Nutrition for Asian-Indians Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Ugadi ( Telugu New Year) and Gudi Padwa.

Started day with prayers and well balanced special dish called Ugadi Pacchadi. It consists of  Sweet, Sour and Spice that are well blended.

The significance of this dish

• Neem Buds/Flowers for its bitterness, signifying Sadness
• Jaggery and ripe banana pieces for sweetness, signifying Happiness
• Green Chilli/Pepper for its hot taste, signifying Anger
• Salt for saltiness, signifying Fear
• Tamarind Juice for its sourness, signifying Disgust
• Unripened Mango for its tang, signifying Surprise.

Hope our New Year is well balanced..

This or That/ वौ और ये/అద ఇద

Why Kale Why Not Spinach

 With all the hype about Kale let's see the face- off ; Kale Vs Spinach from http://www.prevention.com/whats-healthier-kale-or-spinach

New Eating Disorder

An extreme approach to diet led to a new eating disorder classified as "Orthorexia Nervosa or Healthorexia.

McKenzie  says "Orthorexia can start out as an innocent attempt to eat more healthfully, but can quickly lead to an unhealthy obsession over food quality or a fixation on “righteous eating,” according to the National Eating Disorder Association"

Read more http://www.nourishrds.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-dietitian-is-in-do-you-stick-to.html

read the full article by Mary MacVean, “For those with orthorexia, diet can never be 'pure' enough” http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/14/health/la-he-orthorexia-20140215

Must Read Articles

Which foods rank high on the heart health scale? Here's how to include them in your meals.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Heart_Letter/2014/March/sizing-up-superfoods-for-heart-health?utm_source=heart&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=heart0314 

Are you being Tricked By Subway..http://foodbabe.com/2014/03/05/are-you-being-tricked-by-these-food-industry-marketing-tactics/

High Blood Pressure Medications And You: Infographic
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/SpecialFeatures/ucm358442.htm 

Tacos 2 Spicy Indian Chili

Tonight dinner -Delicious Mexicano

for Recipe click
 http://nutritionforasianindians.blogspot.com/2013/07/delicious-mexicano.html

From tonight's dinner we had leftover taco fixings of assorted ingredients. So experimented spicy Indian chili in crock pot for tomorrow's lunch box.

Method:
1. To the crock pot add Beans, minced chicken meat (or boiled, drained, and squeezed soy granules), squash cubes, jalapeno's, tomatoes (or the choice of vegetables -carrots, bell peppers, celery, cauliflower and broccoli) minced ginger and garlic, salt, turmeric, coriander, cumin, and red chilly powder.
2. Add half cup of water. Let it cook for 8hrs.
3. Enjoy as a soup/quinoa/brown rice.

Grain Glossary:

 In last week's post I talked about Vegetarian Protein http://nutritionforasianindians.blogspot.com/2014/02/vegetarian-protein.html..

This week let's take a quick tour on Grains and their Calories, Carbs and Fat..

Grain Glossary - Click
http://www.nutrition411.com/component/k2/item/535-grain-glossary
 
 

Steamed Bean Cake

Bean Health Benefits-

 Beans have some health benefits that meats don’t. Beans have no cholesterol and very little fat, and they’re high in minerals and fiber. Eating beans may reduce blood cholesterol, a leading cause of heart disease. Because they digest slowly, adding beans to your diet helps keep you feeling full if you’re working on shedding excess pounds".

For More:  http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyCooking/Bean-Benefits_UCM_430105_Article.jsp

As I am obsessed with beans these days I came up with the recipe Steamed Bean Cake..

Do check my previous post "High Protein dosa".

http://nutritionforasianindians.blogspot.com/2013/07/high-protein-dosa.html

Ingredients:
1 Cup 10 Bean Soup Mix (Sprouts/Costco)
2 Red Chillies (Optional)
2 Tsp Chopped Ginger
Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Soak Bean Blend for 4 -6 hours.
2. Blend pre-soaked beans, red chillies and ginger to semi thick batter.
3. Add salt. Spray olive oil to the Idly (Indian Rice Cake) moulds.
4. Fill the moulds, run a straight edge spatula across the top to remove excess. 
5. Steam the Bean cakes for 10minutes. let it cool down for 5-10 minutes. 
6. Devour the steaming hot bean cakes with your favorite chutney.
7. Goes well for lunch box.

Recommended Posts: Vegetarian Protein http://nutritionforasianindians.blogspot.com/2014/02/vegetarian-protein.html