Healthiest Indian and Mediterranean foods - re cholesterol

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Indian food is not healthy. I love Indian food and cook it often, but if it has ghee (all recipes do!) It's basically like Paula Dean's food.

So you know about ALL Indian food?

Yes, I lived in India...

And you had cooks for everything. LOL that you know anything about Indian food.

Nope - our family had an assistant cook, but we cooked ourselves a lot. Very passionate about cooking and learning how to cook different dishes. All which involved copious amount of ghee.

But that was your choice. I was born and raised in India and even my grandmothers did not use ghee lavishly. We were always conscious of oil and fat while cooking. Don’t presume to speak for over a billion people and myriad sub-cuisines.

If 50% of a billion people have diabetes or cardiovascular disease that is a big percentage that aren't doing what your Grandmother was...India has changed dramatically in the last 10 years if you haven't been recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1 in 2 people in India are suffering from diabetes or cardiovascular disease. That's not just genetics, it's what people are eating. You can love Indian food and admit that it isn't healthy.

To the previous PP, there are no recipes. That's why you have to learn from someone. Again, I think recipes can be made healthier, but ghee is not healthy. There is no doctor that would agree that clarified butter is healthy for people with high cholesterol.

It's not just rich food though that might contribute. A basic vegetarian diet is very healthy. It's the processed snacks and sweets that seem to exist in every household. Also, a move to a very sedentary lifestyle that's built into the culture. You'll find few kids enrolled in sports. And doctors are recognizing that there is something different about the Indian subcontinent (possibly on a mitochondrial level) that make all of thes other issues a perfect storm. But a little deal and some vegetable side dishes won't hurt you if you go easy on the fat.

Of course, this is my point exactly. No one is getting it. It can be healthier but there is a PP arguing ghee is healthy. That's part of the issue. You are right working out isn't big in India, but you can still eat and be healthier than what is going on today. A generation ago, I agree, people weren't using as much ghee or eating as many sweets or working super long hours at a desk or the pollution wasn't crazy bad all the time. There is a huge health crisis and it sucks.

This is veering off-topic but among the urban class food habits have dramatically changed since I left India 25 years ago after undergrad. Back then there were not many restaurants and few middle-class families could afford to eat out on a regular basis. I remember we would go out to eat just a few times a year and it be be a big occasion. Most people cooked at home, usually moms and grandmas.
Incomes have soared in India since those days and many women also work. Long work hours and very long commutes leave a lot of people with no time to cook. They either eat out regularly or have cooks prepare food in their homes. It’s not as healthy as the traditional home-cooked meals. I was shocked on my last visit home how many people retuned from work at 8 pm, sat down for heavy dinners at 9 pm and then went to sleep soon after.
Sports and physical activities for kids were never high priorities in India and most children spend all their time in school and private tutoring to get into good colleges. And many Indians have a predisposition to heart disease and diabetes. It’s a lifestyle problem, not an issue with the cuisine itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indian food is not healthy. I love Indian food and cook it often, but if it has ghee (all recipes do!) It's basically like Paula Dean's food.

So you know about ALL Indian food?

Yes, I lived in India...

And you had cooks for everything. LOL that you know anything about Indian food.

Nope - our family had an assistant cook, but we cooked ourselves a lot. Very passionate about cooking and learning how to cook different dishes. All which involved copious amount of ghee.

But that was your choice. I was born and raised in India and even my grandmothers did not use ghee lavishly. We were always conscious of oil and fat while cooking. Don’t presume to speak for over a billion people and myriad sub-cuisines.

If 50% of a billion people have diabetes or cardiovascular disease that is a big percentage that aren't doing what your Grandmother was...India has changed dramatically in the last 10 years if you haven't been recently.

I visit frequently. The lifestyle has changed. The traditional Indian cuisine, especially the South Indian cooking I was raised with is not an issue. If Indians eat paneer tikka and chole bhatura every day without portion control that’s not healthy but that’s also not food meant to be eaten on a regular basis.

[Anonymous]

I mean, most Med recipes are barely any cholesterol. How come so many are only posting about Indian food?
Do we have a lot of Indian heritage pps?
So, Med diet. This is what I ate growing up in Yugoslavia, which was similar but not the same. There is info now that former Yugoslavia is heavy on meat, and that is true. But, that is restaurant and celebration food, as a kid I ate homemade, mostly homegrown vegetable dishes with a tiny bit of meat.
Here is some of it.
First, until the 70s we age mangulitsa pigs. Look it up.
Here are so dishes which were weekly meals:
Cooked peas (like a stew, with a tiny bit of meat for flavor.
Salads, bib lettuce with vinegar, salt and oil. Leave oil out.
Tomato and cucumber salads. Again, salt and oil.
Beans, cooked beans, or cooked green beans, salads. Bread to go with it. Bread was always flour, salt, yeast and water, nothing else.
Pilau rice, risotto in Italian.
And if we ate fried foods, it was fried zucchini, or meat, but not too often at all.






And this was before the fish dishes!
Orada..not sure of the English name, European seabass? With Swiss chard.

[Anonymous]

The US now has an obesity rate of 35% and 1 in 4 deaths are from heart disease. Just saying that we have terrible food culture and lifestyle factors here.

[Anonymous]

PP's salad with a lemon on top looks very sad, like something that a cheap BBQ place would give if anyone had the gall to order salad as a side.

[Anonymous]

I am Indian immigrant and have been sticking to the old way of Indian cooking for 30+ years. My kids want other cuisines and we do indulge but in a limited way and we try and replicate everything at home. I have also made some healthy adjustments like switching entirely to olive oil. I also make my own ghee with fenugreek in it. First of all, Indian traditional cooking can be a laborious process (at least the way we were taught). DH and I are still used to having a variety of foods on our plate. Here's what on our thali usually - ...

- Basmati rice (washed thrice before cooking, cooking like pasta and draining the starchy water out. Removes arsenic and most of diabetes causing starch)
- Roti (made with multigrain flour - whole wheat, chickpea flour, rice, millets, oat, barley, flaxseed, various daals, psyllium husk, chia seed, turmeric, fenugreek)
- Daal (tampering with cumin, coriander, asaphetida, mustard, red chillies, coriander, curry leaves)
- Home made yogurt set in organic milk
- One dry veggi prep with spices
- One curry veggie with spices
- Chutneys
- One non-veg curry or kebab
- One salad - onions, green peppers, tomatoes, cucumber with a dressing of lemon juice, black pepper and salt.
- Fruits in the day time. We do not eat fruits in the evening.
- Mukhwaas (mouth freshner) - fennel, cardamom, cloves, sweetened rose petals, coconut and jaggery.

All of this is well and good but it requires planning and execution. I spend around up to two hours in the kitchen a day - prepping, cleaning, cooking, serving etc and I am strickler for meal times. Earlier no one liked what I did but now they are used to it too. Food is important for your health. You cannot be eating restaurant food and expect that health will remain good. The care that you take in making the food and maintaining hygine and freshness is missing at restaurants. Look at my menu above. So much of this food is quick to make and serve - fruits, salad, yogurt, pickle, rice, daal, a few chappatis, mukhwas are just low effort food. Early every morning I have all my burners going with veggis and non-veg entrees being cooked in the morning. Every evening, I am doing prep work for the next day. When I have failed to do that, my family will happily order food from outside. That's when their health goes downhill. Either they will put on weight, or get acne, or get GI issues or feel tired and sleepy. The moment I make hearty and healthy food for them, they are doing better. No, there is no shortcut solution to good nutrition without spending time on it unless you are super rich. Otherwise, the whole cooking routine has to be baked into your daily life and it is boring, repetetive, thankless but essential.

If I don't do it first thing in the morning, I run out of steam and energy. If I want to feed my family without being resentful, I have to cook first thing in the morning and be done with it. I have also found that if cooked food is available at all times, my family will eat it without any drama. Otherwise they are hangry and will eat some kind of junk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The US now has an obesity rate of 35% and 1 in 4 deaths are from heart disease. Just saying that we have terrible food culture and lifestyle factors here.

Perhaps to nasty people like you who have lost their taste buds to crap food that they eat all the time. To people that have pure taste buds to actual food, that would taste and look like heaven.
You deserve that and more.

[Anonymous]

So, all Indian food is basically the same? Some flat bread and sauce and some more sauce? Curry, chutney, masala, some yogurt and butter... I mean you guys are really not doing Indian food any favors here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, all Indian food is basically the same? Some flat bread and sauce and some more sauce? Curry, chutney, masala, some yogurt and butter... I mean you guys are really not doing Indian food any favors here!

You are embarrassing yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, all Indian food is basically the same? Some flat bread and sauce and some more sauce? Curry, chutney, masala, some yogurt and butter... I mean you guys are really not doing Indian food any favors here!

You are embarrassing yourself.

Am I? Yet you are here posting about healthy food and yet, I am not sure where on earth is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indian food is not healthy. I love Indian food and cook it often, but if it has ghee (all recipes do!) It's basically like Paula Dean's food.

Ghee is one of the healthiest cooking fat.
Don't tell me you are using canola oil ?

+1 We have transitioned to only cooking with ghee whenever needed. Ghee has comparatively lower amounts of fats than butter. It also has a very high smoke point which is great for stir fries and such. It adds a great flavor too which I can't say for other oils that I've used in ethnic cooking. I say go with Ghee whenever you need to - grilling/sautéing except maybe for frying.

Ghee can also easily be made at home.

[Anonymous]

OMG! Anyone looking to bring down their cholesterol should not be thinking that cooking with ghee, instead of butter is going to help them.
That's like those keto pps that think that eating steak will bring down triglycerides and cholesterol!

[Anonymous]

We use over 1/2 Liter of olive oil per week.

My HDL is 75.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, all Indian food is basically the same? Some flat bread and sauce and some more sauce? Curry, chutney, masala, some yogurt and butter... I mean you guys are really not doing Indian food any favors here!

You are embarrassing yourself.

Am I? Yet you are here posting about healthy food and yet, I am not sure where on earth is it?

That’s your problem if you’re ignorant.