One more high protein dosa/pancake recipe

Here's one more of my quick breakfast recipes.
Honestly it's full of readymade products so there's not much to do, but then, it's nutritious and fairly tasty and its in my favourite form -- dosa/pancake.

So I'm always on the lookout to make breakfast as nutritious as possible. Therefore I believe in mixing up ingredients -- the more the merrier. It's a great way to make sure you get in multiple vitamins, minerals etc.

Here's what I put into my dosa breakfast two days ago:
1. Sprouted ragi flour (finger millet)
2. Sprouted soya/soy flour
(The advantage with sprouting being that it becomes rich in protein, iron, zinc and folic acid, from what i understand, and more easily digestible too) For both the above I used this brand called Manna, so it's off the shelf and I didn't have to put in much effort.
3. I also added some jola/jowar flour (i think that's sorghum millet- I'm never sure of English equivalent names, correct me somebody if I'm wrong)
4. Salt to taste

Method:
Mix the flours with a spoon first when it's dry so they are all well blended, then add water and bring it to a pouring batter consistency.
You could add some urad dal batter to it to soften it. I avoided it because I heard  Urad dal is fattening! Anyways it's a tad dry without it but not too bad.
Then just spread out the batter on a heated tawa to make the dosa/pancake.
P.S.: This one requires a bit of oil, even if it's made on a non-stick tawa/pan.

And i made it even more nutritious by eating it with a flax seed (agasi/agase) chatnipudi powder
So I'm super-thrilled with the idea. Because flax seed is high in Omega-3 fatty acids (healthy fat), fights cholesterol and is high fibre.
Will soon put up the flax seed powder recipe when I get it from my Mother-In-Law who makes it best. 

Getting back to exercise after a break - tips

A quick post to say I'm back
IN BUSINESS

IN THE BUSINESS OF GETTING MYSELF INTO SHAPE
and lord, i hope this time, i last longer and grow stronger in my resolve.

Didn't want to kind of set off a false alarm...waited till I had exercised three days before i started noting it down again.

So I'm back to looking at my tummy, feeling terrible etc...
I'm also slowly building up an exercise routine.
I've already skipped many days of exercise but at least there's a beginning.

I've started with
1. Stretches
2. Breathing exercises
3. Air cycling
4. Stationary cycling
5. Running up and down the stairs
6. Half stomach-crunches

I don't do all of this every day. And there are some other Asanas that I will write about later (need to cross check names etc).

Ok so getting back to exercising is a tough one, and let's admit, most of us are not consistent.
Here are a few tips to take the plunge (again!)
1. At least a week before starting the new routine, start waking up at a fixed time, with alarm each day. Getting up to exercise is the most difficult part for me. This has helped. You body automatically wakes up at that time after some time -- ur bioclock gets re-adjusted. And for a person like me, that's half the job done. If I can get myself out of the warm bed, I'll bloody well exercise.

2. Start off with the easiest and the most necessary -- stretches, loosening up, slowly building up time -- don't straightaway for for a one-hour regimen. Don't straight away take up tough ones and already get disappointed, if you're unable to do them or feel defeated even before u get into a groove..

3. Start with the familiar. Apparently the body has a memory of exercises you do. If you start doing something familiar, you'll feel better. But it also means you shouldn't get too comfy, and should gradually take on new challenges. Also if you've learnt something before, like yoga, and have an instruction manual/chart, it helps jog ur memory. You also know you are doing things right.

4. This time i tried this tip that's always suggested -- "get urself an exercise partner". Since that's a practical impossibility, what i did was come to an agreement with a colleague who also wanted to start exercising. So we text each other each morning, saying "I did it", sometimes even describe what we did in short. And, on days we don't manage to exercise too, we "report" to each other, telling each other "it's ok" but we must try to do it tomorrow etc...some group guilt, some group motivation. I think it's helped me. Today i did it because i was embarrassed i hadn't done it for three days.

5. A week before plan what exactly is going to be ur POA -- plan of action. You should have a routine vaguely sketched out in your mind. Don't stand on the exercise mat and think -- can be frustrating and time-consuming. But don't always stick to the same order. If one morning you don't feel like cycling, have an alternate exercise in mind. Don't force urself to do anything, if you don't feel like.

I'm going to be back here and posting, hopefully, regularly.

What makes you happy? Losing weight (quantity) or feeling good (quality)

I haven't blogged here in sooo long.
But that's because I've been slipping up.
I'm not so strict any more as I was when I started this out. But I haven't given up either.

My weakness -- I wont wake up and exercise. I know it's my undoing but I won't budge.
Motivation is such a beautiful word but it's not in mydictionary currently.

I'm still eating fairly healthy, but without exercise, that's only 50 per cent of the effort, right?

I finally weighed myself, reluctantly, about two weeks ago. On the same scale I'd weighed myself at the beginning of this blog. And I've only lost 200 grams!!!!

But, and this is a BIG BUT -- I've been fitting into clothes I'd put away six months after I gave birth to my son. I need belts on my jeans and trousers. My boobs have grown a wee bit smaller - I fit into tops I couldn't earlier.

But that goddamn tummy......can I just like cut it all off smoothly with a butterknife?

I don't exactly look like I have a figure...I'm nowhere close to THAT. But, I'm not feeeling too miserable either. Some pride I do take in the facts that:
1. My eating portions have come down (which was initially so difficult for me to achieve).
2. I'm able to keep off my evening hunger with some dry fruits, fruits and water till I actually eat dinner.
3. Overall, my energy levels and self-image are better (except when I look in the mirror ;-)

So is this qualitative "betterment" a good show in my life? I think so....at least I'm not distressed and depressed about my looks and weight.

Easy high-protein breakfast: traditional Indian is the way to go

I haven't been posting here regularly, which means I haven't really been sticking to my diet or exercise routine.
BAD.
But I will get back to it, I'm confident.

In the meanwhile, here's a recipe for a good kickstart for the day -- it's vegetarian, traditional Indian recipe, popular in most states in South India -- it's called pesarittu. Sometimes, all it takes is a little analysis and you realise what you have in your backyard is really so rich and fulfilling.

We vegetarians have a problem finding high sources of protein in the food we eat. Green gram or mung dal is one of them. It's always drilled into our heads that they are a high source of protein when eaten raw, better still if it's sprouted...when boiled it loses most of its protein content.

Since I hate eating it raw (soaked overnight), I turn it into pesarittu -- a dosa or pancake.

Here's the recipe: (Makes batter for about four people -- two dosas each)

1. Soak about two bowls of green gram overnight.

2. Also soak about three to four teaspoons of  rice flour in water and keep aside overnight.

3. In the morning throw the green gram into the mixer/blender, add to it some fresh ginger, coriander, about one green chilly, a small spoon of jeera, hing (asafoetida), salt and sugar to taste. Whizz it till it forms a grainy batter (you probably won't need to add water because there's some left from what you've soaked the green gram in)

4. You can mix in the soaked rice flour with a ladel after you remove it from the mixer or whip that in too.

5. Heat a tawa and spread out like a dosa -- a little oil to cook it makes it tastier. Flip and cook on the other side too.

We eat this with a fried gram (puthani in Kannada) chutney (will post recipe another day -- it's again very common in south Indian households). This, again I believe is a high source of protein. So there, it's a power packed high protein start to your day. Eat it with sambar too and there's more protein to add to your list of nutrition gained from the breakfast.

Honestly, these traditional Indian breakfasts are great starts for the day -- they make so much sense. They are fresh and non-processed, and taste great too. And I love to start my day with HOT breakfast. :-)