Low Carb Diet in Indian Context

The new trend in diet is the concept of low carb diet with high protein. Everyone seems to be following it western world. But, the question is whether it is worth considering in Indian context and if considered how to have a nice low carb Indian menu. There are different opinions on whether to stick to a low carb diet or not. My personal feeling is to focus more on a balanced diet rather than a low carb one. You can still maintain your shape and lose weight while eating rice and other carbs. Same goes for high protein diet. If low carb diet suits you then here are some useful Indian foods to try. 

The problem for the Indians is that with low carb diet to follow you cannot take rice, chapatti, roti, suji, parathas that we commonly take as staple food. Moreover, we cannot take the western counterparts like burgers, pastas, momos and pizzas along with potatoes. So, it seems almost impossible to eat to maintain low carb status. Isn’t it?

The good thing is with low carb diet now you have the liberty of having some butter and you do not need to count your calorie intake. Low carb diet will allow you have some tasty food indeed.

Low carb diet is somewhat expensive compared to a diet with carbohydrates, but it will certainly not make you spend your whole earnings into it. The concept is to take as much natural and unprocessed food as possible with low content of carbohydrates. 

This is now scientifically proven that having low carb diet is a better option for people wants to lose weight as this method gives optimized health with less risk of diseases due to malnutrition.

A meal plan for low carb diet

The meal plan will highly depend on the amount of weight you want to lose and your overall health status. For an average individual the meal plan should be as mentioned below:

The Basics of low carb diet are to take less carbohydrate rich diet. This means you have to take a lot of fruits, dairy products with fat, seeds, eggs, meats, healthy oils, nuts, fish, gluten free grains (if you are allergic to gluten) and tubers.

The things you should try to avoid are high sugary diets like candy, soft drinks, ice creams, fruit juices, wheat, artificial sweeteners, processed foods, seed oils, HFCS and trans-fats.

Never take diet foods while following a low carb diet. Now what to eat as an Indian to maintain a low carb diet?

• Meat including chicken, pork, beef or lamb, according to your choice
• Your choice of fishes
• Eggs
• Vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, spinach and other varieties of your choice
• Fruits like apples, berries, oranges, guava, and so on
• Seeds and nuts including almonds, sunflower, walnuts etc.
• Dairy products with high fat such as cheese, creams, butter, yogurt
• Oils and fats like olive oil, coconut oil, mustard oil, cod liver oil and butter

If you have to lose a lot of weight, then consider taking the meager amount of nuts and cheese and try not to have more than one fruit each day. But, if losing weight is not your focus you can additionally take the tubers like potatoes, some rice, oats and legumes. Having some dark chocolates, coffee, tea and wine can also be allowed along with carbonated soda, but all without added sugar including artificial sweeteners.