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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Healthy Vegetarian Meals To Lose Weight

If you are looking for healthy vegetarian meals to lose weight, you have to make changes in the preparation of the meals as well. Select healthy cooking oil like rice bran oil or olive oil to prepare the food. Do not include more than 2 teaspoons of oil in your daily intake, if you want to lose weight. Avoid the use of sugar and reduce the amount of salt in your meals. Try to bring variety to your meals using new ingredients every day to avoid repetitiveness. Try to include more of raw fruits and vegetables in your vegetarian meals in the form of salads to reduce weight effectively. Totally avoid deep fried food items and give preference to cooking methods such as steaming, boiling and grilling. If you feel hungry in between meals opt for soups and salads to keep the appetite in control.
Diet Plan to Lose Weight

Weight Loss Indian Recipes

The following are some of the tasty Indian recipes that you can prepare that will also help you to lose weight.

1.    Oats

There is no better way to start our day than having a bowl full of oats. It is the healthiest food that you can ever eat and it is now becoming one of the most common ingredients that people use to prepare their breakfast, lunch or dinner. Oats help in controlling blood pressure, reducing cholesterol, reducing weight, reduces the risk of heart diseases as well as Type 2 diabetes and boosts immune system. The following are the healthy recipes that you can prepare using oats.

a)    Lemon Oats

If you want to prepare a spicy, tasty and healthy Indian oats recipe, then lemon oats is a very good option.
Ingredients:
  • Oats – ½ a cup
  • Water- 1 cup
  • Turmeric Powder -1/4 tsp
  • Lemon Juice 1 to 1 ½ tbsp
  • Salt to Taste
Tempering Ingredients:
  • Olive oil – 1 ½ tbsp
  • Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
  • Green Chilies – 2 to 3 nos (slit)
  • Peanuts – 1 tbsp
  • Black Gram -1 tsp
  • Bengal Gram – ½ tbsp
  • Curry Leaves – 6 to 8
  • Asafoetida – a pinch
Preparation:
  • Heat a non stick pan and dry roast the half cup of oats for a couple of minutes on low flame. Keep this aside.
  • Now add oil in another pan and add Mustard seeds, Bengal Gram and Black Gram and stir it for a minute or so. Now add slit green chilies, turmeric powder and curry leaves and stir well.
  • Add the peanuts and fry for a minute.  Now add one cup of water and salt to taste and then allow it to boil.
  • Once the water is boiling, add the oats and keep on stirring for 2 to 3 minutes.
  • The oats would be cooked and you can turn off the flame.
  • Add lemon juice to the prepared oats, mix well and serve it hot.

b)    Oats Idli

One of the best healthy breakfast or dinner recipes is the oats idli. This dish is high in fiber and is also very nutritious. You will only need to use very little oil to prepare this dish and is an ideal alternative for people looking to cut down on oily food.
Ingredients:
  • Oats -  1 cup
  • Curd – ½ cup
  • Wheat Rava – ½ cup
  • 1 cup of finely chopped mixed vegetables of your choice
  • Water- 1 cup
  • Coriander Leaves – 1 ½ tbsp (finely chopped)
  • Eno fruit salt – ½ tsp
Ingredients For Tempering:
  • Olive oil – 1 tbsp
  • Black Gram – 1 tbsp
  • Bengal Gram – 1 tbsp
  • Mustard – ½ tbsp
  • Green Chilies – 2 nos (finely chopped)
  • Curry Leaves – 5 to 6
Preparation:
  • In a non stick pan, dry roast the oats for 2 to 3 minutes. Let it cool down and then blend it in a blender for about a minute.
  • In a pan, add oil and add the tempering ingredients and sauté for one to two minutes. Once the ingredients turn brown, add finely chopped vegetables and coriander leaves and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Add the wheat rava to this mixture and sauté for another minute.
  • Transfer this mixture to a mixing bowl and add the ground oats, salt, curd and water and mix it well so that it turns into an idli batter consistency.
  • Add the eno fruit salt only when you are ready to make the idlis.
  • Grease idli plates with a little bit of oil and pour the required amount of batter in each of the plates.
  • Pour the batter in an idli pan and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Remove the oats idlis from the pan and serve hot with tomato chutney.

2.    Tomatoes

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which is recommended by nutrition experts and dieticians. Adding tomato soups in your diet will help in reducing your appetite and thereby help in reducing overall weight. Tomatoes are known for its anti inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

a)    Spicy Indian Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
  • 1 number each of potato, carrot and onion
  • 1 cup of chopped tomatoes
  •  250 ml water
  • 250 ml of vegetable stock
  • 1 tbsp of tomato puree
  • ½ tsp chili powder
  • Salt to taste
Preparation:
  • Add sliced onions, diced carrots, chopped potatoes in a saucepan. Now pour water and vegetable stock and mix it well.
  • Put the saucepan on high flame and boil the mixture. Add chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, salt and chili powder and then simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes. Stir the mixture occasionally.
  • Add water as and when required. Once done, turn off the flame and put the mixture in a blender and blend it to make a smooth saucy soup. Transfer this soup into a soup bowl and serve it hot.

b)    Tomato And Basil Soup

Ingredients:
  • 1 large potato
  • 5 to 7 raw tomatoes
  • 1 onion
  • 3 to 4 cloves of garlic
  • ½ inch ginger
  • 2 tbsp of tomato puree
  • 1 ½ tbsp olive oil
  • Fresh chopped basil leaves (a bunch)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ tsp chili flakes
Preparation:
  • Finely chop onions, tomatoes, garlic and potatoes and keep aside.
  • Take a medium sized saucepan, add 1 tbsp olive oil and fry onions and garlic till they become soft. Now add potatoes to this mixture and sauté for a minute and then add half a liter of water.
  • Allow the mixture to boil and once you find the potatoes to be semi-cooked, add tomato puree and the chopped tomatoes. Now simmer and cook these ingredients until potatoes are completely done.
  • Add finely chopped basil, salt and pepper in the final bit of the simmering process and then turn off the heat.
  • Transfer the soup into a soup bowl and serve it hot with bread sticks.

3.    Ragi

Ragi is a very popular annual plant that is loaded with a lot of healthy nutrients. It is a very good source for iron, proteins, calcium and other minerals. It is also very rich in fiber and is a very good food for weight loss as it contains very less saturated fat. It will help in controlling diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure and is also known to help in digestion. The following are some of the Ragi recipes that will help you to lose weight.

a)    Ragi Malt

Ragi malt is an energy drink that is very commonly used in South India. It is a natural health drink that will help in energizing the body and you can substitute your breakfast fruit juices with ragi malt to keep you active throughout the day.
Ingredients:
  • Ragi Flour- ½ a cup
  • Skim milk – 1/4th cup
  • Water – 1 cup
  • Powdered Jaggery- 1 tbsp
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Procedure:
  • In a mixing bowl, add the ragi flour and slowly add water to this flour. Keep on stirring while adding the water so that no lumps are formed. Make this into a smooth paste.
  • Now, heat skim milk in a pan and bring it to boil. Add the ragi flour paste along with cardamom powder and keep stirring the milk.
  • Now add the jaggery powder and simmer this for about 5 minutes on low flame. Make sure that stir the mixture continuously.
  • Allow it to cool and your healthy ragi malt drink is ready.

b)    Ragi Upma

Ragi upma is a very popular South Indian breakfast dish that is not just delicious to taste but is also very healthy. Eating ragi upma in the morning will help in reduction of food cravings and you will feel full for the most part of the day.
Ingredients:
  • Ragi flour – 1 cup
  • Cumin seeds and mustard seeds -  ½ tsp each
  • Olive Oil -  1 ½ tsp
  • Black Gram – ½ tsp
  • Bengal gram – ½ tsp
  • One Onion, finely chopped
  • ½ a tomato, finely chopped
  • 2 finely chopped green chilies
  • Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
  • Curry Leaves -  6 to 7
  • Water -  2 cups
  • Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
  • Lemon Juice – 1 ½ tsp
Procedure:
  • Add olive oil in a saucepan and then add the Ragi flour in the pan. Saute the flour until roasted aroma fills the air.
  • Now add a little bit of oil in a fresh pan and add mustard and cumin seeds. Let it crackle and now add the Bengal gram and Black gram and saute them till they turn golden brown.
  • Add onions, curry leaves and saute for 2 minutes. Now add tomatoes and then saute for another 1 minute.
  • Now add salt to the mixture and pour two cups of water. Bring the water to a boil. Once done, add the sauteed Ragi flour into the pan and stir it frequently.
  • Mix it well and then cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Simmer the flame when you cover the pan with a lid.
  • Finally, turn off the flame and add lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves and serve it hot.

Weight Loss Indian Diet Plan

Whenever you search the internet for a diet plan, you will always come across diet plans that are suited for the western culture. If you are an Indian and have spent most part of your life in India munching on the wide variety of Indian foods, it is very difficult for you to follow the American diet plan that will help in reducing weight. You would be longing to find an Indian diet plan that will help you to reduce weight so that you eat what you have been eating so far and yet lose weight. The following is an Indian weight loss diet chart that you need to follow to shed off the extra kilos in your body easily.

1200 Calorie Vegetarian Indian Diet Plan Menu To Lose Weight

By following this menu guide, you will be able to restrict your food consumption to just 1200 calories to 1300 calories a day and thereby you will feel lighter after a couple of weeks of following this weight loss diet menu. The vegetarian diet menu is as follows:
Early Morning (7 Am):

o    A glass of lukewarm water with lemon (0 calories).

o    A cup of tea with skim milk, no sugar and 2 biscuits (90 calories)

Breakfast (8 am):

o    2 Wheat Rotis or chapattis + ½ cup of Paneer gravy (tofu is better) (330 calories).                 Or

o    A plate of brown bread upma and a cup of skim milk (300 calories).

Mid Morning Snack: (10:30 am):
o    A banana or 20 Grapes or ½ cup melon (50 calories).
Lunch (1 pm):
o    1 cup of brown rice (200 grams) + ½ cup mixed vegetables + one small bowl of Raitha + 1 bowl vegetable salad (345 calories).
Evening (4 pm):
o    Butter Milk 1 glass or 1 cup (35 calories)
Dinner (8 pm):

2 Chappatis or Rotis + 1 bowl of Vegetable Soup + 1 bowl of salad (370 calories)

The total calories you will consume in this vegetarian diet is about 1220 calories.


1200 Calorie Non Vegetarian Indian Diet Plan Menu For Weight Loss

If you are a non vegetarian and do not like to eat a lot of vegetables to lose weight, then there is no need to worry. You can also lose a considerable amount of weight by including non vegetarian dishes in your daily menu. The following is the non vegetarian Indian diet plan for weight loss.
Early Morning (7 Am):

o    A glass of lukewarm water with lemon (0 calories).

o    A cup of tea with skim milk, no sugar and 2 biscuits (90 calories)

Breakfast (8 am):

o    2 Slices of brown bread + 2 hard boiled eggs (290 calories).                         Or

o    1 Slice of brown bread + 2 scrambled egg + 1 cup skimmed milk without sugar (310 calories).

Mid Morning Snack: (10:30 am):
o    A banana or 20 Grapes or ½ cup melon or fistful of almonds or walnuts (50 calories).
Lunch (1 pm):
o    1 cup of brown rice (200 grams) + ½ cup mixed vegetables + 100 grams of chicken (boiled or stir fried in olive oil) + 1 bowl vegetable salad (360 calories).
Evening (4 pm):
o    Butter Milk 1 glass or 1 cup (35 calories).
Dinner (8 pm):
1 Chappati or Roti + ½ cup of Lentils dal + 50 grams of fish (rich in omega 3 fatty acids) + 1 bowl of raitha (380 calories).
The total calorie that you will be consuming a day by following this non-vegetarian diet menu is around 1225 calories.

By following this diet plan, you will be able to lose weight by eating all your favorite foods. You do not need to do rigorous workouts and just need to do mild exercises to enjoy weight loss with this diet. If you are looking to lose weight within a short span of time, then the 1200 calorie diet plan will help you to shed extra kilos by making a little bit of adjustment to your lifestyle and diet.

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