Low Calorie Indian Food: Dosa, Idli, Chapathi, Roti, Fulka Etc
During the past decade or so, Indian food has become popular
globally. Nowadays my western friends are asking me this question: how
many calories are there in
chapati and
dosa (Indian
food)? The same friends used to ask six years ago: how many calories are
there in coffee (or egg, apple, banana, pasta, bacon and so on)? It is
therefore a timely task for me to help them burn or save calories by
devising a tool to calculate calories burned by workout on one side and
providing calories in Indian food in tabular form on the other. Indian
food is different from western food in that the former has more
carbohydrates, grains, less protein (compared to western diet, yet
enough protein from nutrition point of view), less animal food. Twenty
to thirty years ago Indian food used to be more natural and less
processed, but in the last decade Indians are exposed to more processed,
packaged and also more fast food. It becomes therefore necessary to
provide nutrition chart for whole foods recipes of Indian style.
Traditional Indian cooking methods make food tastier, more nutritious
and less calorie-dense. This is ideal for people aiming to lose weight.
Being based more on plants and less on animals, Indian diet is rich in
natural fiber which is good for cholesterol lowering, better digestion,
lowering the risk of colon cancer, and also fat loss.
1. Chapati:
It
is also called roti. This delicious flat bread made from wheat flour
has most of the nutrients in whole wheat dough. Compared to noodles or
white bread, chapati is highly nutritious and healthy for weight
watchers, diabetics and those suffering from heart disease. 1 chapati
has only 80 to 110 calories depending on size, but it has 3.5 grams of
protein, half a gram of total fat, no saturated or trans fat, no
cholesterol, but it has vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, calcium, iron and fiber.
2. Daal:
This
lentil and legume preparation is like a curry. If we look at the
nutrition facts, we shall realize how nutritious and low calorie this
humble but wonderful dish is! 1 bowl (100 to 120 grams or 3.5 to 4 oz.)
of daal has only 117 calories, total fat only 1.7 grams, no saturated
fat, carbs 19.1 grams, protein 7 grams, no cholesterol, calcium 27 mg,
iron 1.8 mg, fiber 1.7 grams etc. I have given only two examples of
Indian food articles in order to emphasize its richness in nutrients and
leanness in terms of fat and calories. The reason why traditional
Indian diet is so healthy is that unlike other diets, minimum processing
and refining is done to it. Whatever small amounts of nutrients are
lost in cooking are negligible compared to other highly processed and
packaged foods.
3. South Indian Low Calorie Food:
In southern parts of India, in states like Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra
idli, dosa and
utthappam are very popular. Despite being very tasty when served with
chatni and
sambar, these dishes are low in calories, high in nutrients and fiber and can be part of heart-healthy weight loss diet.
Dosa is a batter and
idli is a boiled cake prepared from overnight fermented paste made by grinding a mixture of split black gram (
daal) and rice.
One
idli has 60 to 70 Calories and a plain
dosa has
only 100 Calories, whereas they both are rich in nutrients. Serving 2
to 4 idlis or 1 to 2 dosas can be sufficient to fulfill an average
person 's hunger. Sambar is a delicious Indian curry served alongside
dosa and idli. It very tasty and the taste varies from one state to
another.
Sambar is a low calorie curry made from split red gram (
daal), spices, and pieces of various vegetables like drumstick, pumpkin etc.
