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JANUARY 2015 45
44 JANUARY 2015
R
emember, nobody and nothing is worth more
than your body.Today’s stress is all because we are
more focused on improving our life ‘style’, rather
than our life. Gracious and healthy living is an Art we
need to cultivate.
Food forms the basis of our thriving. For healthy living,
it is important to eat healthy. Stop junk and oily food.
Avoid eating in the late hours which is very hazardous to
health. It gives you acidity and the oh-so-unwanted ‘tyres’
around the belly!
Eating balanced food, drinking lots of water, getting
plenty of exercise and proper sleep maintains your health
and hence gives you happiness. A healthy person is a
happy person.
When you are happy, you look good, when you look good,
you can’t deny the fact that you feel confident of yourself.
And when you are self-confident, the world is yours to
take!
A few years back, when we were at Bhooteachang T.E.,
I was down with a very bad back and had been bedridden
for almost six months. I normally weigh 50 kilos, but the
months doing nothing and just eating in bed escalated
my weight to 60 kg... a weight difficult for my near petite
frame to carry! Little did I realize this till a dear friend
of mine, posted at nearby Paneery T.E., visited me. He
was horrified to see me with so much weight, having
always seen me on the lighter side... going far back to our
school days. Today, I owe him a big ‘thank you’ for this
one sentence of his, “Krishna, do something about
yourself; get back into shape!”
That was when I woke up and faced what I hated, a ‘fat
me’, with all my ailments! Along with exercises – starting
with light exercises and gradually seasoning myself to do
more – I sat down and innovated my own menu plan.
Out of sheer desperation, an initial attempt at dieting
concluded by giving me severe acidity and made me go
through another traumatic phase. I slowly came upon my
own diet plan and was happy because it worked well. I
simply cut down on refined flour, starches, sugar and
saturated oil.
Being immobile and eating unhealthily for so long had
added to my body weight. I knew now that I would have
to eat right and healthy.
I am thrilled to be sharing two of my favourite recipes
with you here. Chicken is something which is popular
with almost everyone. So here goes…
Ingredients
Chicken - 750 gm (cut into regular bite size pieces)
Onion
- One medium (chopped large)
Garlic
- Eight cloves (mildly crushed)
Ginger
- ½ inch (mildly crushed)
Fresh
coriander
- 10 leaves (gently crushed)
Dry red
chillies
- 4 whole (coarsely grounded)
Tomatoes
- 1 medium (chopped into 2 or 4 pieces
as per size, crushed)
Fresh green
chillies
- 3 whole
Salt to taste
Soy Sauce
(optional)
- ½ to 1 tsp
Method
Bring the water (about 1 litre) to half boil then add the
chicken pieces to it. Add all the ingredients (except
tomatoes, green chillies and half the quantity of coriander
leaves) along with the chicken pieces to the water. Add
salt as per taste. Cover well and cook until the chicken is
nearly done (about ¾th).
Then add the tomatoes, the rest of the fresh coriander
and fresh green chillies. Cover and cook well until the
chicken pieces are fully done.
… And there you have a healthy, yummy dish ready to
eat! Keep your health diet from getting boring and
monotonous by bringing in variations. You may try the
same recipe substituting chicken pieces with seasonal
vegetables of your choice.
~ Krishna Paulo
Jainti T.E.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 750 gm (cut into bite size pieces)
Lemon juice - ½ tea cup
Ginger juice - 1 tbsp
Honey
- 1 tbsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp (or as per palate)
Salt to taste
Fresh basil leaves - 1 cup
Method
Marinate the chicken pieces in all the above ingredients,
except basil leaves, for 2 to 3 hours.Then cover and cook.
Once done, simmer and toss in half of the basil leaves.
Remove from heat. Garnish with the remaining leaves
and it’s ready to serve. As a complementary additive you
may serve this dish with extra sauce made with the
remaining marinade, comprising the lemon juice, honey,
ginger juice and the chicken juice. You could also serve
plain chicken soup with fresh basil leaves and julienned
ginger garnishing.
In this way, you can innovate your own way of cooking oil
free food and still enjoy your favourite dishes.
So, work hard and enjoy your work; rock at your workouts and
exercises and sculpt a well defined physique... It’s a winning
recipe for success for anyone looking for transition to a
happier and healthier way of ‘life’ – rather than life ‘style’!
Healthy Eating for Healthy Living
Chicken Stew (my way)
Basil Chicken
“
Life expectancy would grow
by leaps and bounds if green
vegetables smelled as good as
bacon!
”
~ Doug Larson