The Business Canvas

When we think of home-cooked food, the ‘healthy’ tag automatically comes to mind. That’s because our brain associates the idea of a freshly prepared meal with known ingredients, which is equivalent to it being “nutritious.”

But that’s not the case. Not for most of us, at least. Despite eating at home, we still wake up exhausted and face severe brain fog throughout the day.

And don’t even get started on the omnipresent issue of belly fat. Most Indians, especially males, struggle with stubborn belly fat and metabolic disorders since a very young age.

Why does this happen? Well, there is a harsh reality behind it.

The convenience and nostalgia of home-cooked food have created a deep nutritional imbalance in our society, leading to multiple gut problems.

Just because something isn’t fried or ultra-processed doesn’t mean it contains all the essential ingredients our bodies need to thrive.

Predominance of Carbs: The Crucial Thali Trap

There is one huge problem with Indian diets in general: Carbs. Our staple diets consist of rice, rotis, and some potato-dominant vegetable curry cooked in generous amounts of refined oil.

These things aren’t unhealthy. In fact, carbohydrates are necessary to provide energy to the body. Similarly, healthy fats play a major role in hormone synthesis.

The problem is in the portions and the inherent lack of protein.

Imagine a typical Indian lunch plate. Almost 2/3rd of it is filled with a mountain of rice. There is a bowl of dal (lentils) alongside it, with some form of aloo ki sabzi, a bowl of curd and some onion-tomato-cucumber salad.

The majority of this is carbs. There is a little bit of protein in the curd, but that’s about it.

The case is similar with other common options like parathas, idlis, upma, not to mention all the “sweet treats” afterwards.

Meals like these cause massive sugar spikes in the body, which in the long term can lead to insulin resistance, becoming the ultimate cause of Diabetes Mellitus.

The Dal Delusion & Protein Deficit

But you ask, isn’t dal an excellent source of protein? Wouldn’t pairing it with rice lead to the creation of a complete and balanced meal?

The answer is no.

Contrary to popular belief, dal is not rich in protein, at least not in the amounts that it’s consumed.

For reference, Urad dal has 25gms protein per 100 g, but in an uncooked state. When cooked, the protein content comes down to a mere 9 g per 100 g.

A 70kg person leading a sedentary lifestyle needs about 56 g of protein daily (body weight x 0.8) just to sustain their body. One can see how this target would be quite difficult to hit if dal is considered a primary source of protein.

This brings me to my next point: Most of India is protein deficient.

We aren’t able to hit our daily targets, while overloading on carbs and fats. Always remember, those aren’t bad, but their disproportions surely are!

Misunderstood Fitness and Paradox of Inactivity

There is a deep misconception regarding physical fitness as well. People often think that a stroll in the park or doing household chores will keep them fit.

That is not the case. Let me explain.

Every day, your body burns a specific amount of calories just to stay functioning. This is known as your basal metabolic rate.

Add any physical activity to it, and you get your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), the amount of energy needed for your body to stay in an as-is state.

While everyday movement is crucial, it does not challenge the cardiovascular or muscular systems enough. For that, you need resistance training or progressive strength training with cardio.

Resistance training with progressive overload causes micro-tears in your muscle fibres, which get repaired during recovery.

The body fears them getting torn again, and hence doubles down on their creation, leading to more muscle mass.

Naturally, more energy is required to sustain that increased mass, as muscles are the most metabolically active tissues of the body. This leads to an increase in TDEE and overall body strength as well.

If you don’t include resistance training or cardio in your lifestyle, the extra carbs consumed have nowhere meaningful to go and will end up being converted and stored as visceral fat.

4 Simple Fixes

Enough of the problems; now let’s look at some meaningful and simple solutions:

• Add protein to every meal: Almost 1/3rd of each meal should consist of bioavailable protein. For vegetarians, soya chunks, tofu, paneer, greek yogurt/hung curd are excellent choices. For non-vegetarians, chicken, eggs, fish, and prawns provide the leanest of proteins with complete amino acid profiles.
• Cut grain portions in half: This goes without saying. If you’re filling up the plate with more protein, you need to cut down on the refined grains to reduce carbs.
• Avoid using excess oil: Oils are very calorie-dense (9kcal/g). Hence, their calories add up quickly without us even noticing. While it may sound torturous at first, decreasing the amount of oil/ghee used in cooking can do wonders in eliminating obesity.
• Adopt Resistance Training with Progressive Overload: You don’t have to start big. A couple of exercises 2-3 times a week using either dumbbells or your own body weight (calisthenics) will do the trick. Just remember to slowly increase the load over a few weeks to keep the muscle fibres stimulated.

Our home-cooked food isn’t bad or lacking in any aspect. We just need to be aware of the nutrient profile and the amount of each macro (carbs, proteins, and fats) that we are putting into our bodies every day.

Once all this is taken care of, there will be visible signs of decreased lethargy, mid-day brain fog and chronic fatigue, with a significant boost to body strength and overall metabolism.

Remember, the key to a healthy lifestyle is keeping track of what you’re eating as fuel and how much.

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