To be fair, in her defence, she did spend a lot of time cooking and it is bad luck for food to go to waste. But, perhaps she is doing us a favour, let’s face it, when you do eat out, you tend to eat a lot of junk. I mean, when was the last time you decided to go out to eat for a bowl of rice and yogurt…. Hmm, thought so.
So, here are a few tips on how to eat your mums food and actually lose a few pounds:
Try to swap out naan (bread), actually, scratch that, avoid naan, roti and parathay full stop. They are carb heavy and gluten loaded. It takes a long time for your body to break down those complex carbohydrates which is why you feel full and ‘heavy’ for so long. If you really want to have ‘bread’ with your meal, then try chick pea flour or cornflour, or even blend it with rice flour to get a more textured dough.
If you find you can live without bread, great! It’s always good to have some carbs with your meals so opt to have brown rice instead of basmati with your meals. Brown rice tastes great and keeps you full for longer too. Another great way to incorporate carbs is to try quinoa or couscous with your salan (gravy) too. You can season it with salt, pepper, lemon, chilli and a sprinkle of coriander to give it a bit more flavour.
Always make a big bowl of salad to go with your meals and fill your plate with at least 50% salad. Not only does this keep you full but also stops you from wanting to chow down all your food right away! I’ll be posting some of my favourite salad recipes soon, which all take less than 10 minutes to prepare!
Make sure your plate/bowl has a higher portion of protein. For example, if you are having karahi chicken, then make sure you have a higher portion of the chicken. If you are having dhal then have it as a big bowl of soup. Try to limit your carb intake as much as possible and swap it by having your mains coupled with a large portion of salad with a little drizzle of raita for some extra flavour!