A Maharashtrian staple, Misal Pav is a dish of legumes with spiced oil poured over and relished with pav. The Misal Pav is highly unhealthy to eat in the morning as it has not only oodles of oil but even a lot of spices and chili which is not good for your body first thing in the morning. The added disadvantage of pav and you have a terrible combo on your hands.
Instead: Have a sprouts salad with added chopped vegetables. Just drizzle a little olive oil over the salad, add a dash of lemon, salt pepper and you’re good to go!
8. English Breakfast
The trend of eating an English breakfast is slowly catching on in India. It might be tasty but before you enjoy all those pancakes/waffles, sausages, toast and coffee, wait and take a look at how unhealthy it all is. Waffles are made of processed wheat flour or maida which is extremely unhealthy. Also, fried sausages in the morning will only lead to cholesterol buildup among other things. The beans are not fresh and come out of a tin. Treating yourself once a while is fine but skip this on a daily basis.
Instead: Have boiled eggs or an egg omelette with fresh grilled vegetables, boiled chicken and a fruit. If you want pancakes, have a dosa instead (without oil or butter) and have sambhar with it.
9. Maggi
Despite what Madhuri Dixit-Nene tells you, eating Maggi (even the oats variant) after a healthy workout will just negate the effects of that workout you just had. Maggi, though the perfect comfort food, is one of the unhealthiest things you can eat. The fried noodles, the packaged spices, added flavours… There’s nothing natural or healthy about Maggi.
Instead: Cook up a storm with oats. Get out the oats, boil them in water, add spices like salt, chillies, turmeric, chaat masala, etc to your taste, add chopped fresh vegetables like onions, carrots, peas, capcisum, etc, boil the mixture and there! You have a breakfast as tasty, but a lot more healthy than Maggi.
10. Jalebi Fafda
A Gujarati staple, we really cannot stress on how wrong it is to eat Jalebi Fafda first thing in the morning. Dipped in sugar syrup, jalebis might send your senses drooling but they are also sending your health in a spin. Fafdas which are basically deep fried papads of gram flour and added spices have no nutritional value at all.
Instead: Have white steamed dhoklas with mint and dates chutney. Dhoklas are steamed pancakes made of a mixture of rice and urad dal. Skip the soda and the oil garnish. Instead, top them with sesame seeds before steaming and finely chopped coriander before serving. The dates chutney and mint are healthy too!
11. Poha Jalebi
Poha is one of the healthiest meals you can have in India but teaming it up with jalebi just takes away the health benefits. More prominent in central India, this dish is a favourite with locals. Sometimes, the poha is liberally garnished with sev which again kills the health benefits.
Instead: Have just the poha and for the sweet fix, opt for a milkshake or a honey-drizzled fruit. Also, do away with the potatoes in your poha. Have it with onion and peas, without the sev. Instead garnish it with grated coconut and a drizzle of lemon juice.
12. Kachori
Another Indian favourite, Kachori is versatile as it is relished as both a breakfast snack as well as a side-dish in Indian meals. However, eating kachori first thing in the morning can be very unhealthy. Kachoris are stuffed with multiple things like peas, sev, spiced gram flour, moong dal, dried peas, dry-fruits, etc and then deep fried. Each kachori can have as many as 190 calories depending on the size and the stuffing.
Instead: Opt for a healthier meal like dalia. a kind of dried, cracked wheat, dalia has tons of health benefits. Make a dalia khichdi or make it the upma style. Don’t forget to add lots of vegetables. Or you can even use boiled dalia (keep the consistency thick) with chopped vegetables and spices to make grilled tikkis. Just heat up your pan, add a few drops of oil, make the dalia mixture into tikkis and roast them on the pan. They are amazingly tasty. However, if you have a sweet tooth, you can just roast the dalia in a little saturated fat (ghee), add jaggery and water to the mix and let it cook till it is relatively thick. Known as Lapsi, this is a very healthy, very popular snack in Maharashtra.
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