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Thedaily9.in Low Carb Indian Food
Thedaily9.in Low Carb Indian Food
thedaily9.in/post/low-carb-indian-food
October 6, 2022
Diet
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Coach Shivani
October 06,2022
Low-carb diets are popular at the moment. In this article we will explain what a low-carb
diet really is, low carb Indian food, how it can help you and a diet chart you can follow to
implement a lower-carb diet.
All grains eg. wheat, white rice, brown rice, millets, quinoa, barley, oats, muesli, rye,
spelt.
Certain vegetables like roots & tubers eg. potato, sweet potato, raw banana, corn,
taro, yam, green peas, colocasia (arbi), cassava (tapioca, sabudana)
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Anything made from the above foods will also be mostly carbohydrates. For
example, chapati, roti, upma, pasta, biscuits are usually made from wheat or other
such grains, idli and dosa are made from white rice, corn tortillas are made from
corn – and are all therefore mostly carbohydrates.
Legumes including channa, rajma, chickpeas, sprouts, lentils such as yellow/black
dal, etc contain some protein but have a lot more carbohydrates.
Breakfast: oats.
Lunch: rice with dal & veggies.
Snack: tea with biscuits
Dinner: roti with rajma & veggies.
The oats, rice, dal & rajma are all high in carbohydrates. There is some protein in the
dal/rajma but you should note that they have 3-4 times the amount of carbs. Similarly,
millets like ragi are also marketed as being higher in protein than white rice. While this is
true, millets also contain a fairly high amount of carbs as well!
We don’t realize it, but it’s likely that for many of us 70% or more of our daily diet is made
up of carb-rich foods.
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Source:mint
Carbs are essential as a source of energy. For most of us, the carbs come from grains –
rice, roti, bread.
There’s nothing wrong with having Carbs. But you can have too much of it.
And that’s exactly what we see with most people. When you add up all the carbs in the
day, it can be 70% or more of your daily diet. That is too much and causes the following
problems:
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Compared to protein and fat, you’ll need to eat a lot of carbs to feel full. There’s a reason
many meals have a mountain of rice in the center, because there isn’t really much else on
that plate.
High-carb meals get digested quickly and you will feel hungry soon after. This is why you
have sugar or sweet cravings soon after a high-carb meal.
Carbs don’t tend to have as many nutrients as other foods like vegetables and protein. If
most of your diet is carbs, you just won’t get the nutrients your body needs. That results in
nutrient deficiency and health problems down the line. For example, deficiency in vitamin
B12.
Your daily diet should be about 25-30% protein. With 80% carbs, you’re certainly not
going to get enough protein. That’s a problem as protein is involved in most of the
processes that occur within the body, and is important for several reasons including your
bones, skin, immunity and hormones.
Your body will store all excess energy as fat, whether it comes from too much carbs or fat
or something else.
Overeating carbs over a period results in weight gain and compromises many systems in
the body.
This ends up causing problems like diabetes, fatty liver, PCOS, thyroid issues and
hypertension.
Here’s a great example of what a balanced plate looks like. You’ll notice that grains
(carbs) only make up about a quarter of the plate. This makes space for plenty of
vegetables, protein and fruit.
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Source: Canada Food Guide
If you’re looking at this plate and thinking that this is far away from where you are now, do
not worry. Start with small steps and you’ll be surprised at how soon the little changes add
up.
Going too low on carbs can adversely impact women’s hormonal health since their bodies
are very sensitive to energy intake.
What we are saying is that it’s likely that you’re eating too much carbs now and that you
should reduce the carbs and make space for important foods like protein foods and
vegetables. So lower-carbs and now just low-carb.
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Individual carbohydrate requirements vary between individuals, so instead of making
drastic changes to your diet, start with small and sustainable changes. Observe how you
feel and then think about improving it one step at a time. You will find the right balance to
help you in achieving your goals soon.
Remember that this is not about switching from one high-carb food like rice to a
supposedly healthier but still high-carb food like millets.
While the nutrients in millets are different from that in white rice, and it may be slightly
lower GI than white rice, millets also contain a lot of carbs. So when you swap rice for
millets, you are just swapping one high-carb food for another.
Vegetables
Most Indian vegetables have a very low amount of carbs. They are also rich in nutrients
like vitamins and minerals. Any locally available vegetable is ok, the most common being
ladies finger, cabbage, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, carrots, onion, tomato.
The exceptions to this are vegetables like potato, yams and raw banana as they are high
in starch (carbs).
Vegetables are very versatile and can be used in many ways in our daily cooking – from
vegetable chutneys or vegetable filled parathas for breakfast, to salads, side dishes
(sabzis), raitas and mixed vegetable-and-rice preparations like biryani for lunch and
dinner.
Fruits
We are blessed to have a huge variety of fruits in India throughout the year. Mango,
jackfruit, watermelon, sitafal and chikoo are some examples. In addition, we get many
varieties of banana, orange, papaya etc throughout the year. Use these fruits as your
main snack. Eat the fruit, not the juice.
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Dairy foods
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Milk, curd and paneer are rich in protein and lower-carb. They also have healthy fats and
will help you stay fuller for longer. A bonus – curd and buttermilk are also probiotic and
good for our gut!
Dal, channa, rajma are lower in carbs compared to grains and can be included as part of
a low-carb diet plan. Soybean is an excellent source of protein and very low in carbs. The
soybean is preferable to the highly processed soy nuggets.
These foods are high in protein and low-carb. They also contain some healthy fats. They
are a good option to include in any low-carb diet plan as these foods are very filling and
will keep you satisfied for a long time.
We have provided three separate low-carb diet plans – one for pure vegetarians, a plan
for those who eat eggs and a plan for non-vegetarians.
Some foods are noted in cups. A cup = 240ml. This is a standard unit of measure
and you can buy it from Amazon, see these options. See the cup in red below to get
an idea of how much it is.
Some foods (like paneer) are noted in fist-sized quantities. A fist = your fist. Keep
the food next to your first to estimate the quantity.
You can modify this diet plan to swap one vegetable for another or to have one
grain for another (rice instead of roti for example).
While we have provided a low-carb diet plan below, please use this as a guide only. There
is no single ideal diet chart as a one-size-fits-all answer approach will not work when it
comes to a weight loss diet plan. One’s nutritional requirements will vary based on a
number of factors, including gender, height, weight, meal preferences, any medical
conditions, allergies etc.
This diet plan is a sample, and we would recommend that you work with a Daily9 coach
to customize it for your needs.
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Day 1
Breakfast:
Lunch:
½ cup rice
¾ cup methi dal (½ cup lentils)
½ cup cauliflower
½ cup yoghurt
Snack:
Dinner:
Day 2
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
Whey fruit smoothie (1 scoop whey, 1 banana, ½ cup milk, ½ cup oats)
Lunch:
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Snack:
Dinner:
Day 3
Breakfast:
Lunch:
½ cup pulao
1 cup Green salad
1 fist Quick Paneer tikka
Snack:
1 Banana
1 black tea/coffee
Dinner:
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Roti and paneer bhurji
Day 4
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
1 fist paneer bhurji with ½ cup tomato, onion, mushroom
1 slice toast
Lunch:
½ cup rice
½ cup beans/carrot sambar (¼ cup veg+¼ cup dal)
½ cup bhindi sabzi
½ cup yoghurt
Snack:
Dinner:
Day 5
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Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
½ cup Overnight oats with 100 gms Greek yoghurt +1 grated apple
Lunch:
Snacks:
Broccoli and paneer tikki (with ½ cup broccoli + ½ fist paneer+¼ cup oats)
1 green tea
Dinner:
Day 6
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
2 besan ka cheela with ½ cup tomato onion chutney
Lunch:
Snacks:
Day 7
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
½ cup spiced soy bean, ½ cup mushroom and spinach
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1 cup melon
Lunch:
Snacks:
Dinner:Eating out
3 slices Paneer and Veg Pizza (½ fist paneer+½ fist cheese+¼ cup veg)
¾ cup Caesar salad
Day 1
Breakfast:
Lunch:
Snacks:
Dinner:
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Masala omelette
Day 2
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
Whey fruit smoothie (½ scoop whey, 1 banana, ½ cup milk, ¼ cup oats)
Lunch:
2 boiled eggs
½ cup Rasam Rice
1 cup cabbage poriyal
½ cup pumpkin kootu (with ¼ cup dal, ¼ cup pumpkin)
Snacks
Dinner:
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Day 3
Breakfast:
Lunch:
Snacks:
1 Banana
100 gms Greek yoghurt
1 black tea/coffee
Dinner:
2 scrambled eggs
½ cup onion-tomato chutney
2 small dosas
Paneer tikka
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Day 4
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
1 fist paneer bhurji with ¼ cup tomato, onion, mushroom
Lunch:
½ cup rice
½ cup beans/carrot sambar (¼ cup veg+¼ cup dal)
1 cup bhindi sabzi
100 gms Greek yoghurt
Snacks:
1 boiled egg
1 glass Coconut water
Dinner:
Day 5
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
Fruit with Greek yoghurt (200 gms Greek yoghurt +1 grated apple)
Lunch:
Snacks:
Broccoli and paneer tikki (with ½ cup broccoli + ½ fist paneer+¼ cup oats)
1 green tea
Dinner:
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Day 6
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
1 besan ka cheela with ½ cup green chutney
Lunch:
Snacks:
Dinner:Eating out
Day 7
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
3 egg omelette with ¼ cup mushroom and spinach
½ cup melon
Lunch:
Snacks:
Day 1
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Breakfast:
Lunch:
Snacks:
Dinner:
Day 2
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
Whey smoothie (½ scoop whey, 1 banana, ½ cup milk, ½ cup oats)
Lunch:
2 boiled eggs
½ cup Rasam Rice
1 cup cabbage poriyal
½ cup pumpkin kootu (with ¼ cup pumpkin+¼ dal)
Snacks:
Dinner:
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Day 3
Breakfast:
1 adai
1 cup aviyal
1 cup tea/coffee
Lunch:
Snacks:
1 Banana
1 cup Greek yoghurt
1 black tea/coffee
Dinner:
2 scrambled eggs
½ cup onion-tomato chutney
1 dosa
1 black tea/coffee
Day 4
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
1 fist paneer bhurji with ¼ cup tomato, onion, mushroom
Lunch:
½ cup rice
½ cup carrot/beans sambar (¼ cup veg+¼ cup dal)
1 cup bhindi
Snacks:
2 boiled eggs
1 glass Coconut water
Dinner:
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1 fist fish curry
Day 5
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
Fruit with Greek yoghurt (200 gms Greek yoghurt +1 grated apple)
Lunch:
Snacks:
Broccoli and paneer tikki (with ½ cup broccoli + ½ fist paneer+¼ cup oats)
1 green tea
Dinner:
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Day 6
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
1 besan ka cheela with ¼ cup tomato-onion chutney
Lunch:
Snacks:
Dinner:Eating out:
Sesame ginger baked tofu (¾ cup broccoli/bell peppers/carrot/ zucchini+1 fist tofu)
½ cup jasmine rice
Day 7
Breakfast:
1 cup tea/coffee
3 egg omelette with ½ cup mushroom and spinach
½ cup melon
Lunch:
Snacks:
Dinner:Eating out
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Vegetable pulao
If you’re reading this, we know that weight loss is a high priority for you. We also know
that there are many program out there offering you quick weight loss. Many of them
require you to do extreme things like eat zero or very low carbs. These are not
sustainable and can even harm your health. And in almost all these cases, the weight that
you lose comes right back. This is disappointing and frustrating. We want to help you
break this cycle.
At Daily9 our focus is helping you achieve weight loss in a way that lasts. Without doing
anything extreme and by sticking to the Indian way of eating. You will see that in the 7 day
diet plan for weight loss that we have provided above, we have provided a mix of Indian
and multi-cuisine options, including possibilities of eating out occasionally. This is a more
practical approach because many of us do eat out or order in. In our program we
recognize this fact, and so aim to help you make better choices while also enjoying it.
This makes Daily9 easy to follow in the long run and helps you with both weight loss and
weight maintenance.
We’ve worked with thousands of Indian men and women and understand the unique
challenges they face when trying to lose weight or find a weight loss diet plan. You can
see some of our success stories here. TheDaily9 system is proven to work with weight
loss and also many health conditions that Indian men and women face like digestive
issues, diabetes, PCOS, thyroid, fatty liver and joint problems from excess weight.
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Most importantly, the Daily9 weight loss diet plan is practical and suits an Indian family
environment.
If you’re looking for a scientific and practical approach to weight loss, take a look at the
Daily9 coaching program. It’s the only program that helps with weight loss and weight
maintenance.
Coach Shivani
Shivani is a Precision Nutrition-Certified Nutrition Coach with
experience of coaching thousands of women. As a mom of two,
Shivani knows what it takes for women to achieve weight loss & a
healthy lifestyle through diet, exercise & sleep habits. She dislikes
one-size-fits-all type advice.
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