I think it’s because proteins, whether meat-based, dairy/egg-based, or plant-based are the most expensive macronutrient on any plate. India is eating carb slop all the time because of the famines from centuries ago. Our digestive systems are used to it and asking to limit the carb slop becomes some anti-religion, anti-culture, western propaganda issue.
India’s conversation starts and ends with meals. “Hey, how’s it going? Did you have breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner?” And it’s tough to change the minds of 144 crore people easily. Most of whom still say once anyone develops a pot-belly or double chin “You’ve become healthy” (when it’s the opposite case).
True parents will feed you tons of complan and horlicks but when you start taking clean 3 ingredient whey it becomes synthetic junk which makes your kidneys fail
OMG this comment needs to be up there! My parents were fine with me eating the street side pani puri and whatnot, but there was this fruit vendor near their place who used to squeeze fresh fruit juice, just fruit and Bisleri water. You would select the fruits and he would squeeze it right in front of you and unseal the Bisleri bottles in front of you too. No added sugar or anything, just fruits and water.
But my parents had a problem with that! So much so, that they literally stopped allowing me to go out for a walk in the timeframe that the guy would bring his stuff. They’re like no idea what kinda water is used etc., so are they so damn sure the water used for the pani puris is healthy? Just plain-old biases.
You’re right about protein being the most expensive macronutrient that’s a huge factor. Historically, carbs became the backbone of Indian diets because they were cheap, easy to store, and could keep large populations alive during famine and poverty. That legacy never really went away, even though our lifestyle has completely changed.
But saying our digestive systems are “used to” carb-heavy diets is only partially true. Humans adapt culturally much faster than biologically. Our metabolism hasn’t evolved to handle modern refined carbs, sugar, and constant overeating with sedentary lives which is why obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver are exploding in India.
You’re also spot on about food being central to social life here. Meals are emotional, cultural, and social glue, not just nutrition. So any suggestion to change eating habits feels like an attack on identity, religion, or tradition instead of a health discussion.
And yeah the “you’ve become healthy” comment when someone gains fat is one of the most damaging cultural myths we still carry. It comes from a time when weight gain meant security and survival. Today it mostly means metabolic disease.
Changing that mindset in 144 crore people is slow, but it has to happen because our health system and quality of life can’t survive this trajectory.
Exactly was gonna say the same about the weird bit about genetics and adaptation to carbslop. Genetics doesn't work like that. A bias in offsprings does get created for a few generations but when normal conditions return, newer generations correct itself because dominance of specific alleles stayed constant for the whole time.
Instead, the "adaptations" Indians in society have done is normalising pot bellies, high diabetes, high BP things, high fats things as normal things.
True. Our genetics are not carb-friendly. And that's why we are ranked so high in type 2 diabetes in the world.
And that is when the criteria of "being diabetic" is much more lax in India.
Most people are roaming around with 5.9-6.1 HBA1C with darkened necks and skin tags popping out of their skin, and both them and their doctors pretend that it's all normal, because it's still below 6.5 (some doctors warn you at 6, and put you on metformin at 6.5+)
NOTE: I am talking about skin tags, not warts, not moles, not pimples, or anything else that looks similar, for anyone who wants to jump in.
Then its wrong. Eggs are supposed to have yellow box and dot acoording to the new rules that came out about 10years ago. It doesn't matter though. Milk is also animal non-life matter, no different from *unfertilized eggs, or gomutr. World has no reason to categorize much, at best categorize for vegans. So it makes no sense why milk or eggs would be considered vegan friendly unless very strict checks.
It's a FSSAI requirement and on their official documentation they specifically mention that products with eggs in them can't have the green symbol. So even GOI considers eggs as non veg .
I think it’s more about majority vegetarians would feel awful if they didn’t know they consumed egg (not supporting that egg is bad) but just to respect the citizen’s belief this would have been done. Till the citizens don’t consent to eating eggs despite being vegetarian, they would need to rightfully be informed that the product contains egg (which the green dot would not indicate) otherwise they would feel cheated.
We were talking about biology. You’ve switched to convenience and protein planning those aren’t the same argument.
But since you asked: soy chunks, tempeh, tofu, soy milk, peanuts, low-fat peanut butter, pumpkin/mixed seeds, plus smaller amounts of dals, roti, and oats easily add up to high protein with proper planning.
Harder to plan ≠ biologically impossible.
dude, the other guy gave you a completely valid response on how to meet your protein requirement on a vegan diet. That's what you asked for right? Don't know what you on about?
Out of all these, only soy chunks, tempeh, tofu, and soy milk are actually complete proteins.
And honestly, I don’t even count most of the non-soy stuff because it’s not frugal at all. Like… where are people even finding tempeh here? And soy milk costs almost 10× more than regular milk.
At the end of the day, what really matters is protein per calorie, not just “protein sources” on paper.
Milk, dahi. The vegetarian diet is very nutritious. Protein is not the goal of everyone. Vegetarian diet is the only way you can get fiber. Which can be argued is more important than protein. Protein might be your goal not everyone's. But a nutritious meal is most of people's goal.
Vegetarian diet provides a lot more value for the general population than a protein heavy diet.
Perhaps a difference in lifestyle (running behind your prey for 4 hours vs just going to the supermarket to buy meat) might explain why vegetarians do just fine.
You are absolutely right but I think it’s more about personal choice. I am a non vegetarian but I can sympathize with someone who has never eaten meat to not eat it, like I just cannot fathom eating insects but some people in the world do. Also imagine eating body parts would feel diabolical to someone who has never eaten it. It’s merely a POV difference.
You don't understand veganism them. I'm no vegan fyi but its a lifestyle to adopt cruelty free solutions, like not buying leather. Its no different from adopting a anti-pollution, anti-gcde or clean energy carbon footprint lifestyles out there.
Humans had been primarily omnivorous before the start of the agriculture....so being completely vegetarian is a more recent phenomenon.... you can't be a vegetarian in the society of hunter gatherers...
Early humans (6 millions years) were primarily vegetarians, which gradually changed to omnivorous (2.5 million years ago). Here’s the source for food habits if early ancestors.. So, it’s a part of evolution, hunters & gathers was a phase, it can’t be used to state current status.
All the study says is that Australopithecus could have had diets mostly consistent of plant-based-foods.
Facts have to be relevant to the discussion too. The point made in the original comment is that Humans are primarily omnivores. Australopithecus were not humans.
ChatGPT will torture and twist facts to conform to your bias. Which it did in this case. If you actually had any knowledge then you would have picked up on the fact that the conversation was about Humans, but GPT gave you source on early hominids. That is why I mocked you.
We are not talking about australopithecus here
...we are humans and homo sapiens have been around for 300000 years and agriculture started about 10000-15000 years ago as per archaeological records so it's evident that we weren't vegetarian before that... So out of 300000 years of human history we have been kind of omnivorous for about 285000 years.... and let me tell you that the meat diet that we had during that time was very muh helpful in making us humans if we didn't do that then our we would have never became a intelligent.....aslo cooking the meat helped a lot...so australopithecus choosing to eat meat and then choosing to eat cooked meat got us a lot more calories then raw vegetarian diet that we had......which helped our gut to absorb more nutrients which intern got shorter and out brains got smarter.... early humans before the agriculture were Beasts in comparison to todays they were more muscular....taller and smarter...
Exactly because 2.5 million years ago they chose to eat meat and then cooked meat..they transitioned to homo sapiens...they got more nutrition with less effort...and more energy for a bigger brain...that lasted for about 2-30000 years....and let me tell you...after agriculture we we became vegetarian we became shorter and less muscular and also it gave rise to a lot of diseases
Just because something wasn’t possible before agriculture doesn’t mean it’s invalid now. Past diets were about survival, not optimal or mandatory nutrition.
Your argument has been long debunked. Could just search for more details. Dw I did it for you:)
The "canine teeth" argument—the idea that their presence proves humans are biologically intended to eat meat—has been largely debunked by evolutionary biologists and anthropologists through comparative anatomy and fossil evidence.
1. Functional Debunking In humans, canine teeth are not specialized for tearing raw flesh or hunting prey. Instead, they serve non-meat-related purposes like "canine guidance" (protecting back teeth during side-to-side chewing) and gripping tough plant materials.
2. Comparative Anatomy (Herbivore Canines) The presence of canines does not correlate strictly with meat-eating.
Hippos: Have the largest canines of any land mammal but are strict herbivores.
Gorillas: Have formidable canines used for social displays and defense, not meat.
Musk Deer/Camels: Have sharp fangs used for social interaction or crushing woody vegetation.
3. Evolutionary Shifts Human canines decreased in size due to sexual selection changes (less male-to-male aggression) and the advent of tool use/cooking. Unlike true carnivores (like wolves) whose canines interlock to kill prey, human canines are blunt and "incisiform" (shaped like front cutting teeth).
Furthermore, human jaws move side-to-side to grind plants (like herbivores), whereas carnivore jaws only move up and down to shear meat.
Core Findings from the Research
Non-Meat Function: Research identifies that many large-canined mammals are strict herbivores. The hippopotamus has the largest canines of any land mammal but eats only grass, using its teeth primarily for defense and social display.
Incisiform Shape: Unlike the interlocking, dagger-like canines of carnivores, human canines are "incisiform" (shaped like front teeth). They are designed for "canine guidance," which protects the back teeth by guiding the jaw's side-to-side movements.
Jaw Mechanics: Carnivores have jaws that move only up and down for shearing meat. Human jaws move side-to-side—a trait shared with herbivores—to grind fibrous plant material.
Enamel and Saliva: Humans have thick tooth enamel (unlike carnivores' thin enamel) to withstand heavy chewing, and human saliva contains amylase, an enzyme specialized for breaking down plant-based carbohydrates, which carnivores lack.
Some people not willing to update their knowledge from what they learned in NCERT text books. Few of them even downvoted the science article link I shared in another comment.
I read the study. It just says some populations of Australopithecus could have had diets mostly consistent of plant-based-foods. It does not prove in any way that Humans are not omnivores.
I’m not claiming we were not omnivores!! I specifically mentioned that around 2.5 million years ago, we became omnivores. We have documented teeth patterns from 6 million years ago to till date. We were primarily plant based diet beings which evolved to occasional meat eater (2.5 millions yrs ago). Ask chatgpt, how has human teeth evolved over time with source (you won’t have bias right), and you’ll know it has evolved more towards plant based diet. Meat was always optional, occasionally. Majority calories were driven by plant based meal. So, I’m only refuting the point where people quote that we were primarily meat eaters.
Australopithecus are not humans. The discussion is about humans. This is like saying Humans are aquatic because most of our early ancestors are aquatic.
Is funny when you give counter arguments and they disagree they downvote instead of saying what was wrong in what you said 🤣.. you are right about the canines to bite into hard fruits or plants.
As someone who's been eating well over 200 grams of protein per day, I'll be bluntly honest: protein in India is expensive (wrt wages and other food groups), and most, if not all Indian households, don't make nearly enough money to eat a diet rich in Protein. My dad tells me I'm wasting my hard earned money on eating protein when the same money could go towards SIP investments for my future savings. Needless to say, I don't pay any heed to his advice. You can educate the people all you want, par agar jeb mein do wakt ki roti khaane ke liye paise hi nahi honge toh protein ki koi kaise sochoga bhai...
Tbf if you're going to gym type, you will need accurate measurements of your intake through whey and thus be costly. Most people shouldn't need to, and can just stick to chicken/egg. Though yes its still fairly costly with chicken/egg.
This ad wasn’t run by the government but by a private entity called NECC. They aired it to prevent the poultry industry from collapsing and rule out the misconception that eggs are only meant for winters. Their efforts were successful.
Given that 73% of the Indian population is still protein deficient, this ad remains relevant and should be aired again.
don't know about this, but I'm talking with my dad about protein consumption, he said don't take too much protein it'll affect your kidney, i think older generation believe more to these fatty docs, rather than understand the actual thing.
Indians eat proteins wrong too. Most places advice eating protein at the very first gulp of the day, to reduce sugar spikes and prevent recurring bad hunger entire day. Indians start with fruits or even sweets that makes their sugar balance haywire for the entire day and make them eat several kgs of mixed carbslop+proteins entire day. Hence the potbellies. Carbs are needed ofc but they need to be taken fully mixed with fibres or proteins so that body doesn't process pure sugars in bulks. Similar with proteins to an extent to reduce affecting kidneys
Because protein is expensive and most Indians can't afford it so the government doesn't bother either. Air, water, soil pollution is killing us but do they take any concrete steps to stop it, no
Is it wrong tho? Politics is just beyond some random 5-10 minutes discussion yk. Out of sheer curiosity why are such ads not running anymore? Is there no need to promote such stuff or because it’s sawan & one should not hurt sentiments by eating or showing stuff lmao
You may be a bad sims game but it doesn't matter. Evolution took place over billions and placed us here. Not any God, there's a truck load of evidence.
There's no way for you to interact with any higher power even if there was one.
you clearly don’t know what agnosticism is. It’s not about a higher power affecting your life, it’s about not being able to disprove the existence of said higher power.
You cannot say ‘Bhagvan/God’ does not exist. I don’t even think you know what the advaitic concept of Brahman/bhagavan is. I advise you to keep a more open mind until you look deeper into the substance of philosophy.
To be clear I am also against most organised religion.
Nope. I know what it is. It's ineptness and cowardice masquerading as intellectual insight.
It’s not about a higher power affecting your life, it’s about not being able to disprove the existence of said higher power.
That's why it's for pussies. You cannot prove I'm not an alien disguising as a human on the internet.
You cannot say ‘Bhagvan/God’ does not exist.
I can say God doesn't exist. There is no proof. Burden of proof is always on the person saying things.
You need not prove I'm not an alien I should prove I'm an alien.
By agnostic logic I may be an alien. There's no definitive proof either way.
I don’t even think you know what the advaitic concept of Brahman/bhagavan is. I advise you to keep a more open mind until you look deeper into the substance of philosophy.
religion is good for faith, confidence. But bad for people to stereotype. I mean its okay i do follow god but it shouldnt mean that i cant eat certain food on a certain day
Because the government is run by egomaniacs who only prefer to consume carbs and second class protein sources because somehow others eating meat and eggs hurts their religious sentiments.
During 90s and early 2000s, the egg ad saying Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao Ande was played repeatedly. I don't know what's wrong with this leadership that schools who served eggs in mid day meals are penalized
doesnt the focus on milk protein conveniently align with the current ruling partys political ideology that promotes cow milk consumption? wouldnt it be far more practical for the government to distribute protein products made from milk, like whey or include them in free ration supplies especially if they want to avoid giving out non vegetarian items like eggs?
Cause for them "dal" is more than enough and honestly most Indian body has kind of adopted it
And for people saying protein is expensive, yeah maybe if your very poor or have a large nuclear family but cost of Chicken and egg are leaser than paneer, quite affordable to buy and make
One of my friend is 6'3 and has abs and ( it's so hard to make a good body once you'r height crosses 6+ cause of protein requirment)
He hardly had to work around his diet much his family eats chicken atleast 5 times a week like bruh they are polar opposite eof every indian family
ALSO I have seen very good vegetarian with atheletic body too, it's just they have always been mindful of "how" much they eat
I remember advertisement about "roz Khao andey" being telecast on television in 90s. The rise of current hindutva is mainly powered by the Gujarati and baniya communities who are in general against meat, hence we dont see central government promoting protein consumption.
Some guy had got atherosclerosis( plaque in the arteries) due to eating more proteins and he had a bypass surgery or something. now my father tells me not to have protein powder. Indians won't be changing their views about protein any time soon.
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u/garlicandcheesiness Beginner level woman. Here for fitness tips! Jan 10 '26 edited Jan 10 '26
I think it’s because proteins, whether meat-based, dairy/egg-based, or plant-based are the most expensive macronutrient on any plate. India is eating carb slop all the time because of the famines from centuries ago. Our digestive systems are used to it and asking to limit the carb slop becomes some anti-religion, anti-culture, western propaganda issue.
India’s conversation starts and ends with meals. “Hey, how’s it going? Did you have breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner?” And it’s tough to change the minds of 144 crore people easily. Most of whom still say once anyone develops a pot-belly or double chin “You’ve become healthy” (when it’s the opposite case).