Every Pure Bites article tagged vegetarian.
Nutrition & health
Is til as good for bones and health as people say, and how much should I eat?
Whole sesame carries 975 mg of calcium and 14.6 mg of iron per 100 g, with 17.7 g of protein and mostly unsaturated fat. Hulled sesame has far less calcium. What trials say about blood pressure, and what jaggery does to a chikki.
Nutrition & health
Is makhana really a superfood, and how much should I eat in a day?
Makhana is almost fat-free, mostly starch, and carries 9–15 g of protein per 100 g. One small study found roasted makhana low-glycaemic. It is a light, useful snack; it is not the protein food the packets suggest. The numbers, and how much to eat.
Nutrition & health
I have been prescribed a GLP-1 medicine and I am vegetarian. What should I actually eat?
GLP-1 medicines shrink appetite, so every small meal has to carry more. What a published expert advisory says about protein, fibre, fluids and the nutrients to watch — translated to dal, paneer, curd and sprouts, with the limits of that translation stated.
Nutrition & health
Is rajgira actually healthier than wheat, or is it just allowed during fasts?
Rajgira is the fasting grain that outscores wheat on protein, iron and magnesium, carries the amino acid most grains lack, and has no gluten. Nine benefits with the numbers per 100 g, what the evidence supports, and how to cook it so it is not a paste.
Nutrition & health
Paneer, tofu or soya chunks — which is the best protein for the money, and are soya chunks actually healthy?
Three vegetarian proteins, three very different foods. Paneer is the richest and fattiest, tofu the lightest, soya chunks the cheapest by a mile per gram of protein — with a taste and a texture that need a cook. The numbers per 100 g, the cost per 20 g of protein in Surat, what the soya research says, and where each belongs.
Everyday eating
I feel weak and hungry all day during the Navratri fast — what should I actually be eating?
Nine days of vrat food is nine days of sabudana if you let it be — and sabudana is starch. Here is what the fasting staples actually carry per 100 g, which combinations keep you full and steady, and how to build a fast that does not end in a 4 pm headache.
Nutrition & health
Everyone says sabudana is healthy for fasting — is it actually?
Sabudana has a reputation as a light, healthy fasting food. Per 100 g it is 358 kcal, 88 g of starch and 0.2 g of protein — pure energy. That is not a reason to stop eating it; it is a reason to know what the peanuts and curd next to it are doing.
Nutrition & health
What should I eat for gut health — do I need probiotics, or is there something in normal Indian food?
Sixty-one percent of Indian consumers now say gut health matters to them, and most of what they are sold for it is a bottle. The foods that actually feed a healthy gut are already in the kitchen: chaas, curd, dal, sprouts, onion, oats, bananas. What each does, what the science supports, and what it does not.
Nutrition & health
I keep hearing about fibermaxxing — how much fibre should I eat and what Indian foods have it?
“Fibermaxxing” is the year’s nutrition trend — deliberately eating a lot of fibre for gut, blood sugar and fullness. The Indian plate was doing this before it had a name. Here is what 30 g a day looks like in dal, sabzi, fruit and roti, and how to get there without a week of bloating.
Nutrition & health
I am vegetarian and everyone says I am not getting enough protein — how much do I need and how do I get it from Gujarati food?
A Gujarati thali is famous for being short on protein. It does not have to be. Here is what a working adult actually needs, what each thing on the plate contributes, and a day that reaches 60 g with dal, curd, paneer, chana and peanuts — nothing from a tub.
Nutrition & health
Are sprouts really healthier than plain moong, or is that a myth?
What sprouting actually changes in a mung bean — more vitamin C, less phytate, easier digestion — with the numbers, what it does not change, and how to sprout and eat them safely.
Nutrition & health
Are peanuts as healthy as almonds, or a cheap substitute?
Peanuts carry 26 g of protein per 100 g — more than any tree nut — with the healthy-fat profile the heart studies like, at a tenth of the price of almonds. The numbers, the trials, the aflatoxin rule, and why the kitchen fries in peanut oil.
Nutrition & health
Is rajma actually healthy, or just filling?
Nine things rajma does well — protein, fibre, iron, folate — with the numbers per 100 g, what the trials actually found on cholesterol and blood sugar, and the one cooking rule that is not optional.
Nutrition & health
Is paneer healthy or is it too fatty?
Paneer is the densest everyday vegetarian protein — about 18 g per 100 g — with calcium for bones and a complete amino acid profile. It also carries 20 g of fat per 100 g. What that means for a salad, a diet and a heart.
Nutrition & health
Why do doctors always say “eat moong dal”?
Why mung dal is the pulse recommended for sick days and weekday lunches alike: 7 g protein and 7.6 g fibre per 100 g, easy digestion, folate, and what the pulse trials actually show.
Nutrition & health
Which dal has the most iron and protein?
Lentils are the highest-iron everyday pulse — 3.3 mg per 100 g cooked — with 9 g protein, 7.9 g fibre and 181 µg folate, and they cook in fifteen minutes with no soak. The numbers, the trials, and what the kitchen does with them.
Nutrition & health
Is pomegranate really a superfood?
What a katori of pomegranate arils actually carries — 4 g fibre, vitamin C, potassium and the polyphenols the “superfood” claims rest on — with the numbers, what the research shows so far, and where the claims outrun it.
Nutrition & health
Are chickpeas good for protein if I don’t eat meat?
Chickpeas are the most protein-dense everyday pulse per katori: 8.9 g protein and 7.6 g fibre per 100 g cooked. What that does for fullness, cholesterol and blood sugar in trials, plus iron, folate and the boiling rule.
Nutrition & health
Is broccoli actually that much better than cabbage or cauliflower?
Broccoli carries 89 mg of vitamin C and a day’s vitamin K in 100 g for 34 kcal, plus folate, fibre and the sulforaphane the research is excited about. The numbers, the evidence, and how to cook it so the vitamins survive.
Nutrition & health
Are almonds worth the price, or just expensive calories?
What a 28 g handful of almonds carries — 6 g protein, 3.5 g fibre, a day’s worth of vitamin E — what the trials found on LDL cholesterol and heart risk, and why “a handful” is the honest portion.
Recipes & food ideas
I want something quick that is filling and not boring.
A fifteen-minute bowl with real protein in it, written with the weights and timings we actually use, including the sprouting step most recipes skip.
Smart snacking
I want to know whether “fresh” namkeen is a real difference or just a word on a packet.
Almost every namkeen you can buy was fried weeks ago in oil that had already fried a great deal else. Here is what that changes, from someone who stands at the kadai.
Nutrition & health
I’m vegetarian and my salads never keep me full.
The single most common reason a vegetarian salad fails as a meal is that nobody put protein in it. Twelve ingredients, with the numbers, from an all-veg kitchen.
Nutrition & health
I know vegetables are good for me, but I don’t know what a daily bowl actually does.
A bowl of vegetables a day is one of the few eating habits almost every dietary guideline agrees on. Here is what it actually does for you — and what it does not.
Kitchen & sourcing
I want to know why the same vegetable tastes completely different in March and August.
Seasonal is not a moral position. It is a nutrition and flavour argument, and in Gujarat it is also a price argument. Here is what changes month to month in our kitchen.