As a Health Coach, something I come across almost every single day is a patient who is a daily wager whose last priority is to get nutritious food.
While for a lot of us it is a matter of choice to reject or accept the items on the diet plan prescribed, making a diet plan for a daily wager is a challenge in itself. What do you think we do? Send them away?
No. We work on the choices which are pocket friendly for them.
In this time of scarcity directly or indirectly our choices have reduced too. Either because the food resources are limited or we do not want to unnecessarily venture out and expose ourselves to this outbreak.
So what do we do? We all eat smart.
How? Here is how:
- Start with sprouting. Double the nutrition with a same ingredient.
- Preparing Vegetable Soups over Salads, This will not only help you use lesser vegetables but also will satiate you faster.
- Make as many variations of khichadi as possible. Do not forget to temper it with appropriate spices.
- Get those Peanuts, Coconut and other Nuts out and make different gravies to add variations.
- Plan the meals in such a way that the most perishable veggies are used first. For eg. Bottle gourd, pumpkins, green bell peppers, beetroot, sweet potato, yams, carrots, parwal, raddish, cabbage and cauliflower over methi, palak, bhindi, french beans, cucumber, ripe tomatoes, ridge gourd, brinjals, red/yellow bell peppers.
- Get fruits which have higher shelf life for e.g. pomegranate, apples, watermelon, muskmelons, grapes rather than bananas, pear, papaya, pineapple.
- Instead of making two items, make one gravy dish comprising of lentils / pulses and vegetables with an accompaniment of bread / roti / rice.
- Make a home made idli- dosa batter and relish it for 10 days with chutneys / spices / pickles.
While this all shall pass, remember “Do not let the situation overpower you, you overpower the situation”.