Obesity rates are at an all-time high in India. Nearly one in ten in India is obese. This has led to the sudden popularity of crash diets and gyms. But weight loss regimens like Atkins, general movers, liquid diets are useless for Indians.

Many Indians follow western diet plans for months and still no results. This can be extremely frustrating and almost everyone loses motivation. Also, most of the diet plans available online are extremely complicated to understand. They do not incorporate Indian dishes and this annoys many Indian taste buds. Also, most Indians are vegetarians and their preferences are mostly not accommodated in diets.

An Indian weight loss diet has to be customized for the average Indian. It will be very different from a western weight loss diet because of the different cuisines in India. They will also have to adapt to the variety in different states of India. For example, North Indians eat a lot of chapattis (wheat), which is much healthier than rice, the South Indian counterpart. But at the same time, South Indians eat a lot of sauces and vegetables, while North Indian cuisines contain a lot of fat and butter.

Therefore, an Indian weight loss diet must be able to satisfy Indians from different states.

A traditional Indian meal in itself is extremely healthy. While we have the same rice and wheat for carbohydrates as bread, pasta, and cakes in the western world, we have more vegetables, fruits, legumes (dal) incorporated into our daily meals. The main reason for obesity is the tendency towards junk food popularized by Americans and the increase in portion sizes.

The most popular of all weight loss diets are low carb diets. It is impossible to avoid carbohydrates in an Indian meal. Our meals are full of items like Idli, Dosas, Upma, Poha, Dhoklas, Parathas, chapattis etc. But you don’t have to cut out these items because, unlike their Western counterparts, they’re not processed and therefore packed with lots of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Here is a typical Indian diet plan for weight loss.

Breakfast: 2 dosas/ 2 idlis/ one poha bowl/ one upma bowl/ 2 chappatis

Coffee/tea with low-fat milk

Lunch: A Bowl of Rice/ 3 chappatis with vegetables

A portion of meat (30g)

sprout salads

Dinner: 2 chappatis with sabji / 2 dosas / 2 idlis