Grew up on Indian food - thinking of going back to it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on Indian food and now treat it like dessert and eat it very infrequently. The amount of oil used is startling and my system just can't take it. I shudder to think what my arteries would look like today had I stayed on that diet. Like many other many of my relatives have diabetes and most all older Indian women I know carry an enormous amount of belly fat. I'm think the high carb diet causes much of that.

Glad to have a diet of an educated American now. Lots of vegetables, none of my food drowning in oil and lean meats. For carbs we do a lot of sold salads that are often half carb (such as quonia, orzo, and bulgur ) and half veggies. I do cook daal, but once again skip the oil and only use enough to saute onions. I look nothing like the Indian women in my family who still eat a traditional diet, no belly fat and most importantly no Insulin shots!

You know that cooking food at home means you can control the amount of oil you use, right? We cook and eat Indian vegetarian food four nights a week and nothing is drowning in oil. It's quite healthy if you make it properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on Indian food and now treat it like dessert and eat it very infrequently. The amount of oil used is startling and my system just can't take it. I shudder to think what my arteries would look like today had I stayed on that diet. Like many other many of my relatives have diabetes and most all older Indian women I know carry an enormous amount of belly fat. I'm think the high carb diet causes much of that.

Glad to have a diet of an educated American now. Lots of vegetables, none of my food drowning in oil and lean meats. For carbs we do a lot of sold salads that are often half carb (such as quonia, orzo, and bulgur ) and half veggies. I do cook daal, but once again skip the oil and only use enough to saute onions. I look nothing like the Indian women in my family who still eat a traditional diet, no belly fat and most importantly no Insulin shots!

You know that cooking food at home means you can control the amount of oil you use, right? We cook and eat Indian vegetarian food four nights a week and nothing is drowning in oil. It's quite healthy if you make it properly.

Right, but why bother when I can cook just as healthy without all the hassle and get in a much wider variety of vegetables.

Indian food does not taste tbat great whrn rushed and does not taste that good without the oil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on Indian food and now treat it like dessert and eat it very infrequently. The amount of oil used is startling and my system just can't take it. I shudder to think what my arteries would look like today had I stayed on that diet. Like many other many of my relatives have diabetes and most all older Indian women I know carry an enormous amount of belly fat. I'm think the high carb diet causes much of that.

Glad to have a diet of an educated American now. Lots of vegetables, none of my food drowning in oil and lean meats. For carbs we do a lot of sold salads that are often half carb (such as quonia, orzo, and bulgur ) and half veggies. I do cook daal, but once again skip the oil and only use enough to saute onions. I look nothing like the Indian women in my family who still eat a traditional diet, no belly fat and most importantly no Insulin shots!

Let me guess. You are a Punjabi? I know they use a lot of oil and ghee in their cooking
There are tons of Indian dishes that use little to no oil or ghee. Everything is about choices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting -- didn't realize diabetes was prevalent among Indians. I grew up in a home with boring, bland Indian food -- NOTHING was drowning in oil; veggies were cooked in like 1-2 spoons of oil, just with Indian spices so they didn't taste like American food, and daal was basically just boiled lentils w spices -- no oil at all.

+1

But my parents weren't what I would call health conscious. Our food wasn't drowning in oil. It's definitely different from what you would get in an Indian restaurant. I love some restaurant food, but it's not as healthy has a home cooked Indian dinner. At least not the kind in my house or my parents.

(They were immigrants, I'm 2nd gen)

+2. My kids love daal, no oil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on Indian food and now treat it like dessert and eat it very infrequently. The amount of oil used is startling and my system just can't take it. I shudder to think what my arteries would look like today had I stayed on that diet. Like many other many of my relatives have diabetes and most all older Indian women I know carry an enormous amount of belly fat. I'm think the high carb diet causes much of that.

Glad to have a diet of an educated American now. Lots of vegetables, none of my food drowning in oil and lean meats. For carbs we do a lot of sold salads that are often half carb (such as quonia, orzo, and bulgur ) and half veggies. I do cook daal, but once again skip the oil and only use enough to saute onions. I look nothing like the Indian women in my family who still eat a traditional diet, no belly fat and most importantly no Insulin shots!

I hope you're speaking for yourself.
It would be silly to lump all the diverse Indian cuisines under this description.
I grew up in Southern India in a health conscious family. Nothing was drowning in oil, and we are vegetarians. There are people who love the rich oily food but plenty of folks even in the India of 50 years ago knew the importance of eating healthfully.
Not everyone eats Indian-restaurant style meals at home everyday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on Indian food and now treat it like dessert and eat it very infrequently. The amount of oil used is startling and my system just can't take it. I shudder to think what my arteries would look like today had I stayed on that diet. Like many other many of my relatives have diabetes and most all older Indian women I know carry an enormous amount of belly fat. I'm think the high carb diet causes much of that.

Glad to have a diet of an educated American now. Lots of vegetables, none of my food drowning in oil and lean meats. For carbs we do a lot of sold salads that are often half carb (such as quonia, orzo, and bulgur ) and half veggies. I do cook daal, but once again skip the oil and only use enough to saute onions. I look nothing like the Indian women in my family who still eat a traditional diet, no belly fat and most importantly no Insulin shots!

I hope you're speaking for yourself.
It would be silly to lump all the diverse Indian cuisines under this description.
I grew up in Southern India in a health conscious family. Nothing was drowning in oil, and we are vegetarians. There are people who love the rich oily food but plenty of folks even in the India of 50 years ago knew the importance of eating healthfully.
Not everyone eats Indian-restaurant style meals at home everyday.

+1 . Also most dishes have the "food combining" going on so you get the complete nutrition profile including proteins. Eg :- idli, sambar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on Indian food and now treat it like dessert and eat it very infrequently. The amount of oil used is startling and my system just can't take it. I shudder to think what my arteries would look like today had I stayed on that diet. Like many other many of my relatives have diabetes and most all older Indian women I know carry an enormous amount of belly fat. I'm think the high carb diet causes much of that.

Glad to have a diet of an educated American now. Lots of vegetables, none of my food drowning in oil and lean meats. For carbs we do a lot of sold salads that are often half carb (such as quonia, orzo, and bulgur ) and half veggies. I do cook daal, but once again skip the oil and only use enough to saute onions. I look nothing like the Indian women in my family who still eat a traditional diet, no belly fat and most importantly no Insulin shots!

I've never seen South Indian vegetarian food drowning in oil. Which part of India are your parents from? My sister's been eating dal as soup, salad or roasted vegetables on the side, and a few tablespoons of rice with yogurt. I eat more rice than that. I get headaches when I don't get enough carbs.

[Anonymous]

OP, I am with you, I have thought about doing the same. I put only 1 tbsp of oil when cooking my daal or veggies, if oil is controlled and rice is moderate, indian food is one of the healthiest diets out there. My only caveat is time, tasty indian food needs decent prep time. There's no hurrying it.

Signed - A punjabi who is craving South Indian food after reading about rasam and idlis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting -- didn't realize diabetes was prevalent among Indians. I grew up in a home with boring, bland Indian food -- NOTHING was drowning in oil; veggies were cooked in like 1-2 spoons of oil, just with Indian spices so they didn't taste like American food, and daal was basically just boiled lentils w spices -- no oil at all.

That's not typical of any desi food I've had. I always complain of how much oil they use.

+1. When my mother in law comes over and cooks Indian food at my home, I notice that half the bottle of Canola oil is finished! That's when I truly realized how much oil is in her food. Yikes!

[Anonymous]

The dal does not have much oil in it. Its all in the meat curries and fried vegetable dishes.

[Anonymous]

OK so help me out. I am not Indian but have been experimenting with Indian dishes lately to try at eat healthier. Less meat & more veggies. I like how Indian spices make vegetables more tasty than plain old salads or weird vegetarian dishes. So what would you say is the worst part of Indian cuisine? The white rice & naan? Excess oils?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting -- didn't realize diabetes was prevalent among Indians. I grew up in a home with boring, bland Indian food -- NOTHING was drowning in oil; veggies were cooked in like 1-2 spoons of oil, just with Indian spices so they didn't taste like American food, and daal was basically just boiled lentils w spices -- no oil at all.

That's not typical of any desi food I've had. I always complain of how much oil they use.

+1. When my mother in law comes over and cooks Indian food at my home, I notice that half the bottle of Canola oil is finished! That's when I truly realized how much oil is in her food. Yikes!

So your MIL is the sole representative for over a billion people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK so help me out. I am not Indian but have been experimenting with Indian dishes lately to try at eat healthier. Less meat & more veggies. I like how Indian spices make vegetables more tasty than plain old salads or weird vegetarian dishes. So what would you say is the worst part of Indian cuisine? The white rice & naan? Excess oils?

Excess oil is not a part of regular Indian cuisine. People who know Indian food only from eating in restaurants here are often under that impression. Home cooking is very different in most cases. Of course there are families where there is a tradition of rich and deep fried food but that is not the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting -- didn't realize diabetes was prevalent among Indians. I grew up in a home with boring, bland Indian food -- NOTHING was drowning in oil; veggies were cooked in like 1-2 spoons of oil, just with Indian spices so they didn't taste like American food, and daal was basically just boiled lentils w spices -- no oil at all.

Type 2 diabetes is very common in Asians. I'm a skinny Korean, and my Dr. told me she sees a lot of type 2 patients like me - skinny asians. There's something in our genetic makeup that makes us prone to it, I think kind of like some diseases are more seen in Africans or Jews.

I don't know that it's all the white rice since a lot of western Europeans eat a lot of white bread and potatoes, and they don't seem to have this issue, meaning being skinny and have type 2. They do have a lot of type 2 in obese people, but that can generally be controlled by losing weight. My Dr looked at me and said, well there's not much weight that you can lose, so just eat less carbs and exercise more. I think the "exercise more" is the key. We aren't moving as much as generations past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK so help me out. I am not Indian but have been experimenting with Indian dishes lately to try at eat healthier. Less meat & more veggies. I like how Indian spices make vegetables more tasty than plain old salads or weird vegetarian dishes. So what would you say is the worst part of Indian cuisine? The white rice & naan? Excess oils?

I cook South Indian food mostly with some rajma and dal tadka in between. The food I cook is extremely healthy, very minimal processed food, just enough oil and focused on good fats(ghee). I also include a lot of fermented foods, dosa, idii, yoghurt etc. The only thing "unhealthy" I would say is rice. I think the jury's out on whether rice is healthy or wheat. Southeast Asians eat copious amounts of rice as an example We make sure we minimize the proportions, so the legumes and veggies take center stage. Also experimenting with alternate grains like quinoa but we're not quite there yet. Indian cooking does take time and planning though. With practice most of us have gotten it down to a science. It takes me no more than an hour each day for breakfast and dinner. An hour well spent, though having seen the effect it has on overall immunity.