Monday, August 31, 2009

Healthy Eating tips – Indian Style

By Mrs. Suma Vitta

This article is provided by Mrs. Suma Pradeep Vitta. Suma is a Registered Dietitian and a Certified Diabetes Educator and works as a consultant at a local endocrinologist office at Brookwood Hospital and Eye foundation in Birmingham, AL. She can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Following list is a general reference for incorporating healthy foods while planning meals and snacks.  I strongly urge that persons with diabetes or any other disease condition seek the guidance of a registered dietitian for nutrition education and to help you design your individualized meal plan. Following plan gives you some ideas to increase fiber, lean protein and good fats in your diet (1-26).

1. Soak oatmeal in nonfat yogurt (home made preferred) for 5 minutes and add a little bit of pickle or tomato chutney.  This can be a great breakfast meal; this is my husband Pradeep’s invention!!

2. Try plain cheerios, 1 biscuit of shredded wheat and few raisins or half a banana with non fat milk or 1% milk, sweeten with Splenda.

3. Make chapattis out of ½ whole wheat flour, 1/2 defatted soy flour and flax seed, make this dough with non fat yogurt. You can also add chopped spinach, dhanjeera powder, some chili powder, little olive oil and salt. Make small chapattis using poori presser, cook on tava with nonstick cooking spray or use a little canola or olive oil.  Eat this with dhal, chutney (other than coconut) or liquid curry made with cauliflower, eggplant etc or any low starch vegetable.

4. 2-3 small dosas, idlis, few dhoklas without coconut but with chutneys as tomato, onion etc can be eaten at breakfast. Add sambar without potatoes but with lot of other low carb veggies with your Idlis or Dosas.  Limit coconut chutney no more than 2 teaspoons.  Try different combination of podis made with lentils as chana dhal, urad dhal etc.

5. Try getting some protein with above carbohydrate choices at breakfast as a boiled egg without yellow or make omelets with egg beaters.

6. Pack a serving of fruit such as strawberries, peaches, watermelon, oranges etc or even canned/chilled fruit packed in its fruit juice with a serving of low fat cottage cheese or string cheese made with low fat milk as a snack.

7. Cook brown rice, make a curry with onion tomato base and garam masala, and add sautéed veggies as broccoli and carrots.  Stir-fry a soy patty, mix this with above mixture, and take this for lunch along with a salad with low fat dressing or raita with cucumbers, tomatoes and other veggies mixed in nonfat yogurt.

8. Any of the following can be some satisfying mid-afternoon snacks with coffee, tea or unsweetened beverage: a Low fat yogurt, South beach snack bars, fruit, Air popped popcorn, Fruit with low fat cottage cheese, All bran crackers with string cheese made with skim milk, a slice of thin crust veggie pizza, Veggie sandwich (on sugar free/double fiber bread) with cucumbers, tomatoes, a slice of low fat cheese with pudina or tomato chutney, Pretzel/raisin/peanut mixed trail mix, Sugar free pudding etc.

9. Use low starch veggies as much as possible. Examples include green beans, tomatoes, cauliflower, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, and carrots etc. Add whole beans at least 3 times per week. Limit potatoes, green peas and corn to 1-2 per week. Watch portions.

10. Dhal with 2 medium whole wheat chapattis, green bean or eggplant curry with salad, small portion of rice (brown rice preferred) with yogurt should complete a meal.

11. Try Progresso “lite” soups - they have approximately 80 calories per serving, add non starchy veggies to it along with some whole beans to increase fiber and nutrient content and volume, add seasoning made with small amount of olive or canola oil.  To create an Indian version with the soups add regular seasoning with a little garam masala, also you can add spinach and other greens to the soups to give more nutritive value and volume. Add a sandwich made with Nature’s own double the fiber/sugar free bread with natural peanut butter and sugar free jelly or Morning star soy patty (garden veggie).  Fill in lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a dash of tomato chutney

12. Steam cook cabbage, tomatoes, broccoli or green beans, pressure cook with some water have as soup right before a meal.

13. Water is vital; beverages as cokes/Pepsis can contribute to “empty calories” try variety of flavors by Krystal Lite and diet drinks, even better would be non-fat buttermilk with seasoning or sweetened with Splenda.

14. Try flavored butter milk. Add cilantro, seasoning , dhanjeera powder and chili powder with a hint of lemon juice and salt in diluted non fat butter milk, this is a refreshing drink and you can make it and keep it in the refrigerator and have it anytime . Liquids fill you up so if you are still hungry after your meals or after eating your specified amount of snack go ahead have this drink which will fill you up and provides less than 50 calories in 3 cups.

15. Make snacks with a combination of rice krispies, shredded wheat , add in seasoning with few peanuts , mustard seeds and cumin, mix in any masala powder add a little salt and splenda. Mix this whole mixture, bake in the oven at 200 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Have a serving of this mix in tomatoes, onions and carrots with some lime juice or tamarind chutney—this can be a good snack with tea or coffee.

16. While preparing dhal, pressure soak dhal, vegetable, onion, tomatoes and ground chilies. Add in small amount of seasoning with canola oil after above has been pressure cooked.

17. Try using garlic, onions and tomatoes as much as you can. Adding tomatoes I your onion mixture will also reduce the amount of oil that is needed in preparing Indian curries.

18. While preparing dry curry, do not fry the vegetable.  Steam cook frozen or fresh vegetable half way and then sauté with little bit of oil.

19. Prepare sprouts with whole green gram or mung—soak in water overnight, drain it in the morning, put this in a vessel, cover with a thin cloth and put it in a warm area over night. Cook this sprouted mixture with small amount of water and salt so as to take away the smell. Actually sprouts are eaten raw with a combination of cucumber, carrots and lime juice. I prefer it to be cooked a little with salt. Usually I make the sprout, cook them a little as above and put in the freezer in a freezer bag.  Add cooked sprout with any vegetable dish that you have prepared.

20. Boil eggs and store in refrigerator, take away the yellow eat at breakfast/snack or at meal times. Cook eggs unshelled with a little salt.

21. If you eat small amounts of white meat that is great. Add in grilled chicken to your favorite salads or rice items.  Eat fish that is grilled at least 3 per week. Prepare curries with lean chicken without skin.

22. Buy prepackaged salads and vegetables like Broccoli, green beans etc. Microwave vegetables as Broccoli/cauliflower etc for 3-5 mins for a quick steamed vegetable dish. This is a quick way of incorporating vegetables in our busy and hectic lives.

23. Add grilled chicken or Soy patty or whole beans such as Garbanzo beans or kidney beans or whole mung on salads, add in low fat vinaigrette dressing or just salt and pepper or dressing made with low fat yogurt mixed in with Indian spice mixture.

24. Mix in fruit as apples, berries or any other fruit with your salad to create a veggie/fruit mixture try with a low fat berry dressing or chaat masala.

25. Don’t worry too much about not eating any of those yummy desserts or fried snacks once in a while. Watch portions and other high fatty/ high carbohydrate foods that may need to be cut back while including small amount of your not-so-healthy party snacks!!  Go ahead and walk an extra mile or exercise on your tread mill for an extra 15-20 minutes. Always burn those extra calories with exercise.

26. We are seeing so many obese children at this day of an age. Start healthy eating, healthy living while young because this is a habit, children learn from their parents and peers, if we can provide a healthy environment at home we can hope that our children will grow up to be healthy adults.

So as a community let us all start thinking healthy, next time we plan a party let us start thinking about including one or two healthy ways of cutting back on fat and increasing fiber in our diet. We do not have to live a life by becoming slaves to sumptuous, high fatty meals let us make it simple and return to basics. Let us cut back on 1000 varieties of curries, rice and sweets, human body does not require much. Let us feed our souls and not our senses alone. We are one big family - let us try finding a true friend in all of us by soulful conversations, peaceful interaction and heartfelt hugs. Food is a fuel that is to nourish us this beautiful machine-the human body, let us fuel this body well with proper nutrition and exercise and enjoy a wholesome and an enriching life.

 

Copyright 2009-2012 Pravasi Herald All Rights Reserved