They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as you break a fast of 6-9 hours and who are we to argue? But since it's the most important meal of the day, feeding your body with nutritious food is equally important. One popular South Indian breakfast dish that has gained popularity across the country is Upma and in today's blog, we'll be analyzing its nutritional information in our Know Your Calories blog.
Ingredients: The primary ingredient here is Semolina aka Rawa, that's made from durum wheat. Semolina is high in gluten, which can be a bad thing for those suffering from celiac disease. Also, since semolina is stripped of all its nutrients, what you're left with is carbohydrates that add little to no nutritious value to your meal.
Carbohydrates:
Each serving of Upma contains 30 grams of carbohydrates that are stripped of their fiber, which can result in a spike in blood glucose levels, especially among diabetics. We'll skip over the onion and spices that go into the dish, as they add little to no nutritious value to the dish. However, what needs to be noted is the fact that restaurants do add a bit of sugar to the dish to give it a mellow sweet taste.
Fats:
Almost all of the fats found in the dish come from refined vegetable oils that go into the making of this dish. Many restaurants use excessive oil to prepare the dish, as not only does it help in speeding up the cooking process, but it also adds to the flavour. With 12 grams of fat per serving, it may not be up there with the other fat-loaded dishes, but it's worth noting.
Protein:
As most Indian meals are low on protein, so is this one, with each serving of upma containing a mere 3 grams of protein, all of which comes from semolina and since it's an incomplete source of protein (does not contain all the essential 9 amino acids), it's an absolute deal-breaker.
If you're looking for healthy breakfast options, then you can opt for scrambled or boiled eggs, low fat paneer, a glass of skimmed milk and if you're in a hurry like most of us, then you can always opt for a HYP protein bar as well.
Questions?