By Dr.Sirisha Potluri:
Eating whole food plant based is possible by eating traditional foods from every cuisine! Food is culture and emotion!
Pick your favorite Indian vegetarian dishes and make them with out dairy products,oil and refined sugars!
Always pick cooked whole grains or 100%whole grain flours, sprouted whole grain flours to make roti or Paratha.
Make sure to Add greens every day in your meals! Cilantro is a great herb with amazing benefits, instead of using as garnish use it in large amounts in Indian dishes!
Use tofu or chick pea flour cakes to replace paneer! Add nut Paste instead of dairy cream!
Use tiny quantities of nuts and seeds to enhance the flavor of indian gravies!
Try to include at 1/2- 1 cup of cooked beans/ lentils every day -batch cook dishes like Channa masala, rajma, lentil dal, black eye peas curry and use for few days at a time!
Make yogurt with plain unsweetened soy milk instead of dairy milk! It’s easy to make yogurt in instant pot with soy milk.
Make your favorite breakfasts like idly and dosa, utthappam with whole grains like millets and oil free! Add veggies in idly and utthappam to make them nutrient dense!
To make Indian desserts use non Dairy milk in the place of regular milk, dates, dried fruits, ripe bananas and date paste in the place of refined sugars, use small quantities of nut butters in the place of ghee or butter! Use vegetables like beets, carrots, bottle gourd to make halwa, using dates, this will increase the nutrient density of desserts
Fruits are the best dessert loaded with antioxidants! Always stock your refrigerator with fresh or frozen fruit!
Make your favorite vegetarian dairy free snacks on the air fryer!
Use instant pot to your benefit to make one pot dishes like whole grain and lentil kichidi, brown rice bisibelli bath and for cooking beans and lentils
Add spices like turmeric, Cinnamon, black cumin seeds( kalonji) regular cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds etc for added health benefits!
Make sprouts using mung dal, broccoli seeds, mustard seeds, and eat them 4-5 days a week along with your favorite whole food plant based Indian dishes!
Fill at least 75% of your plates with naturally fiber rich foods like fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, beans, lentils, whole grains,small quantities of nuts and seeds! Rest of the 25% of the plate can include moderately processed plant foods!
Keeping the saturated fat intake to less than 12grams per day can help prevent chronic diseases! Coconut oil has the highest saturated fat content so be vigilant when buying snacks or frozen vegan foods with coconut oil
Stock up your pantry with whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, millets, steel cut oats or old fashioned rolled oats, dry beans and lentils!
Make a habit of soaking beans every 3-4 days so that we will have beans ready to cook in instant pot or pressure cooker!
Frozen vegetables are also equally healthier as fresh veggies, and they last longer and cook faster compared to fresh vegetables! Buy organic frozen peas, broccoli, spinach, kale mixed veggies and we can quickly add them to our dishes!
If you need help with weight loss, disease prevention, treatment and remission please join my coaching sessions and workshops!
https://plantbasedlosangeles.org/wellness-coaching-2/
