Blog
Longer pieces on counting calories in the food Indians actually eat: why your katori matters, where restaurant calories come from, what's in your chai, and what maintenance calories really are.
Every number here is worked out from a recipe in grams and Indian food composition data, and each article links its sources. The arithmetic for each dish is on its page in Calories in Indian food.
Articles
- Diwali sweets: calories per pieceCalories in one piece of every common Diwali sweet: kaju katli 50, soan papdi 105, motichoor ladoo 115, gulab jamun 155, and the snacks.
- Why your katori size changes your calorie countA 250 ml katori holds two thirds more than a 150 ml one. How katori size changes the calories in dal, rice and sabzi, and how to measure yours.
- Home dal vs restaurant dalWhy a katori of restaurant dal can have twice the calories of home dal: thickness, ghee, butter, cream and portion size, with numbers from IFCT 2017.
- Your chai over a dayFour cups of chai a day with 2 teaspoons of sugar each come to about 245 calories. What 2, 3, 4 and 5 cups add up to, with and without sugar.
- How to count calories in a thaliCount a thali by its pieces and katoris: rotis, dal, rice, sabzi, farsan and sweets. Worked examples for a Gujarati, a Punjabi and a South Indian thali.
- Counting calories on fasting daysNavratri, Ekadashi and Ramadan food is often more filling in calories than it looks. A calm way to count it, and when it's fine not to count at all.
- What maintenance calories meansMaintenance calories are what your body uses in a day. How formulas estimate it, why they're only a starting point, and how to measure yours from a log.