proteins when taken in diet are better utilized by our body as compared to plant proteins. But does this mean that people who are vegan, vegetarian or those who eat meat less frequently only have moderate quality protein in their diet throughout their life which can result into impaired growth and wellbeing? The answer is No.

Protein quality of a diet can be increased to maximum by blending one protein to the other protein, this could be easily explained by an example of “Rajma Chaawal”- Rajma or kidney beans is a pulse having a moderate quality protein and rice is a cereal which also have moderate quality protein but when eaten together as rajma chawal they both complement each other and become a source of good quality protein.

Some more combination of food which complement each other are listed below:

1.Cereal + Pulse: Dal-chawal, soya chaap roll, chhole chawal, peanut butter and bread, Rajama chawal, Dal baati, Dal roti, etc.

2.Cereal + Milk/ Paneer/Curd: Kheer, Kadhi chawal, Paneer masala oats, Paneer Paratha, Curd rice, Raita with paratha, Milk porridge, etc.

3.Cereal + Egg/ Chicken/ Fish: Biryani, Bread-omelet, Egg Paratha, Chicken roll, Fish rice, etc.

4.Pulses + Sesame seed/ Almonds: Lentil soup topped with almonds, Tofu salad garnished with sesame seed, Hummus with sesame seeds, etc.

5.Nuts + Vegetables: Broccoli salad with almonds, Vegetable soup garnished by sesame and flax seed, etc.

Include these food combination in your meals and ensure that you get sufficient good quality protein in your diet.