Working women, feed yourselves

Here is a list of what a well fed, nutrition conscious woman should stuff herself with. Those of you who are figure conscious and dieting, well, look elsewhere. The word, diet, by the way, is an Italian derivation that means nutritional, in other words, that which the body needs to function like a well oiled machine.

Upon waking,

• 3, 4 glasses of warm water with lemon, honey and salt. Guaranteed to produce the required result.

Then,

• 1 Cup tea without sugar, with jaggery. Organic jaggery in tea is yummy, once you get used to the difference.

Break fast,

• one helping of Dalia upma with a lot of vegetables and a little mung dal / 2,3 idlis with sambar and chutney / 2 rotis made with methi, atta and besan / Sprouted mung dal upma with a roti / 1 egg omlet with a roti / dhokla made with rice and dal flour / flattened rice (poha) with groundnuts and vegetables/ oatmeal with milk and honey,
• a glass of buttermilk / a glass of ragi with milk/ a glass of nachni with milk / a glass of plain milk ( If sweetening required, use only jaggery, or honey, not sugar), * Please note, the / means 'or', not 'and'. I mention this because someone commented that the breakfast was much bigger than the lunch *
  
• 3, 4 black raisins ( munakka) and
  
• 1 fruit.

Lunch,

• 2, 3 rotis (of atta mixed with milk, not water, nor oil, and certainly no salt)
• leafy vegetable with potatoes / paneer,
• dal
• lemon
  
• salad
• a glass of buttermilk
• a fruit

Evening Snack,

• Groundnuts / dry fruits (soaked overnight in water) / popcorn /puffed rice
• Lemon water / buttermilk / tea / vegetable soup / coconut water

Dinner,

• Khichdi made with unpolished rice + dal + vegetables (add a pinch of lime for calcium)
• Kadhi / milk with turmeric and ghee
• 1 date and 1 fig, soaked in water.

-----------Sounds good?--------

Some more tips :

• In 7 kgs of atta, mix 1 kg of Ragi + 1/4 kg of Rajgira.
  
• Always soak dry fruits. Dry fruits, even dates, should never be eaten dry.
• Don't use refined oil. Cold pressed oil is better.
• Use hing in baghar. Lime can be obtained from panwallas.
  
• Say no to bread, biscuits, sugar, fried stuff, paranthas, ice-creams, cold drinks.
• There are many leafy vegetables in the market : radish, cabbage, leaves of fulgobi, etc. You don't have to stick to spinach and fenugreek.
• Eat only when hungry.
• Listen to soft music while eating.

This diet plan is summarized from the marathi book on Nutrition for working women, written by the nutritionist, Jayashri Pendharkar.

Coming soon (don't know when), another post on nutrition for guys and kids. We got to feed them too.