The ideal breakfast, lunch and dinner for Indians: National Institute of Nutrition comes out with new dietary guidelines

Syed Akbar


Hyderabad: People conscious of good health have always wondered what constitutes  an ideal meal to stay
slim and fit and live a longer life. The city-based National Institute of Nutrition has  finally defined what's an ideal or sample meal plan for Indians. 
The NIN, which has revised the dietary guidelines for Indians after a gap of 13 years,  suggested that people should exercise at least for 15 minutes a day if they want to stay fit and burn extra calories.  The sample meal plan for Indians comes in the wake of definition of ideal Indian man and woman by the ICMR a few  months ago.
In the last guidelines issued in 1998, NIN did not include exercise in its programme for  healthy living. "Since physical activity among Indians has come down, we have recommended physical exercise  among our new dietary guidelines," said NIN director Dr B Sesikeran. The new recommendations were released by  ICMR director-general Dr VM Katoch here on Monday.
According to the revised dietary guidelines, an ideal or sample breakfast for an adult  Indian man leading a sedentary life should include half a cup (one cup means 200 ml) of milk, two cups of tea or one cup 
of coffee, four idli or three dosa, or one and a half cup of upma, or four slices of bread, or two cups of porridge or  two cups of corn flakes with milk, or one cup of poha or two slices of toast or four dhokla.
For sedentary adult women the sample breakfast is slightly smaller (20 to 30 per cent  less) i,e three idli, or two dosa or one cup upma, or three slices of bread.
The ideal lunch for an adult man without much physical activity is two cups of rice, two  pulkas, half cup of dhal, three-fourth cup of vegetable curry, eight slices of vegetable salad and half a cup of 
curd. Non-vegetarians may substitute one pulse portion with one portion of egg/meat/chicken/fish. For adult women,  the quantity of rice is reduced to one cup.
The NIN's ideal stuff for dinner for a man is two cups of rice, two pulkas, half a cup  dhal, three-fourth cup of vegetable curry and 100 grams of any seasonal fruit. An adult woman may reduce rice  intake by one cup.
The new guidelines calls for exclusive breast feeding for six months, increase in  consumption of vegetables and fruits from the present 150 grams a day to 300 grams a day, increase in minimum fat percentage in terms of total calorie intake from 15 grams a day to 20 grams a day, restriction in daily salt intake to  six grams, reduced usage of processed foods and drinking of lot of water.