Fixing the Carbohydrate-Heavy Plate

The structural problem with a typical Indian meal is proportion. Rice or roti takes the largest share, a small quantity of dal and sabzi accompanies it, and protein is minimal.

That produces a large glucose load with little to slow it down — which is exactly what a pancreas already working overtime handles worst.

The fix is the plate method, adapted. Half the plate becomes non-starchy vegetables. A quarter becomes protein — dal, curd, paneer, egg, fish or chicken. The remaining quarter is your rice or roti.

For most people that means noticeably less staple than they are used to, with the volume made up by sabzi rather than by eating less.

Some specifics that help. Dal counts on both sides, contributing protein and carbohydrate. Curd with a meal slows the whole thing down. And eating the salad or vegetables first, before the rice, changes how the rest of the meal behaves.

One thing worth doing: keep the total food adequate. This is not a calorie-cutting exercise, and arriving at dinner very hungry because lunch was too small reliably produces a larger dinner.

Change one meal first. Rebalancing dinner alone is a real improvement, and it is far more likely to survive than rewriting every meal at once.