Did you ever notice that it is very balanced?

The thing to be noted is that these food items range from different parts of India.

I cannot then help but compare the reasons for the popularity of various cuisines from India and how they stand in terms of health benefits and disadvantages.

My American friends believe that this shift towards Indian food is beneficial for their health.

In general, Indian diets from different regions are very varied, but they do have some common health benefits.

If one cares to notice, most Indian diets center on the practice of combining a cereal with a legume. This is so routine that we do not seem to even take cognizance of the fact.

From the point of view of nutrition, this is a good practice and tends to compare favourably with Western diets. For instance, a typical Indian meal common to vast swathes of northern India involves daal (lentils) and roti (Indian bread) as a given on the menu.

Similarly, South India has the rice and dal combination.

So what is the advantage of this legume and cereal combination? Methionine and Lysine are two amino acids that are crucial for our health. The cereals are Lysine deficient whereas the legumes are short on Methionine. Thus combining the two food groups is an excellent strategy to get a complete profile of the essential amino acids.

The Western diet does not follow the combinations that the Indian ones do, probably because consumption of meats in their daily diet translates into better availability of amino acid. (To be continued)

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