Whats the Fuss about Protein?

What do you think about when you hear the word protein? Maybe it's an ad for some protein shake that promises massive muscles? Or is it the last high-protein diet craze you read about? With all this talk about protein, you might think we were at risk for not eating enough. In fact, most of us eat more protein than we need. Protein is in many foods that we eat on a regular basis.

Protein can help you shed those unwanted pounds and keep your belly full. But it's important to eat the right amount and the right kind of protein to get the health benefits.

Proteins are part of every cell, tissue, and organ in our bodies. These body proteins are constantly being broken down and replaced. When you eat foods that contain protein, the digestive juices in your stomach and intestine go to work. They break down the protein in food into basic units, called amino acids. The amino acids then can be reused to make the proteins your body needs to maintain muscles, bones, blood, and body organs.

Think of amino acids as the building blocks. Proteins are sometimes described as long necklaces with differently shaped beads. Each bead is a small amino acid.

These amino acids can join together to make thousands of different proteins. Scientists have found many different amino acids in protein, but 22 of them are very important to human health. Of those 22 amino acids, your body can make 13 of them without you ever thinking about it. Your body can't make the other nine amino acids, but you can get them by eating protein-rich foods. They are called essential amino acids because it's essential that you get them from the foods you eat.

Different Kinds of Protein

Protein from animal sources, such as meat and milk, is called complete, because it contains all nine of the essential amino acids. Most vegetable protein is considered incomplete because it lacks one or more of the essential amino acids. This can be a concern for someone who dont eat meat or milk products. But people who eat a vegetarian diet can still get all their essential amino acids by eating a wide variety of protein-rich vegetable foods.

For instance, you can't get all the amino acids you need from peanuts alone, but if you have peanut butter on whole-grain bread you're set. Likewise, red beans won't give you everything you need, but red beans and rice will do the trick. The good news is that you don't have to eat all the essential amino acids in every meal. As long as you have a variety of protein sources throughout the day, your body will grab what it needs from each meal.

A great way to clock up on some quick Protein during breakfast is via cereal! Soulfull is a pan-Indian producer of healthy fills, mixes and flakes, with generous quantities of finger millet and protein in their composition - try them out, today!

7 Types of Dosas South Indians Love

Most will tell you that Dosas are the ultimate South Indian fast food. After all, they're not very difficult to make, are served in nearly every office canteen, and are light on the pocket. Most importantly, they provide a high quality filling meal, and what more would one want from Breakfast, the meal of the day where Dosas are the most commonplace.

Inevitably, they come in various shapes and sizes, colours and flavours. We've handpicked seven of the most popular ones from down South! ;

1. Plain Dosa

Also called 'Saada' Dosa, this is the most basic form of the dish. The batter is made of rice, dal and methi and allowed to ferment overnight before they are rolled out on the pan and fried, one after the other. The resulting taste is crisp and priceless; though if one feels they are lacking some spice, they can accessorize it with a Chutney on the side, as seen above.

2. Rava Dosa

The personal favourite of many, these Dosas don't demand that the batter be fermented due to it being essentially comprised of Rava or Semolina. The Dosa itself is a pored masterpiece, which only serves to make it crisper! Do not underestimate it; it might look thin, but it is crunchy, tasty, long lasting and good for health..

3. Masala Dosa

 

Easily the most recognizable of them all, the Masala Dosa occupies the daily breakfast tables of many in India, and more so in the cities of Bangalore and Mangalore, where it has been claimed to be invented. Think of a Plain Dosa with spiced potato curry and there is your Masala Dosa. It works best with coconut Chutney and a dollop of Sambhar on the side.

4. Set Dosa

Thick and soft, Set Dosas are the anti-Rava Dosa and resemble fluffy pancakes on their best days. Why Set you ask? Because they are usually served in sets of three or four at a time and stacked one on top of the other, depending on size. If you're a lover of the crunchier variants of Dosas, these aren't for you but they make for a terrific snack nonetheless.

5. Ragi Dosa

Don't be taken aback by the rather darker complexion compared to its brothers and sisters from the Dosa family. The Ragi Dosa tastes just as good, and is as good for health as all the other ones. If anything, finger millets are a longer lasting food than rice or wheat so this might be the most filling one yet!

6. Adai

Made with a variety of dals, a couple of Adais are all you need to satiate any hunger pangs through the day. Thick and succulent, you can opt out of any side dishes too, such is its versatility. For various reasons, a lot of its faithfuls prefer it as an evening snack rather than having it as part of a fully fledged morning breakfast.

7. Uthappam

Another thick Dosa, the Uthappam comprises of vegetable toppings up top, with a judiciously soft interior which one experiences past the first few bites. Onions are the most common and popular vegetable used to make an Uthappam, but tomatoes and carrots are in demand too, as you can see in the above picture having adequate amounts of the latter.

Want to get upto speed making your own Dosas? Try out Rava, Ragi and Adais to begin with - they're amongst the easiest. Soulfull, a pan-Indian company accessible via www.soulfull.co.in provide you with mixes for the same - Ragi, Adai and Rava, all healthy and ideal for a scrumptious breakfast!

Healthy Resolutions

Who doesn't start their New Year pledging to begin a new healthier lifestyle, particularly when it comes to food? Annually, almost every one of us come up with New Year's Resolutions in an attempt to start afresh and turn over a healthy new leaf...pun intended.

Of course, this is not helped in the least by the sudden chilly assault of gym and health food advertisements encroaching upon your warm gluttonous supermarket adverts come the turn of the year. This is not tough luck; gym owners and diet food manufacturers are taking advantage of your current plight – that of being helplessly cemented to the couch  amidst one of your eating binges – to plug their vision (Sale, actually) of a ‘New You’.

These advertisements may inspire you to pen up a list of New Year’s resolutions, all designed around the vision of the quintessential ‘New You’; he\she is fit and attractive, gains pleasure from helping others and expanding his/her mind, and has an all-round pleasant time of it.

Who's to say though that the resolutions will stick? Resolutions overall are for the amibitious, and when you chalk up something beyond your own purview of the metric, chances abound that it will suffer a Titanic fate.

Will power isn't the issue. Will power is about depriving oneself, and let's face it - who likes doing that in any case? The problem: is that most people are led into unrealistic expectations, they decide that 'this' is the year and season wherein they're going to completely change everything about their diet. Which is just too hard to do.

The bottomline is thus: When making dietary changes, start small.Set a few realistic goals. In the long run, you'll have better self-esteem and more self-confidence because you'll actually stick with them. For instance, if you really want to end up healthier over the coming year, shoot for finger millet, commonly known as 'Ragi'. Soulfull, a reknowned producer of flakes, fills and more within the genre is an ideal brand to get yous started with your quest.

And whatever you do, don't skip breakfast!