Food In Coonoor Was Full Of Nature’s Bounty

by Yolanda

I was very active as a young girl. I grew up in a hill station, where my home was on a hill, my school on the opposite, and my father’s office on the other. It is named Coonoor, meaning a place of hills.

My friend’s home was on another hill opposite the hill on which my dad’s office was located. The town library was on another hill. If I go on listing the hills, you might want to hit me.

On holidays, we used to go for what we called ‘Adventure’ to any of these hills. We used to carry with us a kitchen knife, a bag, a rope and a stick.

On the way to a park called the ‘Sim’s Park’ named after a British IAS officer, who formed the park, there used to be lot of non-poisonous wild berries, stems which tasted sour (which we termed Crow’s Sugarcane) and leaves which can be eaten like betel leaves.

The ‘nuts’ used with these were gathered from another plant with small black fruits. When I grew up and moved to plains, I noticed that I have started putting on weight.

Now I realize the reason why, I didn’t have to be careful about by body weight when I lived in Coonoor. The food had in it the nature’s bounty, the fruits wild and fresh from garden.

My mother used to prepare chapathis for our dinner almost every day. She used to serve them with plenty of vegetables, or with lamb leg or chicken soups. We used to have basmati rice too, but always accompanied by vegetables.

Whole fruits and wild berries, which were sold by street vendors were for our snacks. Punjab Wheat fried without oil, groundnuts fried on hot sand, and ragi puttu were also our snacks.

 

 

My mother who hailed from a village, knew which foods were of low GI diet, without any education on it. The rustic life had taught her so much. Now, it has helped me formulate my own low GI diet plan, which also helped a few of my friends, and relatives.

I have brown bread slices with Mint chutney or any other nice dip, oil-free chappathis for lunch, and wheat dosa with very little oil at night.

My day starts with a glass of lemon juice with honey. At 11 am some slices of fruits or an orange. At 5 pm, I have a cup of tea with milk and sugar and two Marie biscuits, even though the calorie content is a little high. I need this energy after a long days work with children at school.

Before going to bed if I fancy that night, I have a cup of skimmed milk. On Sundays I give a rest to my diet plan as well, because I need to gratify my stomach and taste buds too.

I think I feel fresh thanks to this diet plan, because whenever I do not follow this diet, I feel bloated, sluggish and heavy. Low GI diet is for everyone.