Friday, December 19, 2008

Healthy Breakfast Options

Call me old fashioned, but I still believe in what Adelle Davis said eons ago:
“Eat breakfast like a King,
Lunch like a Prince, and
Dinner like a Pauper”!!

During my consultations, I always tell my clients to visualize an "inverted triangle" and pattern the quantity of food on that: the heaviest meal in the mornings, and then reduce the quantity such that dinner becomes the lightest meal.

The logic behind it being that you need to kick-start your day with a good helping of healthy food so that you have enough time to burn it during your waking hours when your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)is at it’s peak. Dinner needs to be the lightest meal and eaten at least two hours before going to sleep when the BMR is at it’s lowest.
So, how does one decide which are the healthy foods for breakfast and which are not?

Healthy options:
Idly+Sambar
Dosa(less oil/no oil)+sambar
Poha with vegetables(less oil)
Uppma with vegetables (less oil)
Paranthas (less oil)
Phulkas +sabzi
Whole wheat bread with fresh veg/egg white and mint chutney
Dhoklas +mint chutney
Sattu
Puttu+kadla
Fresh fruit + low fat yogurt(curd)
High fibre, low sugar breakfast cereals* with skimmed milk.

And the not so healthy options:
Vada
Oily dosas +coconut chutney
Cheese omelet’s
Waffles
Oily paranthas
Poori/bhatura
White bread with butter/jam
Doughnuts
Muffins
Sausages +hash browns
Pastries

*Check out WebMD for tips on how to choose a healthy breakfast cereal:
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/choosing-healthy-breakfast-cereal

Thursday, December 18, 2008

God's Diet:A couple of years ago, I gave my first nutrition lecture at a Software company in Bangalore. I was nervous (as understandably it was my very first lecture) and there were a large audience. I started with a power point presentation of God’s Diet (believe it or not-this was actually sent as an email forward to my then “Boss”, who quickly converted it into slides for future use) and it broke the ice…The audience was in splits and I was happy that the message had gotten through to them without me having to deliver a ‘boring” lecture!!
I searched for the writer of this masterpiece and found it in John Mark Ministries website-so,I guess it must have originated there. Anyway, am again starting this blog with the very same piece. So, read on……

GOD'S DIET
GOD created the earth and populated the earth with broccoli and cauliflower and spinach and green and yellow vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives. And Satan created Mc……. And they brought forth the 99-cent double-cheeseburger. And Man gained pounds.

And God created the healthful yogurt, that woman might keep her figure that man found so fair. And Satan froze the yogurt, and he brought forth chocolate, nuts and brightly colored sprinkle candy to put on the yogurt. And woman gained pounds.

And God said, "Try my crispy fresh salad." And Satan brought forth creamy dressings, bacon bits, and shredded cheese. And there was ice cream for dessert. And woman gained pounds.

And God said, "I have sent your heart healthy vegetables and olive oil with which to cook them." And Satan brought forth fried chicken and steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained pounds, and his bad cholesterol went through the roof.

And God brought forth running shoes, and Man resolved to lose those extra pounds. And Satan brought forth cable TV with remote control and Man gained pounds.

And God brought forth the potato, a vegetable naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fat fried them. And he created sour cream dip also. And Man clutched his remote control and ate the potato chips swaddled in cholesterol. And Satan saw and said, "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest.

And God sighed, and created quadruple bypass surgery, angioplasties, and stents ... And Satan created Medical Insurance Companies . . . .
"Bonne Nutrition" is French for "Good Nutrition".
Why a blog on nutrition,one wonders?
Firstly,being a qualified "Nutritionist" limits the choice of topics for a blog and secondly, with all the "free" info on nutrition available on the net, one tends to wonder what is true and what is not. So, this blog is an attempt to "Demystify Nutrition" or "Simplifying Nutrition".
Everything put on this blog will be well researched,so you get the right information, the right advice and the right kind of help.
So,join me in this journey for a 'better life with better nutrition".