Right now all the rage and focus is on clean eating. So any of you do it ? How do you incorporate your taste preferences to clean eating ? Did it help your and your family’s health. Please share tips, and recipes if you have done this successfully.
Desi clean eating -
“Clean Eating” is a lifestyle, it’s not dictated by any one cuisine. No processed foods, additives or preservatives. Natural foods straight from the source. Fruits and veggies that are seasonal and from a farmers market. Grass fed, cage free, no hormone injected meat…packaged foods shouldn’t have more than 5-6 ingredients. No artificial flavors.
It doesn’t have anything to do with “desi” foods. You can make anything desi in the above manner:
What salan has more than 5-6 ingredients? Just make sure you have quality, organic meats and veggies. When making biryani, zarda, halwa etc, don’t use artificial food color..saffron or annato seeds are natural..or better yet, omit it..it’s for esthetics anyway. Brown rice, unrefined flour, etc.
It’s all about moderation, IMO. You do your best to put wholesome, natural foods in your body and don’t worry about the latest moniker or slogan…1/2 cup of white rice twice a week with an healthy made salan won’t kill you 
Re: Desi clean eating -
Pata nahin I cant follow that all CLEAN FOOD STANDARDS. Im so much into frying stuff and like many non healthy things 
Re: Desi clean eating -
I grew up in a very ‘green’ household. I can only speak about the fresh ingredients about the ‘clean eating’ part.
My parents are both chemists, so naturally there was a big thing about keeping chemicals out of the food/house. I remember not having any sort of all-purpose spray in our home, my dad used to make the mixture with vinegar+water. There was never any canned food in the house i.e tuna/chic peas/veggies. We would go to the farmer’s market every saturday morning to stock up on fresh veggies/fruits/meats for that week.
Now years later I have the same mindset, probably more or so even in this fast paced lifestyle, there is hardly anything that comes in canned form in my house, I prepare everything fresh…pasta sauce/stocks etc. I never buy fish sticks or pre-made patties/cutlets. I try to keep everything at home handy so I can make it if my kids want something that day. It does take a long time but I am very much used to it now, and especially care about what I am feeding my kids.
We have significantly cut down on sodas/juices, I like to have this juice for myself now n then. I call it the ‘glow me’ 
(spinach+carrots+little piece of ginger).
Desi clean eating -
Excellent tips RG!!! I also have steered away from commercial cleaning products…vinegar, baking soda, water etc work great! In fact, I make my own shower cleaner now, since I have a frameless, glass shower in my master bath …it’s rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, liquid dish soap and water (with a dash of rinse aid)…works amazingly!!!
For mirrors and windows, straight water & vinegar and I use a newspaper to wipe…totally streak free!
I also stay away from prepared sauces, and frozen fish sticks etc…just as easy and tastes better to make them fresh! Stock I always make myself and freeze in batches.
My goal for 2014 is to start getting more regular with shopping from the farmers market and rely on seasonal produce and veggies only.
Re: Desi clean eating -
I am big on clean eating now.
My meals use to be very ihtimam valay khanay. I’ve given up all of it.
I stick to the five to six ingredients and to be honest…the prep time is shorter as well as cook time.
I think for the most part we do eat clean. No frying stuff, pasta is more wheat than white. No naans, home made rotis. Use very less oil even in khanas like biryani. More consumption of veggies and daals. Grain fed eggs. Still haven’t switched to organic meat coz it is EXPENSIVE where I live and we don’t have a lot of halal.
I don’t buy those ginormous chicken leg and thighs only. Buy smaller chickens, somehow it makes me feel there are less hormones. No soda , no juice.
I still need to do more and lose stuff like ketchup, mayo and replace those with healthier sauces.
Great tip ladies. I took down my notes. Anything that requires to to bhoon a sabzi to death or fry the taste out of it usually isn’t heavily loaded with nutrition hence not really clean. Roasting and steaming is the next best option and roasting veggies actually makes them taste better in my opinion so even for design meals avoid making dishes that may require bhoonifying.
Re: Desi clean eating -
I joined this bandwagon earlier in 2013, and have to say feel great and am told i look great 
my shopping basket consists of only fresh veggies, and i buy fresh meat, organic as much as possible, eggs that are hormone free and from grain fed hens.
I make a point of buying different vegetables and cooking them desi style or just roasting for the nutritional benefits.
I make a point of eating fish at least once a week, and daal is also a must every week.
I avoid junk food like the plague, and have always made my own roti’s cause i dont like naans from outside.
i gave up sugar last year, although i was never a huge fan of it in drinks in the first place, but treat myself to dark chocolates.
This year i am going to up the anti and try local farmers markets to pick up more home grown stuff, and also have another attempt at growing my own herbs at home. it is time consuming to cook at home but so worth it, at least you know whats going in.
also im going to start getting rid of the cleaning sprays.
Reha, can you give few recipes that consists of less ingredients, and less cooking time. Basically clean eating
Re: Desi clean eating -
Uffff how good you ladies are. I cant cut on fried chicken, cold water and yes Coca Cola 
But yes except peas and Corns i buy all fresh veggies. Eggs I have to watch out for organic ones but never took care of that, have to see on what I can cut. Surely clean eating is much much healthy.
ANd yes i also dont take much the finger fish and even french fries I make at home. Samosas and such stuff also homemade. Pasta sauces i do get the marhet ones but that is used when im doing fast cooking. However yes i use nando’s marinades a lot, yaar itna to jaaiz hai na!!!
Re: Desi clean eating -
I love khatti’s idea.. when we were in a state with lots of farms near by, we had a farm share and could pick up local fruits and veggies once a week, it was perfect. We bought eggs too from them but poultry was very expensive as in $35 for a 3-4 pound chicken so we had that only once in a blue moon. Now at the new place, we are still looking.. there is a farmers market in the city but prices are almost double and not many choices so I am reluctant to buy.
so I guess my question would be how to do clean eating on a budget? If people wont mind sharing the expenses and how do they budget it for family, I would love to hear that.
Re: Desi clean eating -
I don’t like to spend much time cooking…so I keep it simple. I have a stove top grill handy at all times and crock pot is always an option if I am home.
These dinners aren’t necessarily festive or gourmet dishes…they’re healthy though.
Grilled salmon - lemon juice, salt, red pepper, ginger/garlic paste and butter. Served with heaps of veggies..my faves are broccoli. I have this at least once or twice a week.
Daal…all time favorite meal of mine. Red masoor ki daal cooked with salt, red pepper, turmeric and ginger/garlic past. IF you desperately need tarka, you can dry roast some cumin and top it. I’ve also dropped pieces of fish in this at times.
Grilled chicken breast made a million different ways…again served with large helpings of veggies.
Bhuna huwa qeema and bell peppers…this is also a staple.
Meat is organic, produce is organic…and I find it to make a world of a difference in my diet. I feel so much better.
Once in a blue moon, we will have our cheat days and go all out but for the most part the idea is to keep the focus on less cook time.
Re: Desi clean eating -
Pinterest is my inspiration when I am stumped and looking for ideas
Desi clean eating -
i started to look into clean eating last year. I was enraged when I saw that ginger in warehouse store was from China. It is really important to be aware of what you put in your mouth. I love frozen pizza but the list of ingredients is disgusting . There are so many chemicals and preservatives in our favorite foods. High fructose corn syrup is one of the worst and can be found in many food items.
Re: Desi clean eating -
I do clean eating for vanity reasons than health, actually no, my mother is diabetic so we by default try to eat clean.
Put less oil in your salan, put less spices and significantly reduce the cooking time and you can enjoy eating Asian cuisine every day. We as family don’t do twenty course meal dawaats and I don’t particularly get excited to be in such dawats as a guest as well.
To remain on the good side of the specturm, I don’t eat processed food, stay away from snacking on refined carbohydrates, no junk at all and no take aways. I gave up coffee almost over a year ago. Instead I drink organic full fat milk from my local dairy for breakfast. I believe in eating things as close to nature as possible. I do eat organic meat and eggs for quite a few other reasons, but I’m not too big on eating organic vegetables and fruits, especially where’s all sorts of debates and research going on to identify whether organic fruits and vegetables tastes any tastier or are any nutritional than normal vegetables. So far I am on fence with this issue. So this leads me to be not so crazy about only eating fruits and veg from farmer’s market. Yes local food seasonal food may taste good and helps the local economy; for me unfortunately, Britain does not produce wonderful fruits like Papaya, Pineapple, Watermelon, Avocado etc – the fruits I love and basically eat all year round.
I am a dedicated eater of ‘Paradise Fruits’ – Dates, Figs, Pomegranates, Olives, Grapes etc. Again these wonderful things are not local to Britain.
Above all, I think drinking enough water and doing enough physical exercise makes all the difference to how you feel and look. Unfortunately, as I am writing a massive proposal and doing lots of boring paper work, I mostly remain in one place, but I miss the time when I used to do quite a bit of walking around.
Re: Desi clean eating -
is it easy to find halal organic meat in the US?
Desi clean eating -
No it’s not easy to find organic meat. And even if is available it’s very expensive!
Re: Desi clean eating -
please pardon my stupid question..how do you eat your daal/etc if there is no roti/rice ? spoons and forks ? buss ?? I need to know a full day’s sample menu for ‘clean eating’ .. reha ? royal gala ? anybody else ?
Re: Desi clean eating -
With a spoon, like a soup.
I’ve done desi daal with so many different things, (not necessarily “clean”)…I love it!