Food recommendations vary for people leading a sedentary and active lifestyle. Vijhay Ganesh  tells  us  that  planning  and  designing the meals ahead would help in controlling the intake.  “The  ratio  between  protein,  fats,  carbs,  probiotics  and  fibers  is  an  important  factor  in  cooking  to  provide  sustained  energy.

You  can  start  by  increasing  portions  of  vegetables  over  grains and legumes. There is an interesting way of cooking vegetables let the veggies cook with their  moisture  until  you  render  it  to the desired texture, and add the seasoning at the end,” says Vijhay Ganesh.

Earlier, he was running a restaurant near Auroville. Many  of  us  are  inspired  by  the  traditional  way  of  cooking but  we  are  not  sourcing  the  right  ingredients  to  practice.  The  former  restaurateur  points  out  that  practicing  traditional  methods  on  conventional  produce  will  not  yield  any  favourable  results  and  vice  versa.  “For  instance,  there  are  30-40  native  rice  varieties  available  in the market but we only use 3 or 4 commercial varieties.

I suggest using heirloom brown or red rice for everyday consumption and cook  them  using  the  draining  the  excess  starch  method  instead  of  a  pressure  cooker  or  absorption  method.  For  our  current  lifestyle,  we  don’t  need the complete starch from grains, less is better.  Draining  the  starch  has  its  perks it  will  provide sustained energy throughout the day resulting in balanced sugar levels to make you feel comfortable,”  he  shares.

Vijhay  is  also  part  of  a  rice research group called Shalikuta. One  has  to  build  his/her  knowledge  about  cooking time for different rice, veggies, dals and pulses.  “The  boiling  time  differs  in  rice jeeraga  samba  will  take  only  7  minutes  to  cook,  while kattuyanam takes 20 minutes.  Another important  element  in  a  meal  is  food  for  our  microbes have  a  probiotic  or  fermented  element  with  every  lunch  to  fulfill  that.

This  does   not   mean   you   can   have    idly/dosa  fermented  foods  should  be  a  small  portion  of a large meal as they are acidic and having them as a meal every day  results  in  acidity,”  Vijhay  points out. “I   prefer   to   have   seasonal   fruits for breakfast. However, if you are looking for other break-fast options, then try kelvaraguor kambu  kanji  or  koozh,  even  pazhaya  sadham  is  fantastic.

Pongal  is  also  a great breakfast option but in a smaller portion  as  it  is  a  dense  food,  almost  like  meat.  To digest proteins, we need good quality fats and hence a dollop of ghee or coconut oil over pongal is sufficient,” he sums up.