If you are vegetarian, India is no less than a paradise. There are several hundred vegetarian recipes out here, and it is one of those few cultural zones in the world where meats and cheese are not essential components of a main meal. 

With Indian cooking, you will have an opportunity to explore your vegetables in ways you may never have imagined before. They are blended with local herbs and spices and served either dry or swimming in delectable curries. 

If cooked properly, the vegetables even retain their freshness and distinct flavor. So, you may be wondering, why is there so much doubt on whether an Indian vegetarian diet works for weight loss?

Indian Cooking Works for Weight Loss!

To begin with, there is absolutely no question that most Indian cuisines are great for weight loss. If cooked in the right way, Indian meals are light, nutritious and filling. The trouble starts when people begin to compromise good health in favor of rich tastes.

 High-fat milk and dairy products, the excess use of clarified butter (ghee) and vegetable oils for fat, and over-emphasis on deep-fried snacks and high-sugar sweets are the main culprits responsible for obesity in India. However, none of these are essential to Indian cooking and eating.

Substitute Ghee With Olive or Vegetable Oil

This is the first thing you should do, if you are planning to follow an Indian vegetarian diet for weight loss. Ghee is rich in saturated fats and if consumed in excess, it slows down your metabolism and can cause many health ills, including obesity.

 Olive oil or other vegetable oils are far healthier, and now shopping aisles are filled with brands that have omitted saturated fats altogether.

Cooking Methods that Involve Minimal Oil

How you cook your Indian meal has a big impact on how healthy and low in calories it turns out to be. One standard technique that most Indians use to prepare their curries is to sauté onions, garlic, ginger and various herbs and spices in oil before adding in puree or cream. 

To make your meal lighter, rather than sautéing vegetables in oil, you could use a range of other methods. For instance, you could try blanching your onions in boiling water rather than frying them; spices can be dry roasted in a non-stick pan; and a nonstick spray can be used as a substitute for oil.

Using Milk and Dairy

Most Indian people would not be able to imagine preparing a meal without the use of milk or dairy products. Fresh cream, yogurt, milk, pressed cottage cheese (paneer) and butter all feature prominently in most households.

 The good news is that milk and dairy products are essential to a balanced diet and are fully compatible with weight loss, but only as long as you are willing to use reduced-fat milk. 

Most commercially available Indian dairy products, including paneer and yogurt, are prepared from full-fat milk, so it is best if you make your own yogurt and paneer at home.

Make Chapatti Your Staple Bread

Chapattis a cooked whole wheat flat bread that is commonly used as a staple in several Indian households. It is light in calories, healthy and a great source of fiber and complex carbohydrates, which give you prolonged energy release.

 Just remember not to dab a layer of ghee or butter on your chapattis. Just this one simple step will save you several calories. Reserve the more flavorful and elaborate breads such as naan and paranthas for special occasions.

Brown Rice Rather Than White

If you prefer rice as a staple, use brown rice rather than the refined version. It is lighter in calories and more nutritious. In most places you will be able to find brown rice, although it is a bit harder to obtain than white rice.

Lot of people are turning vegetarians every year, so if you would like to try the vegetarian diet for your weight loss program, you can consider the following vegetarian diet chart for your weight loss plan:

1. Try to wake up before sunrise. Drink 2 glasses of water. If you are not able to drink that much water in the first day, then drink as much as you can, and slowly try to increase it to 2 glasses every morning.

2. 2. Go for a morning walk or jogging for at least 30 minutes every morning. Do not eat anything before going to jogging. After you return, have juice of any fruit that you like. Try to avoid sugar as much as you can. Fruits have natural sweetness in them.

3. 3. In breakfast, have bread or toast with butter or have two 'idlis' (a round shape Indian dish, made up of rice) with 'sambhar' (a type of vegetable soup)

4. 4. In lunch, have 3 medium-sized chapattis, a cup of boiled rice with curry, and one green vegetable. You can also have salad in which you can add fruits and vegetables of your choice. The food should have minimum oil and spice.

5. 5. At evening, you can have milk, tea, coffee or any other beverage with a couple of toasts or biscuits.

6. 6. At dinner, either have chapattis or rice with any of your favorite vegetables or 'dal'. Eat of a lot of vegetable salad and includes green and leafy vegetables in it.

There's no high calorie fried chicken, no cholesterol clogging greasy bacon and no fatty meat in a vegetarian diet. So, how can a vegetarian get fat? To be honest, that was what I thought, too. Until one day, I saw what, I believed, is a typical Indian vegetarian diet at lunchtime.

The gentleman sat next to me. On his lunch tray are the following dishes:

One chapatti (Indian flatbread)

One serving of potatoes with curry

One serving of white rice

2 servings assorted vegetables with gravy

2 Papadums (Indian crackers)

4 small servings of different accompanying gravy

One thing that hit me was how carbohydrate dense the lunch was! Not only was it packed with carbohydrates, it was packed with high glycemic carbohydrates—the type that will send you straight to snooze Ville shortly after lunch.

Oh, by the way, I haven't even added the can of soda he was drinking.

Out of curiosity, I calculated an approximate energy composition of his lunch (excluding Coke) and it was at least 900 calories and 160gm of carbohydrates. (Source: Health promotion board website).

Now, that's not a lot. Not for someone who works out regularly and needs the calories to replenish his energy stores and to repair and grow his muscles. But for a desk jockey, a continued diet like such will grow nothing but your belly and butt.

If you are vegetarian and are struggling to find the quickest way to lose weight, below are 3 useful tips which can help you to get slim. If nothing else, it will prevent your belly from expanding any further.

Vegetarian Weight Loss Tip #1: Know the GI of your food

All foods have a glycemic index. The glycemic index, to put it simply, is a measure of the blood sugar response in your body relates the food you eat. The higher the glycemic index, the greater the response of blood sugar in your body. 

When we consume food with a high glycemic index, it sends a rush of sugar into our bodies. Because we cannot have excessive sugar floating in our bodies, insulin is produced to store away the excessive sugar. This excessive sugar often ends up getting stored in our belly.

But when you consume low glycemic food, it does not trigger a high blood sugar response and as a result, there won't be a need for insulin to come in a store the excessive blood sugar. 

Remember, an excess of anything, whether calories or carbohydrates, all end up getting stored as fat. So as a general rule, avoid all white carbohydrates such as white rice, white potatoes, white bread and table sugar.

If you are looking for the fastest way to lose weight, this is it. Follow your diet based on the glycemic index,, and you'll never need to count calories or carbohydrates again. 

Vegetarian Weight Loss Tip #2: Have protein in every meal

Getting sufficient protein is one of the biggest challenges of vegetarians, especially vegans. If your current weight loss plan is anything decent, there will be an exercise component and an emphasis to build muscle to aid fat loss. To build muscles, you need to ensure that you consume sufficient protein in every meal.

For vegetarians, make sure you include eggs and milk into your diet. Eggs are one of the cleanest and cheapest sources of protein you can find. One large hard boiled egg contains about 6-7 grams of good quality protein.

Plant sources also contain protein, but unlike the animal sources, they are mostly incomplete protein. Incomplete protein means they do not have all the eight essential amino acids. But don't fret. You can also get complete protein from plant sources by pairing up complementary plant proteins.

You can get complete protein by pairing up the following sources:

Grains

Barley, Corn, Rice, Oats, Pasta, Wheat

Legumes:

Dried beans, Lentils, Dried peas, Soy beans, Chickpeas, Green beans, Red, beans

Seeds and Nuts:

Brazil nuts, Cashews, Sesame seeds, Walnuts, Sunflower seeds

Combinations to get complete protein:

Grains + Legumes (E.g.,: Barley with green beans)

Legumes + Seeds/Nuts (E.g.,: Trail mix)

Grains + Seeds/Nuts (E.g.,: Oatmeal with sunflower seeds)

Vegetarian Weight Loss Tip #3: Little things make significant differences

However, eliminating carbohydrates from your diet is not an excellent idea, as they are a major macro nutrient. Carbs are needed for various bodily functions, so you can limit them in your diet, but not eliminate them.

With a diet plan in front of you, you will precisely know what you should be eating. When it comes to sticking to a low-carb diet, it is difficult for vegetarians as they have limited options unlike non-vegetarians. Most people are always in search of low-carb Indian vegetarian food. So, here is a low-carb vegetarian Indian diet plan:

Breakfast: You can begin the day with a cup of milk along with half a cup of high fiber and low-carb cereal.

Mid-morning meal: A fruit would do! Choose a low-carb fruit.

Lunch: Your lunch can comprise the following:

• A salad with greens, sunflower seeds and flax seeds.

• • Whole wheat Roti or brown rice with a green veggie with Paneer. You can also have Soybeans.

• Half a cup of yogurt and a bowl of Bai.

Mid-evening meal: A cup of green tea or a cup of yogurt.

Evening: A sandwich (whole wheat bread) with peanut butter on top or cheese with veggies.

Dinner: Wrap up the day with a vegetable soup and an elaborate salad.

Before going to bed: A glass of milk The above is a generalized diet and variations need to be made according to age, exercise intensity and medical conditions.

Weight Loss Exercises

Apart from diet, you must move your body too! You cannot lose weight without exercising.

Here are some exercises that will help you lose weight:

1) Walking

A low impact exercise, walking is a great one to lose weight. You just need a good pair of walking shoes, and you are ready to go! For those with health issues such as obesity and heart disease, walking is a wonderful option. It is good for better overall health too.

2) Kettle bell

Kettle bells are weights that give you a hard-core workout that burns about 400 calories in just 20 mins. It helps strengthen the core and improves posture and balance. It is a whole body workout that revs up your metabolism. 

A 20 min kettle bell workout is similar to running 6 miles! However, you need to learn to use kettle bells from a gym instructor or fitness trainer. Once you know the safety guidelines and get the form right, you are good to go!

3) Swimming

If you want to lose weight and get a perfectly toned body, you must swim. Swimming burns many calories. It engages all the major muscle groups.

4) Cycling

Have a cycle? You should hop on it and pedal away to glory. Cycling is easier on the joints when compared to running. You can burn many calories by cycling every day.

5) Playing tennis is a great way of losing weight. Even if you are not good at it, it doesn't matter, as even running after the ball is an exercise.

Something seemingly insignificant like dipping sauces, gravy, or condiments can make a big difference in your daily calorie intake. A completely clean vegetarian meal can be easily made unhealthy by the introduction of the sauces and condiments. A vegetarian diet is typically low in calories. 

So watch out for those sauces, gravy, and condiments which can add a significant number of calories, sodium, and sugar into your diet. Don't believe it? Take a look at the ingredients in your ketchup bottle or mayonnaise bottle. There is an unexpectedly big amount of sodium, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup.

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