Indian Food & Training

[raknair]

This is something I have been thinking for sometime now. I would like to know from people who are following the training program, in particular, and also from those who bike not just for recreational reasons. Now in the past, once, I had mentioned about the calories we in-take from our heavily fat rich food and I got a stick from many here saying that I am complaining about Indians and their eating habits. But let me clarify here - that is not the case but I genuinely have trouble with our food. Kerala cuisine is spicy.

I do not know how many of you are having problem with diet and Indian food. I live in Kochi now for the past two years. I have always had trouble with our food, in the sense that, I feel terribly stuffed and at times I get bad acidity. I doubt it the food that I have been eating in the recent past that is cauing the problem. I do not have any allergies. We all know Indian cuisine is spicy. For those who know me in person will surely know I do not hog. Just to give you all an example - I eat only 4 Dosas with Chatni fo breakfast or lets says 4 Idlis. I eat rice based food for breakfast, lunch and dinner which is typically keralite. Mostly, my lunch is kerala thalli and dinner involves, again, rice, sambhar or aviyal etc.

I can get burning sensation in my stomach due to the chilly and spices they add. I know it may sound ridiculous to many here but I really wonder what can be done ? How can I control food we take ? We always talk about burning calories etc but no one has ever spoken about the spice and acidity. Am I the only one suffering ? I am sure those involved in recreational riding may find this irrelevant. But I am not a recreational rider and I train hard on my bike. I am certain that Indian food per se is not fit for cycling sports as such. Any one having any other opinion on it ?

Please take it in the right spirit...

[kk27]

yes rak...this is can be a problem if you have a sesitive stomach.
our food is quite masaledar... even i have mostly a rice diet ...i'm southindian but i've little trouble with food acidity etc.... i have a simple rule "breakfast like emperor, lunch like a king & dinner like a popper"... eat the least at night with loads of water esp. if you've had a spicy dinner.

I believe our food isn't that high in nutrition value... cause the way we cook our food. whereas ours is one of the most diverse food culture than any in the world. But one definately needs to watch what goes in..esp before the night of a hard ride...one of your bro's tips.

[raknair]

yes KK.... it is the masala that is the problem what can we do ?? Like you said, my eating habits is similiar to yours I guess. My dinner is very light and breakfast... good. I do eat fruits and all...loads of water,... everything ....

I guess there is nothing that we can do about the masala... we cannot change our cuisine over night !!

[kk27]

rak...try bananas after a masaledar dinner & then subsequent morning before the ride. it helps curb the effect of masala for me... you can try.

[Nisha]

rak,

I am NO expert (I bike only to get from point A to B), but being another keralite who has lived out of Kerala, and have often missed kerala food, I can tell you this much,
1. Have curd at the end of all spicy meals. Can try some "moru" before food too. If made in the traditional method, the fat would have been removed and it would not be another source of fat.
2. Don't stick to only rice for your carbs, consider steamed tapioca, cooked raw jack fruit, steamed kerala banana and other local stuff which seems to be disappearing now. It is good to have variety as per the seasons. Follow the locals, no, not of this generation, but that of 2 generations earlier. Just eat less of it.
3. Eat less of the carbs and more of the fish and even more fish. I hope you eat fish!
4. Learn to cook! What! a man! cook! in Kerala!!!! Forget what the neighbours and relative think, just do it (If you are biking in kerala, that too not wearing a "mundu", this should not be a problem!). Doesn't take that long to make a good nutritive meal and you can adjust the spices to your liking.

[farazs]

Sambhar(/tuvar dal) always gives me acidity ... and that has nothing to do how spicy it is.
Also, all fermented foods (idli/dosa) are possible culprits. Incidentally, I prefer Idli with ketchup (... pause for reaction) and that goes down well. I had a pretty bad case of acidity on my Saturday-morning ride ... felt like regurgitating after every sip of water. So NO, you are not suffering alone.

AFAIK, acidity can be caused N-number of factors including food, stress and not getting enough rest. There might be different triggers for different people. So make a list of all the food that can cause problems and abstain from each one for a week - till you find the problem. If nothing works, then it might be something other than the food you eat.

Alternatively ... you could hasten that move to Pune. I think you'll get more options in food here

Cheers,
farazs

[anindya_911]

Rakesh,

Do you eat home made food or eat out?

Burning senstation in stomach all the time is not a good sign, might be a case of peptic ulcer, consult a Doc.

+1 for Nisha's post. Add curd / buttermilk(un-spiced) to all of your meals, apart from soothing the tummy you will be getting the necessary calcium for your body.
Add lot of fruits in between the meals. Try switching to roti for lunch and avoid the spicy chutneys.

In case, you eat at home, request for less use of chilly, oil and masala, if you eat out, then its time to take cooking classes. Its not a rocket sceince and its healthier + economical

Cheers
Anindya

[raknair]

Thank you all for responding. Actually I stay as paying guest with a family. I have had problems with their cooking for sometime now. I think I need to go back and switch to some easy stuff like steamed keralal bananas for breakfast (like how Nisha suggested) and eat less of rice. I guess it is the masala more than anything else. I think those who are seriously thinking about biking should consider changing the food habits a little. Here, I have no choice but to eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I sort of live in a village with no good alternative when it comes food. But yes one got to admit our cuisine are quite heavily for any sports.

[Minkey Chief]

Follow the locals, no, not of this generation, but that of 2 generations earlier. Just eat less of it.

I'd rank this as one of the best bits of advice on this forum. How much we've lost, and are losing every day, when it comes to food.

[Nisha]

Thanks Minkey Chief.

When I was about 5 years old my grandmother pulled out a Tapioca from the ground, shook off the mud and stuck it into the embers of the fire. After some time she pulled it out, pealed of the skin and we ate it together. It was one of the tastiest things I ever ate. My grand mother died two years back (at 91yrs) and on my last visit there I remembered this and asked my relatives about it. Unfortunately no one knew how to do it anymore. Apparently not all tapioca taste good that way and no one had a fire anymore.

[RNair]

I wholeheartedly agree with the fact that local is better, but the only problem is that most don't live traditional lives anymore. People in the past had a far more active life. We live our lives sitting on a chair these days. So some modification is needed. A lot still follow the eating habits but not the rest of the lifestyle and that has resulted in a lot of unfit and sick people. My grandmother still runs around the mountains like she is a teenager but my mom can hardly wake up and walk from the living room to the kitchen! The same can also be applied to all her siblings and even some folks in my generation.

[RNair]

My wife is an excellent cook. In my household we cook both Indian and Italian. This might sound funny but we make a list of what we eat everyweek based on how much we plan to ride over the week. Both of us love food. We stick to a lots of carbs from pasta, bread, potato and rice. We have meat, eggs and fish. Lots of fresh greens, beans and fruits also make the list. Nuts like almonds and walnuts.

Here are some rules in my household. We never rarely eat anything fried. Olive oil for cooking. All milk product are 2% fat except for our son who is on Whole milk. Salt is to the minimum. Spices are extremely moderate. These are just some basics that we follow.

I have to admit that since all 3 of us are into sports, our diet is totally influenced and controlled by it.

[uhk]

Welcome back Chief, I take it you are back in Cal?

Nisha, reading about your grandmother was moving, I wish I had spent time with mine like this.

[raknair]

I can only agree with my brother. Our grandmother just cannot stop surprising everyone. She is 87 yrs of age and surely the fittest of all from her and our mother's generation. I recently had gone to visit my mum and was shocked to see the state she is in. She is 61 now. She simply cannot walk 200 metres !!!

@ Nisha - Tapioca..you just reminded me of Kappa and Meen Curry. Co-incidently, it is my favourite food. I just love it.

As for what is best for hardworking cyclists here in India, I simply do not see anything nice to eat that is significantly healthy. I really wouldn't recommend having even kerala thalli or similiar kind for both lunch and dinner. I am now considering having Kerala Meals only once a day. Have simple wheat bread, jam and butter for breakfast, boiled eggs (once a week) and oats. For dinner, I am considering restricting myself to some fruits. I think I need to eat something else too along with fruits but don't know what.

I do not think people who are into recreational or commuting need to bother too much so stringently on food intakes. But yes, for endurance cyclists like me, we need to think about what we eat.

[RNair]

I do not think people who are into recreational or commuting need to bother too much so stringently on food intakes. But yes, for endurance cyclists like me, we need to think about what we eat.

Everyone needs to think of what they eat.There is a abundance of good nutritious food available in india and the best part is most of the food is fresh unlike the processed food in the west. Simple trick to staying healthy is eat fresh and exercise.

If you simply keep it basic and eat what you need, I think there would be no problem. Some of us don't cook and that is the fundamental problem. But even plain boiled rice with spinach/dal and a baked fish/chicken on the side followed by fruits sound yummy to me

[p_jayadeep]

Having had a haemarroid(piles) problem, I have had to alter my eating habits a bit and the thing that helped was having a lot of fiber(bananas and fruits - btw, watermelon seems to create some problems though) in my diet. I had cut out coconut from my diet as much as possible for fear of cholesterol and other stuff, but bought it back(even coconut oil) when I realized coconut was really the king!:) But surely as Rajesh points out, any fried stuff is a problem in any diet.

The other experiment I am doing based on a doc's advise is to cut out milk products completely(I also realized it is very unnatural to drink another animal's milk - see more of my thoughts at http://tinyurl.com/amo8hj - this seems to have helped though it is too early to make a statement. And I also bumped on to this great blog on primal eating that Nisha talks about, Mark's Daily Apple(MDA) - http://www.marksdailyapple.com/, though I am not really a primal eater yet, a lot of things that Mark advises make perfect sense.

All said and done, I don't think anyone can survive without a fitness regime as part of their lives anymore and the best one IMO that can stick is making cycling part of your daily routine(though football remains my first love:)

my 2p,
Jayadeep

[Minkey Chief]

Having lived in, or often visited, three supermarket-driven parts of the world, I find it a revelation every time I come back to India how flavourful all the fruits and vegetables are. They may not last long, they don't look like works of art, but they taste just amazing. Don't lose out--support your local markets!

Also, I think most of our vegetable dishes are light and easily digestible. It's Indian restaurant food that's a real killer--but in my experience, almost all the day-to-day Indian home cooking I've eaten has been light and easy to process.

[fareed]

I do not think people who are into recreational or commuting need to bother too much so stringently on food intakes. But yes, for endurance cyclists like me, we need to think about what we eat.

Part of the problem and solution.
You need to take charge of everything that goes in (I sound a little harsh, but its the truth)

I was at a strictly vegetarian place the other day in Bangalore (even though I consider myself an obligate carnivore) and I was surprised to see what 'veggies' actually mean here - Tonnes of dal, pulses, legumes and stuff, a little piece of carrot here and there, tonnes of those frozen peas that you get by the kilo (that almost become stones in your curry). Even scarier, lots of white flour (maida), lots of ghee and oil and everything was over cooked (nay, mish-mashed).

Ah, yes and someone recommended paneer curry as a good allround 'veg' dish. Lots of fiber they said. (*faints in shock)
No dark greens, not much fiber for water retention, nada.

I'm not a keralite, but I LOVE MALAYALI FOOD!! Sadly, the thing with food in India in general is that we love our carbs, dig our pulses/ legumes, think that ghee makes the body stronger and that the yellow in an egg is what matters (Not the white). We also consume lots of dairy products, even though Indians are not known to have very milk friendly guts.

(*Sighs) Indian food is soo tasty still . All that gravy... (*misty eyes)

My 2 cents:
- I follow the paleo style of eating: Lots of dark green veggies, leafy veggies, more veggies, clean cooked lean meats (if you prefer veg source of protien, you need to find something other than dals alone, maybe egg?) and almost no easily digestible sugars and stuff. (*you can cheat once in a while though, its healthy ^_^)
- I had to stop the lovely kerala meals that kept me going for 2 years cause it was killing my stomach , and left a burning feeling in my intestines. I still eat the dry beef fry, the curd based curries, but i steer clear of spicy sambara and rice.
- I have changed by staple to wheat rotis and bread from an almost entirely rice based diet last year. Look for complex sources of carbs, not rice. The change does wonders for the energy levels. (I guess since you do endurance sports, you'd need rice when you carbo load.)
- Make your meals in advance. Learn to cook. Take charge. Explore non-indian food (rather, 'styles' of cooking)

Peace!

[arunursfriend]

Hey Rakesh,

Me from Kerala too, and I find our dishes to be the best anywhere...nutrition wise and taste wise....Ok it may get a bit spicy at times, but then you have that excellent solution given by Nisha...Curd and Moru.... Otherwise our diet, with a good presence of fish should serve pretty well for all purposes....The Puttu - Cherupayar combo for breakfast, traditional meal with fish fried for lunch and a decent dinner should do the trick....

I have been working out for the last 10 years (Though on and off at times), and have just taken to cycling a month back...have kept my diet the same mostly, except for a phase in N India, when I tried on the tandoori stuff and butter chicken, Rogan Josh et al....And it (Our diet) has helped me stay fit throughout...

But then some people are affected by some foods, and if you consistently see that a particular item is upsetting you, best to avoid that....I hear milk is an acidic irritant for many who suffer from lactose intolerance.....

Also have never controlled diet, just ensured that enough carbs and proteins go in, but otherwise eat pretty much what you like...My point is when you are workin out, cycling, burning 1000+ cals daily, you should be able to reward yourself with all the tasty stuff....And never had any problems maintaining weight also.....But yes, when I work out, or cycle, do so all out...

So eat all you want, just ensure you also burn it off.....

Regards,

Arun

[Jade]

Follow the locals, no, not of this generation, but that of 2 generations earlier. Just eat less of it.

I'd rank this as one of the best bits of advice on this forum. How much we've lost, and are losing every day, when it comes to food.

Now guys want to get overboard with what they partially of full understand as regards diets.

Just understands this - what you are eating may or may not be good for you. It all depends upon weather you are over-weight or under-weight, fit or unfit for physical activity, have a physically active lifestyle or not etc. etc.

So what you eat should be good for you and must always be balanced, least to say you must like your 'good' food. This simply requires discipline, especially in our times.
Most grandmas would say yuk! to a Pizza more for the food value and less for the taste!

[kk27]

Well I'll just reiterate here that Indian food or cuisines cannot be put into an exhaustive list... but the way we cook our food isn't a very healthy one.... & "most of our healthy recipes have been long forgotten"

But yes I do agree that what one eats is good for him & what one should eat is a big question of critical self evaluation about one's lifestyle & eating habits.

[Minkey Chief]

Just understands this - what you are eating may or may not be good for you. It all depends upon weather you are over-weight or under-weight, fit or unfit for physical activity, have a physically active lifestyle or not etc. etc.

So what you eat should be good for you and must always be balanced, least to say you must like your 'good' food. This simply requires discipline, especially in our times.

Sorry Jade, I see lots of words, but not a lot of useful content. "May or may not, depends, should be..."

I'm no nutritionist or doctor, but I have done a lot of reading in the last couple of years about eating, our food, and the food industry, and certain things repeat themselves over and over. The rules are actually very simple, it's the implementation that *may* be harder, but no real reason why it should be the case. As with most things, K.I.S.S. works. Going back two generations for food is great advice--you immediately understand that a whole swathe of processed junk isn't on the menu anymore.

Remember, cuisines have developed over thousands of years of actual human trials. Just because restaurants use tons of ghee and oil, doesn't mean Indian food is bad. A thali cooked with a light touch (and not too much rice) probably hits every nutritional requirement in the book and more. (This is addressed generally to the thread.)

Most grandmas would say yuk! to a Pizza more for the food value and less for the taste!

If that pizza's from the Hut, I'd say yuk! too. But a well-made pizza with proper long-cooked tomato sauce and good cheese in moderation, herbs--you get both taste and food value.

[RNair]

My post ride food is a good Italian Pizza when I am in Italy Just love it. Nothing can beat it. But in Italy you can down an entire pizza by yourself but in the US with the big chains you are better of sharing a pizza with your entire neighborhood!! It is that lethal.

I eat everything because I love food. But I am very aware of what I am eating. Just relished half a bar of Hershey's Dark Chocolate (rich proteins and antioxidants)! But hey I just got back from a 60k ride with 2 sets on hill intervals

The problem most of us face is that we live far more lazier life than our forefathers did. So just eating what they ate 20 years will not work for us as most of us are not as active as they were. That is one reason the newer generation is primarily out of shape.

[Minkey Chief]

So just eating what they ate 20 years will not work for us as most of us are not as active as they were.

Definitely see what you're saying here, and the "go back in time" argument applies best to when you compare processed food choices to fresh ones. So the argument is to go to a supermarket and buy only stuff that your great-grandparents would recognise as food. So only fresh fruit, meat and veggies, and no tinned stuff, chips, processed plastic cheese, dog meat on a stick etc.

This is pretty obvious on this forum, full of active people, but a lot of people out there prefer stuff in packets and tins to things from the veggie aisle. There are many obese Americans, for example, who've never eaten fresh food.

The rise of supermarket culture and packaged-good culture in India is worrying as a result.

[RNair]

It is simple.

1. Drink lots of water
2. Eat Fresh food and as much as possible avoid processed food.
3. Make breakfast a serious habit.
4. Moderate physical activity.

How difficult or complicated are the above 4 points?