The rate of obesity in India is at its peak. Almost one out of every ten people in India is obese. This has led to the sudden popularity of crash diets and gyms. But weight loss rules like Atkins, The General Motors, Liquid Diet prove to be of no use to Indians.
Many Indians follow western diet plans for months and still do not get any results. This can be extremely frustrating and almost all of them lose motivation. Also, most of the diet plans available online are very complicated to understand. They do not include Indian cuisine and this irritates many Indian taste buds. Also most Indians are vegetarian and their choice is not included in most diets.
An Indian weight loss diet has to be customized according to the average Indian. Due to the different cuisines in India it will be quite different from a western weight loss diet. Also they have to accommodate the diversity in different states of India. For example North Indians eat a lot of Chapati (wheat) which is much healthier than the South Indian counterpart rice. But at the same time, South Indians eat a lot of gravies and vegetables while North Indian cuisine has a lot of fat and butter.
Hence an Indian weight loss diet should be able to satisfy Indians from different states.
A traditional Indian meal is extremely healthy in itself. While we have the same rice and wheat for carbohydrates like bread, pasta and cakes in the western world, our daily food includes more vegetables, fruits, pulses. The main cause of obesity is the tendency by Americans towards junk food popularized and the increase in portion sizes.
The most popular of all weight loss diets are low carbohydrate diets. Carbohydrates are impossible to avoid in Indian food. Our food is filled with items like Idli, Dosa, Upma, Poha, Dhokla, Paratha, Chapati etc. But you don’t need to cut down on these items as unlike their western counterparts, these are not processed and hence a lot are filled. Vitamins, minerals and fiber.
Here is a typical Indian weight loss diet plan.
Breakfast: 2 Dosa/ 2 Idli/ 1 bowl Poha/ 1 bowl Upma/ 2 Roti
Coffee/tea with low fat milk
Lunch: A bowl of rice with vegetables / 3 chapatis
One serving meat (30 grams)
Sprout Salad
Dinner: 2 Chapati / 2 Dosa / 2 Idli with vegetable
Source by Sneha T
