Note: I was born and brought up in India and I care about what my people eat and their resulting health. So moving forward I’ll write some posts that are specific to the Indian diet, lifestyle and activities.
My international readers, rest assured that the information contained will be very valuable and interesting. You will get to learn about a culture that hails vegetarianism but also houses 60% of the world’s heart disease patients.
What’s on the menu?
This post is all about breakfast. Specifically, Indian breakfasts and breakfasts Indians eat. What’s the difference?
Indian breakfasts – Foods that are traditionally eaten for breakfast in India like…
- Idly/dosa with coconut chutney + coffee
- Poori/roti with potato
- Pongal with sambar and chutney
- Upma with chutney/sugar
Breakfasts Indians eat – The foods the modern, new age, wannabe healthy Indians eat for breakfast like…
- Cereal/granola/oats with fat free milk and sugar + Fruit (juice)
- Bread and jam + Fruit (juice)
None of us have the time to get into great detail about how these foods are made and their exact macro and micro-nutrient compositions. So this is what I’ll do for each meal.
- Hyperlink each food item with it’s recipe so you can see the ingredients if you care.
- State the dominant ingredient in each meal.
- State the dominant macro-nutrient in each meal.
- State the major nutritional benefits of each meal.
- State the major nutritional deficiencies in each meal.
- Leave the comments section open for healthy discussions/arguments.
1. Idly or dosa with coconut chutney

Dominant ingredients: Rice, lentils
Dominant macro-nutrient: Carbs
Nutritional benefits: Negligible
Nutritional deficiencies:
- Little to no protein (No, lentils are not full of protein).
- Vegetable oil use. Vegetable oils are high omega 6 fatty acids which are pro-inflammatory.
- No vegetables whatsoever and hence no vitamins and/or minerals.
- Super high carb load from grains. Grains = sugar = high blood sugar = high insulin secretion = fat deposit)
2. Poori/roti with potato

Dominant ingredients: Wheat, potato, vegetable oil
Dominant macro-nutrient: Carbs, fat from deep fried vegetable oil ( = bad)
Nutritional benefits: Negligible
Nutritional deficiencies :
- Little to no protein
- No vegetables whatsoever and hence no vitamins and/or minerals. (Potato is hardly a vegetable due to it’s high starch content and minimal micro-nutrient content).
- Super high carb load (= high blood sugar = high insulin secretion = fat deposit)
- Poori is deep fried in highly oxidizable/oxidized vegetable oil. Vegetable oils are high omega 6 fatty acids which are pro-inflammatory and vegetable oils at high temperature release pretty nasty toxins. Click here for scientific proof.
- Consumption of gluten from wheat. Read here for why gluten is bad.
3. Pongal with sambar and coconut chutney

Dominant ingredients in meal: Rice, lentils
Dominant macro-nutrient: Carbs
Nutritional benefits: Negligible
Nutritional deficiencies :
- Little to no protein (No, lentils are not full of protein)
- No vegetables whatsoever and hence no vitamins and/or minerals.
- Super high carb load (= high blood sugar = high insulin secretion = fat deposit)
4. Upma with chutney

Dominant ingredients in meal: Rice/wheat (depending on type of upma)
Dominant macro-nutrient: Carbs
Nutritional benefits: Negligible
Nutritional deficiencies :
- Little to no protein (No, lentils are not full of protein)
- No vegetables whatsoever and hence no vitamins and/or minerals. (The tiny bit of carrot doesn’t count folks!)
- Super high carb load (= high blood sugar = high insulin secretion = fat deposit)
- Consumption of gluten from wheat.
5. Cereal/Granola/Oats with fat-free milk and fruits.
Dominant ingredients in meal: Cereal grain (depends)
Dominant macro-nutrient: Carbs
Nutritional benefits: Minimal vitamins from fruits.
Nutritional deficiencies :
- Little to no protein.
- Little to no good fats. Read this for list of good fats.
- No vegetables whatsoever and hence no vitamins and/or minerals.
- Super high carb load from the grains and sugar and fruit (= high blood sugar = high insulin secretion = fat deposit).
- Fat free milk is super processed.
- Sugar from fruits add to the carb load and basically undoes the benefits of the micro-nutrients it provides.
6. Whole wheat bread with jam and fruits (juice) on the side.
Dominant ingredients in meal: Cereal grain (depends) and sugar
Dominant macro-nutrient: Carbs
Nutritional benefits: Minimal vitamins from fruits.
Nutritional deficiencies :
In a nutshell husk…
Let’s assume the best case and say one guy (let’s call him Mr. Grainitarian) never eats the same meal twice in the same week and eats each one of these meals on different days of the week. So all breakfasts combined, Mr. Grainitarian…
- eats meals that are grain dominant and he is now grain dependent.
- gets hardly any protein from any of these meals.
- gets no good fats from any of these meals.
- eats a tonne of carbs which (as in most cases) he doesn’t need.
- includes literally no vegetables in any of these meals resulting in a huge nutrient (vitamins and minerals) deficit.
- possibly consumes considerable doses of gluten 4-5 mornings/week.
Big picture…
Each year has 52 weeks and if Mr. Grainitarian has been eating this way for 30 years, that’s 1,560 weeks of such sub-par, mediocre, protein-less, sugar/starch filled, nutrient deficient eating.
Now it’s your turn to talk – Are you a Grainitarian? What are your thoughts? Do you think it’s time for a change? Let me know in the comments section. In the mean time, I’ll write about why grain dominance is bad, how to change and what to change in Part 2. Stay tuned.
Peace out.
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