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Breakfast wisely
"TIFFIN" USUALLY is everything that a healthy breakfast should not be. A "light tiffin" will keep one sated and alert till lunch, at which time one can pack in a heavy meal, or so the thinking goes. And it is wrong. Others say that a full breakfast makes one feel dull, heavy and sleepy by lunchtime. Answer: not if you are eating the right kind of breakfast.
So what is wrong with tiffin, apart from the fact that its very lightness leads one to believe skipping it will not have serious consequences? To begin with, too few calories. A good breakfast will provide 40-50 per cent of the day's energy needs. Typical Indian breakfasts barely supply 10-20 per cent of the daily requirement. Protein-deficient and fried foods like puri, vada and dosa provide little energy or nourishment for the day ahead. Idlis are healthy, but we eat too few of them in deference to the "light tiffin" idea. Those who like a heavy breakfast usually eat a lot of polished rice: this leads to a glut of blood glucose followed by an insulin surge that causes hunger, dullness and sleepiness by lunchtime.
A healthy breakfast is a balanced meal. It contains carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and other micronutrients, and dietary fibre in the right proportion. Polished rice, white bread, potatoes, processed breakfast cereals, sugary syrups and jams are a bad choice of carbohydrate because of the insulin surge effect. Chapattis, parboiled rice and whole wheat bread provide a steady stream of glucose without triggering an insulin surge.
Beans, dal, curd (not milk, because most Indian adults lack the enzymes to digest it), chicken, boiled egg whites, fish and lean cuts of meat are an excellent source of protein.
RAJIV. M
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