Some time back I started surfing the net for calories contained in the food that I ate. Unfortunately while there are vast amounts of information of the continental food eaten in the west there is not much for the typical Indian diet. After scrounging around in many different sources I have finally been able to get some basic facts together. Not all of them may be absolutely accurate, but it will help you calculate your meal calorie content better than before.
And as everyone on a diet and exercise regime knows that the better the calculation the faster the weight loss. Very often the exercise calories can be counted with great accuracy as the machines in the gym give it to us in no uncertain terms, but the ones in food can be a major hassle as it needs to be calculated individually by the person eating the food. Here is where the mistakes take place as the average calories may not always be correct in all the cases.
Here are some food products and the calories they are likely to contain. You can use this to make your daily food journal. The reason you need to write down everything you eat is so that you do not make the mistake of thinking that you are eating less than what you actually are. And believe me most of us tend to think that we have eaten less than what we actually have. It is only when you begin keeping the journal that this tendency becomes obvious.
120 ml Milk (One cup) – 75 to 100 calories
1 tsp Sugar – 100 cal
1 tsp Bournvita – 55 cal
1 pkt Maggi Veg Atta Noodles – 360 calories
1 katori Dal – 80 cal
150 g mixed Veges – 80 cal
1 Med Sized Apple – 80 calories
1 Med Sized Pear – 80 cal
1 Banana – 120 cal
1 slice Brown Bread – 75 calories
1 slice White Bread – 80 cal
1 Chappati without butter – 80 cal
1 Chappati with butter -100 calories
1 Paratha – 150 cal
1 tsp butter / ghee – 50 cal
1 tbsp Cheese – 50 calories
1 Egg – 50 cal
30 g Quaker Oats with Milk and Sugar – 115 cal
25 g (1 tbsp) Cooked Rice – 80 cal
85 g (1 serving spoon) Fried Rice – 140 cal
50 g Soya Chunks or Flakes – 80 calories
50 g Pakodas (two-three) – 175 cal
1 medium sized Samosa – 250 cal
1Gulab Jamun – 200 cal
1 Boondi Ladu – 200 cal
1 small bowl of milk sevai – 150 cal
This is about all that I have managed to gather so far. It has most of what I would eat so I am happy with the list. It is somewhat lacking on the content of South Indian food, but as soon as I find a good resource for that I will update this article. Naturally it is no where near as comprehensive as it can be. Specially since there is such a wide variety in Indian Food. Never the less I hope it will be helpful to you.
Happy Calculating!