Healthy & Low Calorie Indian Breakfast Options

Many a times it so happens, that we leave home for work, without having had breakfast, or at the most, we simply have a cup of tea or coffee before venturing out. Although we keep reading about the importance of breakfast and why it shouldn’t be skipped, seldom do we abide by this dictum. More so, because we think our bodies are ailment-proof. But constant skipping of breakfast can have long term implications on our overall health and fitness. Breakfast, being the first meal of the day, helps the body gain its fuel to last for the entire day.

Moreover, did you know that skipping breakfast can lead to obesity? Those kilos that you strive to lose actually tend to accumulate if you ignore this important morning meal. According to a study by researchers at the University Of Minnesota School Of Public Health, breakfast keeps us in good shape and teenagers who eat breakfast regularly actually weigh less and are healthier than those who skip it. Here’s how:

While we are asleep for 6-7 hours, our body is actually in a state of fasting. Once we are up, our body demands the fuel to start working and if we skip this fuel, or if we try quenching our hunger by tea or coffee, our metabolism slows down immensely, thereby lowering the capacity to burn fat.(contributing to weight gain).

But if your reason for skipping breakfast is that you are out of ideas for quick and better breakfast options, we bring to you some of the quickest and healthiest options available:  

1. Fruit plate and milk

An intake of mixed fruits with a glass of milk provides you with that instant energy booster. And this is prettysimple and quick to prepare. Essential fruits some of which must be on the plate are apples, papaya, oranges, chikus, pear, bananas. Milk will give you high dose of proteins, while the fiber and vitamin content will be given by the fruits. 

  

2.  Oats (Javi)

Oats provide an excellent source of fiber – just as much as a single serving of oats provides almost twenty percent of the daily fiber requirement. Oats can be mixed in a bowl of milk  and sugar can be added for taste and the mixture can be topped with walnuts for added energy.  Oats with milk and sugar is the simplest, quickest nutritious breakfast. And what’s more? Oats are a rich source of antioxidants, and boost immunity.  

3. Eggs and fruit juice

For a quick ‘Eggy’ breakfast, you can simply make a quick omlette and combo it with a bread. This would make for a good egg sandwich which you can relish with tomato sauce. Besides, you can simply break an egg in a container and beat it and mix chopped tomatoes, onions and green chillies. Then put this mixture on the pan and in two minutes you would get a tasty egg Bhurji (scrambled egg). The fruit juice is an instant energy booster.  

4. Sprouts

 These are one of the most concentrated, natural sources of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and proteins. What’s more, sprouts make for a quick breakfast, all you have to do is soak them overnight and the next day morning, they are ready to be consumed by sprinkling in some spices and lime. Other than this, no chopping, or peeling is needed. Also, another way of relishing sprouts is by cooking for a few minutes and garnishing it with salt and spices. Sprouts are more nutritious when raw, and contain anti-carcinogenic properties. (Carcinogen is a cancer causing agent)

5. Dosa

 Dosa, the south Indian delicacy is quick to make, delicious, can be prepared fat-freeand above all nutritious. Made with rice and pulses, the dosa can be stuffed with veggies to make it more relishing. However, if you are short of time, simply make a plain dosa and have it with sauce. This is a power packed breakfast for all ages. It would keep you light and agile throughout the day while supplying you with all the essential nutrients including carbohydrates. The Dosa Atta pack is available in the market. It is advisable to buy the atta (dough)from where it is freshly being prepared on a continuous basis.

Now for the chutney:  If you have the time, even 10 mins, chutney can be prepared easily. You can either prepare the chutney with coconut, coriander, peanuts, green chilies, spices and lime or you can also add onion and tomato in the same, it would taste all the more good. 

But remember, says, Dr Shweta Iyengar, a well-known nutritionist, “Coconut is high in saturated fats i.e. fats which must be avoided because they contain hydrogenated carbon atoms that raise cholesterol in bloodstreamInstead of coconut, you can use chana dal, udad dal. These are nutritious and healthy”. Also peanuts are high in calories, hence avoid using them in the chutney if you are looking at losing weight.

6. Masala Idlis

Ingredients: 6-7 idlis; one tomato finely chopped; one cup capsicum finely chopped; one onion finely chopped; one tablespoon pav bhaji masala; salt to taste; one teaspoon chili powder; handful of chopped coriander leaves; one tsp olive oil.

Method: Cut each idli into four pieces. Saute all the vegetables in oil. Add the masala, idli and coriander, mix well and serve hot.

You must know: Batter can be made the day before or at best it can be purchased from the market wherein it is being prepared freshly on a continuous basis.

GM Diet - Advisable or hoax?

All thin women are alike; every fat woman is fat in her own way. Some of them are fat in ways that are not perceptible to a man’s eye. Anyway, the point is that most women are in the pursuit of weight loss, and the effort is especially maniacal before their wedding. Among the many things that impending brides do is something called the General Motors Diet. Also called GM Diet with affection, and with a tenor of conviction, too, like how scientists say “protons”.

As militant evangelists of such things they even force their men to undergo the miracle diet. It is not clear when exactly this diet emerged but most people first encounter it as a printout or an email forward from a friend. There is usually a brief paragraph about how the General Motors developed the diet for the well-being of its staff, and that it was created with ‘a grant from the US Department of Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration’. Johns Hopkins, too, is mentioned. Then it explains how you can lose five to six kilos in ten days. The most endearing quality of this diet is that it says you can eat as much as you want as long as you stick to the foods that are permitted on a given day. Like for example, on the first day of the diet you can have as much fruit as you want. On Day Six you can even have an unlimited amount of beef. So, it was a dream diet. Thousands of women have tried what they believed was the GM Diet. Part of the diet also included a miraculous soup.

The truth, of course, is that General Motors, which recently filed for bankruptcy, never had anything to do with the diet, or the soup. The diet was a hoax. Probably one of the best hoaxes in recent times which created a whole culture around it. Homes were abuzz with the news that the daughter was now trying the best diet in the world. Her mother, who carefully studied the printout of the GM Diet, tried it. Maids were confused why they were chopping only fruits one day, only vegetables another day. In fact, one of my friends was introduced to the diet by someone who worked for General Motors.

Even GM employees fell for it. In a way, the branding of the GM Diet in India was more powerful than the branding of the company’s real trademarks like Chevrolet and Opel. If there was a GM Diet book, it would have sold in lakhs. When I spoke to some of the many victims of the hoax, the constant defence I heard was, “But it worked”. It did work, for a few days. “That was the point,” they say. They just wanted to lose weight fast for the wedding so that they can look better than their cousins. So, they say, it was a victimless hoax.

The most curious aspect of the hoax is that it appears to be largely an Indian hoax. There is evidence that there were takers in other countries, too, but the diet seems to have been the most popular here. And, the hoax is not over. Even after this column is published, it will go on until it dies naturally, of old age. That is the nature of things. The GM Diet, with its quasi-scientific explanations and the grandness of its instructive subheads, like ‘Day One’, is part of the comical elements in the vast economy of bullshit. Like the signboard in a luxury hotel that says ‘Spa’ with the face of a grim meditating woman (always a meditating woman), as if going to a spa and sleeping with the pebbles is a great health achievement; like the expression on the face of an ayurvedic type when he asks you to step into a bowl of hot water, as if it is a great moment in medicine; like the tone of a girl who says, “I am doing a course in hypno-therapy.” There is so much humour in the world, it seems.

The GM Diet hoax was possible only because of the Internet. It spread through blogs, forwards and other means. The hoax did not need mainstream media. In the future, American newspapers fear, and they express this fear every time they write about their inescapable demise, people will stop reading good journalism and will read whatever is free on the Internet. This fear has been expressed by very respectable minds. But I refuse to believe that. People may be cheap. They may want information free. But when they realise that they are getting rubbish, they will begin to pay all over again. When a person is paid a salary to collect good information, edit or interpret it, and his financial fate is tied to how well he does his job, and another person pays to access this work, it is called journalism. Nothing else is journalism, nor can take its place.

Dr HelpMe HelpYou shares

A good breakfast can help give you the energy you need to face the day. There is some evidence to suggest that eating breakfast can help people control their weight. 

Some people skip breakfast because they think it will help them lose weight, but skipping meals is not good for you, because you can miss out on essential nutrients.

A healthy breakfast provides some of the vitamins and minerals you need for good health.

So why not choose one of these five delicious breakfasts and add a glass of fruit juice for a healthy start to the day?

1. Porridge made with semi-skimmed milk topped with a selection of dried fruits

Oats are a good source of insoluble fibre and may help to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood. Oats also release energy slowly, making you feel fuller for longer. A tablespoon of dried fruit (30g) your 5 a Day.

2. Muesli, fresh fruit and low-fat yoghurt

Fruit that is added to your muesli counts towards your fruit and veg 5 a Day. Low-fat yoghurt provides calcium, protein and is low in fat, making this a healthier way to start the day.

3. Wholegrain breakfast cereal with semi-skimmed milk

Wholegrain breakfast cereals are a good source of fibre, which can make you feel fuller for longer. Choose a breakfast cereal that has been fortified with vitamins and minerals.

4. Boiled egg with wholemeal toast and low-fat spread

Eggs are a good choice as part of a healthy balanced diet. They are a good source of protein, minerals and vitamins A, D and riboflavin. Wholemeal bread contains B vitamins, vitamin E, fibre and a wide range of minerals. White bread also contains a range of vitamins and minerals, but it has less fibre than wholegrain, wholemeal or brown bread.

5. Grilled mushrooms and tomatoes on a wholegrain bagel

Grilling mushrooms and tomatoes is a quick and healthier way to cook. Mushrooms and tomatoes count towards one of your 5 a Day. Wholegrain bagels contain B vitamins, vitamin E, fibre and a wide range of minerals.