The fact that fancy diets are difficult to follow is because they try to eliminate all ingredients that are well accustomed to our taste pallet. It's important to follow a diet that helps in reaching our fitness goals in a flexible and comfortable manner.However, making major changes to your diet can sometimes seem very overwhelming. Instead of making big changes, it may be better to start with a few smaller ones, by tweaking your regular cooking style, chapati, curries, dal and soups be a welcome change and add value to everyday nutrition.Diksha Chhabra, Founder, Diksha Chhabra Fitness Consultations, shares a few ways you can make load your meals with nutrition and that too effortlessly.
Power of Protein:
We have seen our mothers and grannies making paneer or curd at home with leftover milk. Ever wondered what that water like substance is? Often thrown as waste after making paneer or seen as leftover after the curd is set is actually pure milk protein that gets filtered during the process. It's a quick digesting class one protein which the human body can easily absorb and can benefit of. Instead of throwing the residual water after making paneer or removing it from curd to make it thick and creamy, use it in kneading your dough for chapati, or add it to dals, vegetable curries, soups and even for cooking rice and pasta. Our Indian vegetarian meals lack class one source of protein and this can positively increase the nutritional value of simple everyday meals.
Power of Fibre:
Food rich in fibre helps your body to dispose off the toxins, regularise bowel movement, lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels. A few basic changes to our whole wheat flour, dosa idli batter and chapati can lead to more fibre. Adding multiple grain like jowar, bajra, oats, ragi, legumes in our flour or batter doubles up its nutritional value and fibre content. The same can be done if you are fond of baking cakes and cookies. The more the number of different kinds of grains in your plate, the healthier it is.
For your sweet tooth:
There is a great way of having your favourite ice-cream, make it with frozen fruits at home with no added sugar. Fruit with natural pulp like banana, mango, chikoo, coconut cream or papaya can be frozen in the refrigerator for few hours after which once you blend it in the blender it gets nice creamy ice-cream. You can also add berries, nuts or dark chocolate to enhance the flavour. Juicy fruits like orange, watermelon, sweetlime, kiwi can be great options for making popsicles once its juice is extracted. Also, instead of sugar laden thick shakes with artificial flavours and milk, adding fruits and yogurt can be a game-changer in your list healthy and guilt-free dessert or snacks.