Comment by carefree-bob
8 hours ago
Oats are about 15% calories from protein, 85% from carbs.
High protein foods would be: egg white (90% calories from protein), chicken breast (80%), lean fish such as cod (90%)
medium protein foods would be: fatty beef (e.g. ribeye) 50% calories from protein, cottage cheese (60%), fatty fish like salmon (55% calories from protein), whole eggs (fatty yolk plus white, 36% calories from protein), soybeans (36-40%)
low protein foods would be: lentils (30%), 2% milk (26% calories from protein), lima beans (22% protein), parmesan cheese (30%), summer squash/zuccini (24% protein), most mushrooms (25-30%).
very-low protein foods would be: rice (9%), onions (9%), winter squash (10%), red bell peppers (12-13%), sweet corn (12%)
Here, by very low, I mean if you try to get your protein from these sources, you will end up obese unless you expend extreme amounts of energy exercising or maintain serious protein deficiencies (muscle loss). You can get decent amount of protein if you are downing lentils, whole milk, parmesan, soybeans, salmon, etc, e.g. you don't need to eat high protein foods, but this is about the bottom level to get reasonable protein while maintaining reasonable weight unless you are a day laborer or expending massive calories.
At only 15% calories from protein (the rest being carbs), oats would be not much better than corn in terms of protein content per calorie consumed. Nothing wrong with eating some corn on the cob, but that's not gonna be a major source of protein for anyone unless you are willing to consume huge amounts of carbs.
I assume they mean non animal sources of protein. Of course it'll be hard for plant based foods to compete. Out of non animal sources, oatmeal is pretty good, especially as a cheap staple food no less
The human body does not grade on a curve. There is as much protein in oatmeal per calorie as there is in red bell peppers and obviously people don't cite red bell peppers as a high protein food, this is true even if for some reason they really prefer to eat red bell peppers.
If you want something from non-animal sources, go for mushrooms and soybeans, which have twice as much protein per calorie as oats. Mushrooms are an under-rated source of protein, as is cottage cheese.