Indian breakfast spreads are loaded with nutrients. Yes, they also come with their own share of oils and fats which sometimes are not very healthy. However, most of the south Indian breakfast dishes require steam cooking, because of which the amount of fat that goes in with it reduces to a great extent, few examples of this would be idlis, appams, upma etc. Given rice(prime source of glucose) is major ingredient that goes into making these, the implications on diabetics increases, leaving them with very less options to choose from. Below is the list of items that are suggested for diabetics for a healthy, wholesome breakfast.
1. Idlis with oats and semolina - 1/2 cup each of rice, oats and semolina, soaked in 1/4 cup yogurt overnight, churn them in the blender in the morning, add salt and steam cook it.
2. Ragi dosa - 1 cup of urad daal (black gram) and 3 cups of ragi soaked for over 5 hours, grind this to make a batter, add salt. Keep it overnight for fermentation. Make dosa using 1/4 spoon ghee instead of oil.
3. Oats Upma - In 1 spoon of ghee, add mustard, 1/4 spoon black gram and bengal gram, toss in the chopped vegetables of your choice and add water. Bring it to boil and then add oats.
4. Multigrain vada- Equal proportions of black gram and multigrain flour, with chopped ginger and curry leaves ground together and fried in oil. This is slightly high on calories compared to other's since it is fried in oil. Not suggested for those who have been diagnosed of Cardiac problems after diabetes.
5. Condiments and drinks - When it's drinks, filter coffee is the way to go for south Indian breakfast, but don’t have it with full-fat milk. Instead opt for a blend of 1/2 water and 1/2 milk or take low fat milk in your coffee. Also, the coconut chutney served with these staple meals are high on healthy fats. But too much coconut is not good for diabetes. So avoid having more than a small bowl. Instead have more of onion or tomato based chutneys. If you are not a coffee person, think of coconut water.
