Have you been noticing the growing concern around us about plastic dumping into the ocean ecosystem at the same time, have you ever pondered about how in the past few decades human bodies have become a toxic dumping zone in itself? How many artificial sweeteners, preservatives and chemicals are we dumping into our very own bodies.

Like most of us, even I didn’t realize it till my body gave me a hint of it and that too at a time when I had to be completely healthy, as I was carrying a little life inside me and had to manage a toddler and home with no support system around.

At the end of my first trimester, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. Though, I had heard a few of my friends having a similar issue, but still it scared me a lot. In the meantime, my Diabetic doctor and Dietitian advised me to change my diet and asked me to do certain exercises, but they always mentioned that despite doing all these I would positively have to take tablets or insulin during my last trimester. So, while I was pricking my fingers 4 times a day and noting all the fasting and post meals readings, I was thinking why weren’t these issues there in my Grandparents generation who happen to live about 90+ years with no blood pressure or diabetic issues.

I started recollecting of what my mother used to tell me about how she grew up and what she ate etc. I had only few weeks to get it right, but the motivation was boundless, it was for my unborn baby. I quickly made changes to my diet and life style, I could sum them up in these seven points;

1) Cooking and Eating fresh food, no freezing curries or dals in the fridge. Freshly cooked food is both healthier and tastier than food which has been prepared, kept & reheated. Nutrient retention is obviously affected by cooling and reheating of cooked food.

2) Replacing white rice not completely but at least 70% with Millets(ragi, jowar, bajra), oats, quinoa etc. I remember my mother mentioning once that in her childhood white rice was cooked mostly during the festivities at home, I guess this is how they used to strike a balance between their intake of carbohydrates & proteins; instead of calculating like us using some dieting app.

3) Replacing junk and store-bought snacks with homemade snacks like crackers made of rice /gram flour or freshly baked potato chips etc. Enjoy deep fried dishes as well but stick to homemade snacks. Your body needs oil & butter as well but off course not reused oils nor the once with preservatives.

4) Replacing beverages and store-bought fruit juices with homemade smoothies from fresh foods with honey. Parents always educate their kids about alcoholic drinks but forget to mention the health hazards of the artificial sweeteners and preservatives used in the generic beverages and fruit drinks.

5)Don’t eat tummy full , leave place for water. And make sure you don’t sleep immediately after having meals

6) Enjoy your household chores instead of spending long hours doing exercises. You might not enjoy doing household chores, but they will stretch and tone your muscles and will surely burn up a lot of calories.

7) Surround yourself with positive people. Positivity is contagious and the more you surround yourself with positive minded people the more you will develop their optimistic outlook on life as you start to develop more positive ways of thinking and better ways of perceiving the world.

And by just following these, I surprised myself and my doctors by eliminating the use of medicines even in my last trimester. On the other hand, the food I ate wasn’t bland or tasteless, it was equally enjoyed by my 3-year-old toddler and my husband. Find my sample diet plan below.

In this digital world we keep looking for good food for our brain lest we would be left behind others, but let’s also try to eat good fresh food and stop making our bodies a dumping zone of toxic chemicals.

Author,
Pavani Yatham

Here is my sample diet plan that I followed:


On Empty stomach at 6:00AM
1) Glass of warm Water
2) Few soaked fenugreek seeds
3) Few soaked almonds

Milk time at 7:00AM
1) Half cup of full fat milk

Breakfast at 8:30AM
1) Dosa{replace the white rice while making the dosa batter with Pearl Millet(Bajra)/Browne rice}
2) Idly{Add in Finger Millet (Ragi) Powder into the Idly batter after fermentation}
3) Upma with semolina (coarse) with lots and lots of vegetables
4) Oats Upma
5) Multi Grain dosa (Soak various types of Dals and millets overnight, just put them in the blender with a little piece of ginger and salt.)
6) Finger Millet (Ragi) Dosa

Snack at 11:00AM
1) Raw Carrots/Cucumbers
2) Boiled Sweet potatoes with a dash of Salt & Pepper
3) A cup of local fruits
4) A cup of salad (cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, red radish, lettuce etc) with salad dressing made of little olive oil, salt, pepper, vinegar and honey.

Lunch at 12:30PM
1) Proper Indian lunch but replace White rice with either brown rice or Foxtail Millet (personally I liked Foxtail Millet than Brown rice)
2) Chicken/Mutton Biryani with more pieces in it rather than white rice
3) Rangi Sangati(An Andhra Pradesh, India delicacy with Finger Millet powder and white rice)

Snack at 16.00PM
1) Rice /Gram flour crackers
2) Indian Snacks like Pakodas, Mirchi Bajji etc but in very limited quantity
3) Home baked cake with less sugar
4) Salads or raw vegetables like carrots or cucumbers

Dinner at 19:00PM
1) Rotis made of whole wheat/ Pearl Millet(Bajra)/Sorghum(Jowar) flour with Indian curries
2) Khichadi made of different types of dals, vegetable and very less quantity of rice.

Snack at 21:00PM
1) A cup of fruits/salads