Make your own Tasty but Healthy Breakfast: Suji Sheera (West India)

If you think that eating Suji Sheera means taking in unwanted calories, then you ought to think twice!

This delicious Indian breakfast sweet is ideal for keeping blood sugar under check, losing weight and also preventing anemia!

Read below to know more-

1. Anti-ageing – Ever wondered why the high-end global beauty brands use sugar in their cosmetics and skin care products? Its because sugar hydrates the skin and makes it look younger. Sugar is also a natural source of glycolic acid, an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA), that has anti-ageing properties.

2. Accelerates fat-burning- Suji sheera being rich in essential fats like ghee and nuts, helps to boost fat burning. Consuming good sources of fats not only promotes satiety (and mindless over-eating later), the short chain fatty acid in it also helps to get rid of stubborn fat stores.

3. Good for hormonal imbalances- In Sooji sheera, the antioxidants- rich kesar comes together with Sooji that is a great source of Zinc and Selenium. Hence, this makes it a great breakfast choice for those with PCOS, thyroid, insulin resistance etc.

4. Anti-inflammatory- The cardamom in the sheera has great anti-inflammatory properties that work at reducing pain, swelling and bloating.

Few more options that are quick, easy and equally healthy are-

1. Kanda Poha

2. Khakra with ghee

3. Nachni Satv

4. Egg and Pav

Confused by the misinformation about potential health problems with traditional Indian foods? Get in touch with award-winning Mumbai dietitian and nutritionist, Munmun Ganeriwal, a strong advocate of the holistic, wellness benefits of fresh, local, and traditional Indian foods

An Italian proverb says “A good beginning makes a good ending”. We all know the importance of starting our day with a healthy breakfast, don’t we? Our dadis and nanis have always told us – “subah subah khali pet ghar se baahar nahi jaate”. And does science agree with it. Hell yes, it does.

Several good reasons why you should eat first thing when you get up-

– Breakfast kick-starts your metabolism, helping you burn more calories throughout the day and increases fat burning in the body.

– When we sleep, all our body processes slow down. When we wake up, our blood sugar is low, the same blood sugar that is needed to make our muscles and our brain work. Breakfast helps to replenish this blood sugar and boosts our energy levels.

In my practise, I meet so many people who are always so rushed, no time to eat breakfast. And what I typically see in these people is that once they get through their day, they get so hungry later on that they are snacking on high fat high sugar foods.

Not getting your fuel by eating first thing in the morning, will make you overeat later in the day.

So the first take away is that if you do want to get thinner, lose weight, take charge of your diabetes, thyroid, PCOD, cholesterol issues or anything else, you should make time to eat your breakfast.

And for those who just don’t feel hungry enough to eat, for them two things –

– make sure you eat your dinner every night 2-3 hours before hitting the bed. If you are eating your food and straight away lying down to sleep, not only does it lead to acidity when you wake up in the morning, you also not feel hungry enough for breakfast

– and second thing, make sure you get sound sleep through the night. With sleep deprivation, you wake up not having a desire to eat and not feeling hungry.

What is healthy breakfast?

A bowl of Oats or ready to eat cereals with a few decorative strawberries on top like they show in TV ads or a tall glass of orange juice like they show in Bollywood movies. Wife is worried about husband’s cholesterol. Husband’s only chance of fixing his health issues is through the wife switching from home-cooked, traditional breakfast meals, to oats and cereals. And then there are ads of children indulging in chocolate cereals that would make them taller, stronger and sharper. Like really?

Let’s dissect their claims one by one-

– First thing is about nutrition profile- . They say that these oats and cereals are rich in soluble fibre and by virtue of that, it will reduce your cholesterol and lead to weight loss. What we need to understand is that the grains, pulses and millets that go into making our traditional breakfast are also a rich source of soluble fibre and can also work to lower our body cholesterol.

– Second thing is about taste and satisfaction, I call it Vit J, where J is joy. Unlike the western ‘consumerist culture’ of sweet and cold cereal breakfasts, we have a tradition of garam nashta that gives us Santosh meaning makes us feel more satisfied. Once you have received your dose of Vit J, you will see that you don’t experience sugar cravings through the day. But if you are eating your breakfast that fails to give you this vitamin J, then you will surely see yourself reaching out for a piece of pastry or a doughnut later in the day.

We need to embrace the huge food diversity that our country represents and not mindlessly follow the global uniform eating pattern of cereal and milk. Diversity in food that you eat is also important for your health and well being because the diversity of good bacteria in your gut thrives on it.

Few things you need to ensure are-

– You eat only one breakfast item at a time.

– Eat it slow, chew your food well, and make sure you are not multi tasking while eating with your phone or morning newspaper.

When you do all of this, you will see that you are not overeating, and in few days time, you will see your acidity and bloating disappear, higher energy levels with a sense of feeling light and nice. And yes, weight loss too!

Confused by the misinformation about potential health problems with traditional Indian foods? Get in touch with award-winning Mumbai dietitian and nutritionist, Munmun Ganeriwal, a strong advocate of the holistic, wellness benefits of fresh, local, and traditional Indian foods

Make your own TastybutHealthy Breakfast: Aloo Paratha (North India)

Since the advent of lowfat, gluten-free dishes, this TastyButHealthy breakfast has been looked down upon as being unhealthy and fattening. However, this is far from reality! Aloo paratha rightly holds its place as being a nutritious, tasty, and healthy #TraditionalIndianBreakfast.

Read below to know why and tickle your taste buds with some delicious Aloo Parathas, today!

1. Weight loss– Potatoes don’t just have carbs, but also high levels of an essential amino acid called lysine, which is a precursor to the human growth hormone (HGH). This hormone helps the body to repair and maintain itself, and also to grow. A boost in HGH production in body improves body composition- decreasing fat stores, increasing muscle tone and insulin sensitivity.

2. Cholesterol control– The lecithin in ghar kaa makhan helps in proper assimilation and metabolism of cholesterol in body.

3. Diabetes– The good fatty acids in makkhan work at stabilizing blood sugar.When blood sugar is stable, rather than jumping from super high to super low, we do not overeat or experience sugar cravings.

4. Digestive– The whole wheat atta provides adequate fibre or roughage, thus making them easily digestible and ‘light’ on the system.

Few more options that are quick, easy and equally healthy are-

1. Moong dal chilla

2. Dalia

3. Besan Chilla

Confused by the misinformation about potential health problems with traditional Indian foods? Get in touch with award-winning Mumbai dietitian and nutritionist, Munmun Ganeriwal, a strong advocate of the holistic, wellness benefits of fresh, local, and traditional Indian foods