Indian Food

Indian Food

Living in India and thus being surrounded by the yummy curries it is hard to make the locals (in this case Indians) understand that their food is actually not at all healthy. As an outsider you get angry looks or comment like ‘Then why are you eating it?’, ‘What are you saying? Indian food is the most healthy food!’. In the contrary. Of course, nobody wants to hear anything bad about their country, culture or habits, but it is sometimes frustrating to give advice to people that do not know what is actually healthy and what not.

Let’s talk again about the food pyramid. 

Water

As you can see the most important food sections are from water until eggs & dairy. The water intake here in India is better than in other countries, simply because:

1. There is no culture of drinking any type of alcoholic drink (like in Western countries) with a meal
2. It is a country where the temperature can rise till 50-55 degrees Celsius, thus automatically you are more thirsty
3. There is just a limited variety of syrups to put in water to make it ‘more tasty’
4. Since childhood the people are used to drink water only and not having it substituted by any other drink which is ‘tastier’

Vegetables

This is one of the most mistaken food groups in the whole pyramid. India has a large vegetarian population but yet they do not eat their veggies like it should. An adult person requires about 600-800g of vegetables per day, which means about 300-400g per meal. This is not at all achieved by most of the Indian people. Vegetables (and fruits) are important for the vitamines they bring. However, a common Indian dish, may it be lunch and/or dinner, does not even get to 1/3 of the daily portion that you need. The one or two katori(s) (bowl) that you take per meal is not much more than just 50g per katori. This means that in a full day the vegetable intake comes at a mere 100-200g per day. This is way to less!

Most Indian sabji’s (vegetable curries) are made with a lot of oil and spices. Now, this last one is not very bad; however, too much spices are also not healthy. A lot of chili can cause heartburn and stomach issues. The oil, I don’t think that I have to explain much more about this, is of course also not healthy when it exceeds more than 2 tbs per person. The vegetables are also completely cooked through that you almost don’t even have to chew them anymore but just swallow. When you make your vegetables too soft then all the nutritions that a vegetable has, are gone.

When there is a dish with paneer (Indian cheese), dal (lentils), meat/fish, chhole (chickpeas), rajma (red beans)… then there is no addition of a real vegetable. Sometimes some cut tomatoes, cucumbers and onion are served but never enough for achieving the daily vegetable intake. And, onions are again not really a vegetable.

As last, the understanding of what exactly is a vegetable and what not. All vegetarian curries are called sabji (vegetable curry) but they do not always contain actual vegetables. Potato is used a lot in Indian dishes but it is not at all a vegetable. Not because it grows in nature it means that it is a vegetable. Potatoes come under the same category of ‘grains’ as they exist more out of carbs. Same as red beans, peas, corn, chickpeas, onion, garlic… they do not fall under the category of vegetables.

What is also done here in India (by most people), if you have sabji left on your plate, “oh you don’t have roti (Indian bread) anymore, how you will eat the sabji now?”. What about eating it just like that? Most eat more roti than vegetable and when there is sabji left they just throw the sabji when there is no roti anymore.

Fruits

Fruits can be quite expensive, thus it can be quite difficult sometimes to achieve that daily amount. Bananas are eaten quite often, but yet again this is a food item which contains a lot of carbs. Though, it is not bad to eat but better not more than 2 per day. Fruit intake in general should be approx. 3 maximum per day and mostly be out of fruits with a high water containment.

Grains

The most known grains are in the form of rice, bread, pasta and potatoes. Of course there is a difference between which qualifies for healthy grains and which don't. In general, al the brown (which means unrefined) grains are better than the white ones. This means that brown rice, brown bread and brown pasta are better than their white equivalent. This because the nutritions sits within the brown grain. As a European, I love all kinds of bread. When I make a sandwich for lunch I here, in India, get often to hear (from my Indian family and colleagues) ‘Is this all what you will eat?’ or ‘You should eat more healthy, bread is not healthy.’ ABSOLUTELY WRONG. Bread, brown that is, is as healthy as roti. In fact, if the roti isn't made properly it is actually better to eat bread than roti. Bread is always baked thoroughly where roti can sometimes still be raw. Not everyone is a professional cook thus in all households it will happen sometimes that the roti is not baked enough which means you are actually eating raw dough. 

Rice is eaten all over India and there is nothing wrong with that, but it is always white rice. Again, this is not the worst thing but the combination with which it is eaten is not optimal. Mostly rice is eaten with dal (lentils and thus no vegetables), a non-veg curry (again no vegetables) or as in the form of pulao or biryani (both contain very less vegetables). The first time when I ate pulao I was surprised by the combination. It had a few tomato pieces, a few onion pieces and a lot of potato. Two times a grains (thus carbs) in one dish. It would have been the same as eating rice with pasta or bread with rice. Some real foodies like to top that up with namkeen (Indian snack) which is just the same in nutritions as chips and again carbs.

The amount of carbs that is eaten during the day is way to high in combination of the amount of vegetables that is eaten. Vegetable intake should be double of that of your grain intake and not the other way around. And two slices of brown bread has as much nutritions and calories as two home-made roti’s.

Health Fats & Seasoning

In the Indian kitchen mostly ghee, mustard oil and refined oil are used. These are three fats which belong to the top of the pyramid and considered to be optional. They are not healthy and do not bring anything good to your health, no matter what all those commercials try to say. Healthy fats are for example, olive oil and pine seed oil. Also avocado is a heathy fat.

Coming to the seasoning. Indian dishes are well known for their overwhelming spices. It is not for nothing called ‘seasoning’, it means, adding a bit of spices to add some flavour to your food and not adding a bit of food to your spices. Especially chili should not be added in a serious extend. Many people like spicy food, but that doesn’t mean that it is good for you. Heart burn, stomach issues and sometimes headaches are due to the use of too much chili (fresh and powder).

Conclusion

The other food groups of the pyramid are well maintained and in balance when talking about the Indian kitchen.

Many Indian people complain about stomach issues, heartburn and overweight. Mostly the women (but it also occurs with men) complain about the dark circles around their eyes and blame it on being dark skinned or not having enough sleep during the night. This is however just a small percentage of the cause. The dark circles around the eyes comes mostly from having not enough vitamine and not enough protein intake and not because the darker tint of the skin or less sleep. Yes, less sleep will make it even worse but that is not the main reason. If that was the reason than the whole world’s population would have dark circles as in the lifestyle which people have these days, sleep is out of the question.

I also do not know 1 Indian person who does not take any supplements as iron pills, multi-vitamin complex, calcium etc. 

Thus, it is important to balance your diet and keep yourself on the appropriate balance.

Weight Loss

Weight loss, what is it all about, why people want to lose weight, how do they do it and do all diets work...

So many doubts and questions when it comes to weight loss. There are also so many people struggling to lose weight, and it is sad that commercial companies and people who just want to make money, play in on this and trick those people who are desperately looking for a good weight loss solution.

Many diets are harmful, very harmful, for your health; however, the companies that provide these "exclusive", "wonder", "life changing"- diets, don't care a bit about it and just keep going with tricking people and playing with their lives.

I have tried a lot of those so called wonder diets, believe me I think I tried them all (as far as possible of course). And, at that time, I was very surprised that it didn't work. I thought I was doing it wrong or that it was just not meant for me and that I wasn't meant to lose weight. It put such a negative stamp on your self-esteem and motivation that I can understand very well that many people go through the same demotivation.

When I started to figure out that those '"wonder" diets are just a pile of bullshit in a wrapper, I started to do some research and study regarding nutritions and diets. I came to the conclusion that those "wonder" diets are mostly just words and the product itself doesn't bring anything good to your life. It cuts out whole nutrition groups, contain only one type nutrition (or none at all). It will only work if you follow that particular product and eat/drink literally nothing else.

The most hilarious, after doing my research, products I came across were like "diet chocolates" or "diet cookies". Yes, dear readers, I tried also these. It does exactly nothing. The diet chocolates you have to take one or two before each meal and it supposed to reduce your appetite. To my opinion that is at all not good. Yes, you want to lose weight but you don't want an eating disorder instead. What those chocolates actually do is not, like they say in the commercial, absorbing the fat of your food, instead they work like a laxative and nothing more. Which is of course very dangerous. When a doctor prescribes a laxative they also say to not continuously take it as it can cause internal bleeding and harm your intestinal bacteria. Who wants to harm that?? Not to mention that those chocolates also taste like the worst thing on earth.

The cookies was something else. You should replace 2 meals with 2 cookies and take only 1 normal meal preferable breakfast or dinner. Those cookies are meant to make you feel full a whole day. NOT!! Oh yes, I tried this as well. It doesn't make you feel full during the whole day, it doesn't even make you feel full after the "cookie meal". Yet again, also the cookies are made only of one nutrition mostly which are protein. Yes, protein are good for you but not if you only take protein.

One promising "wonder" diet are the meal-replacers. I'm repeating myself over and over again, but yes also this I tried. Basically every brand of meal replacer is the same, you don't eat normal meals anymore you take a meal of the diet. Depending from which to which brand you take the replacers of, with some you are allowed to add green vegetables and others not, with some you are allowed to take one normal meal with others you have to take only the meal replacers also snacks, etc. To be honest this worked, at the start. Like any other "miracle" diet, also this consist more of protein than any other nutrition. All those "specialists" say that carbs are like demons. Not correct. Yes taking too many carbs is not good as it will transform in to sugars if you take too much, but everyone needs a certain amount of good, unprocessed carbs. So, yes it works. It let me lose all my weight (about 10kg) in just 3-4 month, which is extreme and it gave me such a boost. But then, then the horror began. Your body has been consuming these pre-packed, processed foods for a long time and then you want to start going on a normal meal again as you have reached your goal. Then it all starts. Your body is not used to have fresh food anymore thus it can't digest it, you will start gaining weight again easily. If not then another negative point about this kind of diet is, that you have to do this diet every month for 1 week and keep replacing one meal, if you want to maintain your weight. So technically you will always be on a diet.

Making a big story short, don't go with those so called "miracle" diets. Instead, change your lifestyle and eating habits. With life style I don't mean directly to say that you have to change your job or stop your hobbies. No, just change your eating habits and your activity level.

So far any person I've consulted with my thoughts about diets and my lifestyle, are very enthusiastic and when they try it they see and keep seeing the difference. It is not always easy to change your lifestyle but if you try even half of it you can see and feel the difference.

You can check here to read more about my views and how to contain a healthy lifestyle, whether it be for losing weight or just maintaining it. I've made it in pdf so that you can easily download it and read it whenever you have the time.

Have fun living your life in a healthy way and comment your doubts/thoughts and/or ideas!

Work hard, play hard!

Yet again I came across a so called "wonder" diet pill. The slogan literally says:

"No time for gym? No time for dieting? No problem! With this revolutionary pill you will melt body and belly fat in no time without doing anything!!!"

While people like me want to help others to achieve their goals in a natural and healthy way, those kind of products just crush everything we and you work for.

Once again I will say, there is NO such thing as a wonder diet pill! If it says you will lose weight in no time and you wont have to do any workout nor special diet, it is a LIE!

Even if it works, it will never work without doing effort.

I know what it is, it is a lot of effort and it doesn't come with an easy manual to follow. Everybody's metabolism is different and reacts different, but that is no reason to give up a healthy life.

Forget those "wonder pills", magic clothes and fairytales. Don't depend on those, work hard, live healthy and get the body you want!

Diet Supplements

"I'm taking all kinds of supplements but still there is no result. Why? Nothing works for me! I give up, having a body like a celebrity isn't put away for me."

First question you need to ask yourself: Do you know what celebrities all do to come/be in perfect shape and are you doing the same? 

The answer will be most likely "No", as you don't know what all celebrities do to get in shape. 

"Yes, I do know! Because it was on the internet that they revealed their secret."

Who says that they told everything to the interviewer? They are maybe restricted to tell everything. Yes, they might be using pill x or cloth z or patch y, but do you know what else they do/use?

We have seen it all, the commercials for the new groundbreaking dieting miracle that is relative cheap in price also. Yet again ask yourself, if it really is a miracle product, then why are there still so many people struggling to get that body they want? It is a miracle and it is relative cheap, so why still 90% of the population is struggling? Because there is no such thing as a miracle product!

Yes, it might be HELPING you during your changes, but it DOESN'T do the work on its own. If you only eat that 'slimming chocolate' but further you don't workout nor you keep a proper diet, then that 'miracle chocolate' wont help at all.

Also be very careful with those products, as they never contain natural ingredients (also don't believe it when the commercials say they are healthy). They can damage your digestive system, some can even cause cancer. All the 'miracle' chocolates and cookies and 'miracle' pills that say they will let you lose weight fast, they contain an ingredient which causes diarrhea and that's how you lose the so called weight, but instead it is flushing away also the good nutritions and it will let you lose a lot of water.

For the matter of fact, that's what most of those 'miracle' products do, they let you lose water weight. You end up thinking you have lost a lot but you have lost your important hydration, and the moment you eat something else or stop with the product the water will come back.

Conclusion: there is NO such thing as a miracle product so that you can achieve your goal without effort. They are harmful and can have many SIDE-EFFECTS during or/and afterwards. Have a proper diet, do your exercise and take supplements which add value to your health, like extra protein, extra vitamines.