While there's no such thing as right or wrong food
— barring a few exceptions — there is a right and wrong way to eat
them. How you eat your favourite foods could make all the difference
between filling your stomach and nourishing your body. Ultimately, it's
all about maximising nutritional value. The question is how do you do
it?
1. Rice
I don't think any food has a more battered reputation than rice. It strikes the fear of God in so many of my clients, when I prescribe it to them. They look at me like I've gone mad. Rice is a wonderful food, a fitting accompaniment, and a staple for so many cuisines. The best way to eat rice is to, quite simply, take the starch out of it. Boil rice in a pan but don't pressure cook it or make it in a rice cooker as those methods of preparation do not enable the draining out of the starchy, fatty part of rice. To further reduce the glycemic index (GI) of your boiled rice, just add vegetables and/or sprouts to it. That'll make it healthy and tasty.
2. Vegetables
The best way to get the most out of vegetables is to lightly saute them in an open pan instead of pulverising the nutritional life out of them by using more severe ways of cooking. Having said that, sauteing is not the backbone of most Indian cuisines, which involves usage of multiple methods like pressure cooking, dum (slow) cooking and frying. However, if nutritional content is what you are after, it's best to ensure that vegetables are uncooked or maybe cooked, but not overcooked.
3. Eggs
1. Rice
I don't think any food has a more battered reputation than rice. It strikes the fear of God in so many of my clients, when I prescribe it to them. They look at me like I've gone mad. Rice is a wonderful food, a fitting accompaniment, and a staple for so many cuisines. The best way to eat rice is to, quite simply, take the starch out of it. Boil rice in a pan but don't pressure cook it or make it in a rice cooker as those methods of preparation do not enable the draining out of the starchy, fatty part of rice. To further reduce the glycemic index (GI) of your boiled rice, just add vegetables and/or sprouts to it. That'll make it healthy and tasty.
2. Vegetables
The best way to get the most out of vegetables is to lightly saute them in an open pan instead of pulverising the nutritional life out of them by using more severe ways of cooking. Having said that, sauteing is not the backbone of most Indian cuisines, which involves usage of multiple methods like pressure cooking, dum (slow) cooking and frying. However, if nutritional content is what you are after, it's best to ensure that vegetables are uncooked or maybe cooked, but not overcooked.
3. Eggs
Eggs are best eaten boiled, scrambled, half-fried or any which way you
like but never, ever raw. It doesn't matter what your trainer told you,
it is difficult to determine the degree of microbial contamination
(post the Swine Flu epidemic) present in raw eggs. Cooking your egg
destroys harmful bacteria, while ensuring the retention of its protein
content. And tons of it. While egg whites are still healthier than
yolks, always ensure that your egg is properly done so that your health
parameters are always on the sunny side up.
4. Fruit
I can tell you what isn't the best way to have fruit - juice. Juicing fruit releases fructose, the active sugary agent in the fruit and gives you a tall spike of blood sugar. The best way to get the fibrous, nutritional advantage of fruit is to eat the whole fruit and nothing but the fruit. Try to eat a fruit in between meals as opposed to immediately before or after them. And if you are craving for a juice fix, opt for raw vegetable juices instead.
As a general note, you get the best out of any meal plan if you break it up into smaller meals, and more precisely, eating every two hours. And while I can't seem to say this enough, the idea behind reiterating this is to ensure that you are on top of your weight loss efforts. And that your efforts don't go to your waist.
4. Fruit
I can tell you what isn't the best way to have fruit - juice. Juicing fruit releases fructose, the active sugary agent in the fruit and gives you a tall spike of blood sugar. The best way to get the fibrous, nutritional advantage of fruit is to eat the whole fruit and nothing but the fruit. Try to eat a fruit in between meals as opposed to immediately before or after them. And if you are craving for a juice fix, opt for raw vegetable juices instead.
As a general note, you get the best out of any meal plan if you break it up into smaller meals, and more precisely, eating every two hours. And while I can't seem to say this enough, the idea behind reiterating this is to ensure that you are on top of your weight loss efforts. And that your efforts don't go to your waist.
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