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Many nutritionists firmly believe that writing down what you eat will help you maintain a healthy lifestyle and even help drop a few pounds. Nowadays, with health factors top of mind, the question “how many calories are in this?” is amongst the first. CitySaheli wants to best equip our Sahelis with some great South Asian calorie tips whether eating at home or spending a night out. Last year, we came out with a great guide on how to make South Asian food healthy at home and even published some great healthy recipes. Check out our helpful tips below so you can enjoy Indian food while keeping your health in check.
- Anything creamy definitely increases the count by a range of 150 to 315 calories! It can be on the low end if low fat or nonfat milk is used, however any type of cream or butter can increase calories significantly. Yes, that sauce in Chicken Makhani is to die for, but it’s also very high in calories, high in fat, and just as bad as the white sauce smothered over that chicken and rice plate from the corner stand!
- Vegetables have very few calories, generally anywhere from 5 to 30 calories per serving. Stick with your healthy veggies that make mouth-watering meals such as spinach, squash, cauliflower, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans, eggplant, okra, turnips, bitternut squash, cabbage, tomatoes, etc. Be sure not to chop the veggies into too small pieces because increased number of exposed surfaces to the atmosphere can can lower nutritional value. Overcooking them can also lessen nutritional value, so keep an eye on the stove!
- Be wary of high starch foods such as white rice and potatoes. Potatoes contain a minimum of 200 calories per serving! So next time you make aloo gobi, go easy on the aloo! Experiment with brown rice as a healthier alternative to white rice.
- Rotis, naan, and paranthas are staples of an Indian meal; however, their preparation can significantly vary the calorie count. . If cooked in ghee or butter, these savory breads could be very high in calories, which can be as high as 300 calories. Nix the ghee or butter and the calorie count can be as low as 60 to 100 calories. Instead of tandoori naan, order the tandoori roti; think of it as ordering an all-wheat thin crust instead of pan style pizza. Also ask the restaurant to not use egg in preparation to lower the calories and fat.
- If you are calorie counting, deep fried appetizers are an obvious no-no. You can still enjoy those samosas but a healthier alternative is baking them instead of frying. You could cut down 150 calories per serving by doing so.
- Lentils and beans are extremely healthy for you: low in calories and high in protein, iron, fiber and B vitamins. One serving of cooked lentils is less than 100 calories. So eating Mom’s daal is definitely ok in our books, but if the word “makhani” accompanies the dish name, you may want to think twice. Ask the restaurant if they are using any butter or cream to prepare the daal you are ordering.
- Bet you didn’t know it, but vegetable oil is actually high in saturated fats. Stick with canola, corn, or olive oil. Yes, olive oil! Although you generally see it used in American or Italian cuisine, you’d be surprised at how well it works with Indian food!
- For those of you with a sweet tooth, Indian sweets contain an abnormally high amount of sugar. Gulab Jamun contains 17 ounces of sugar for 18-20 portions. 1 tablespoon equals ½ an ounce of sugar. Needless to say, that equals a lot of saturated fat which is definitely not good for you.
Bon Appétit Sahelis!
1 Comments For This Post
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Thanks for that info, useful stuff. I get bored of plain rice recipes but i’m not exactly very good when it comes to cooking. There’s loads of unique ideas at this rice recipes homepage I found that your readers might like too.
BY Melody Wolsdorf on November 29th, 2010 at 10:12 am