Sample weekday/weekend menu from Naveena Nangai

Food can change the brain chemistry and hence our body chemistry(metabolism) and vice versa. The fine substance in the food ultimately becomes our mind. Per yoga shastra, a body with good metabolism and digestion leads to clear thinking. This in turn will help us handle any situation  effectively, as life unfolds. The choice we make with clear mind will definitely bring positive outcomes and results in better living. 

In an effort to bring such change, I have been thinking about posting a sample menu for a week, so that it gives you an idea about how to plan the week ahead. Since most of us do grocery shopping once in a week, it is better to plan the menu for a week, so we don't have to spend energy questioning ourselves every day what to cook, will it be healthy or will the meals be balanced . This makes it easy to buy essential groceries and vegetables according to the menu. I had been doing this for almost a year now and by the end of the week all my fresh vegetables are over and my family had consumed healthy meals.

Why do we need to focus so much on cooking at home rather than eat out or get food from outside? Well, we want to know what we are eating. We don't know what went into the cooking done at restaurant (in terms of ingredients and way of cooking). It is definitely not discouraging anyone from eating out. But better to know this aspect before we choose to eat out. I always resort to home cooking and eat outside food only during unavoidable circumstances.

Having said that, with this menu planning my major cooking is done in the morning and for dinner it will be very minimal and simple cooking. The snack options that I have suggested are such that they take less time and they can either be made on a different day like a weekend or made in the morning itself.

To make it easy to navigate through different recipes I have provided links to the recipes. Since my main focus of this blog is about healthy living, the choice of recipes that are listed in the menu are in the best effort to provide a well balanced healthy meal on any given day.

Here is a suggestion of sample weekday/weekend menu from the list of recipes from my blog. I have included most of the popular recipes from the post. You can select the recipes of your choice too…..

Meal	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Breakfast	Ragi or Rice Flour Puttu	Milky-Nutty Oats	Bread toast and Vegetable Stuffed Omelette or Plain Omelette	Soft Idli With Sambar	Vegetable Paniyaram	Masala Oats	Quinoa-Rice Pongal  and Coconut chutney
Lunch	Soya Chunks Curry with Chapati OR Pav Bhaji Or Bun with Spicy Mashed Vegetables (Veg)	Masala Whole Wheat-Soy Roti OR chapathi With Bhindi Pyaz or Okra-Onion Fry	Ayurvedic Kichadi	Mixed Beans and Lentil Curry(Dal Makhini) with Roti or Rice	Roti OR chapathi with Stuffed Brinjal (Eggplant) Curry	Rice with Poondu Kozhambu Or Garlic Curry and Papad	Rice with Madras Kaara Kozhambu  and Radish Leaves Poriyal
Snack	Garbanzo-Spinach Patties	Kondakadalai Sundal - Masala Chickpea	Eggless Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie	Healthy Fried Finger Idlis	Oats Urundai  Or Oats Energy Balls	Thengai Mangai Kaaraamani Sundal (Black Eyed Bean ...	Masala Chai with Soya Chunks-Spinach Patties
Dinner	30 Minutes Whole Grains Adai Dosai(Dosa)	Soft Idli and Crispy Dosa With Nutritious Kids Choice Idli Podi	Stuffed Cheese Chapati	Steamed mixed vegetables and Roti with yogurt	Instant Rava Oats Idli with Nutritious Kids Choice Idli Podi	Split Pea Soup OR Peanut Avocado Salad with Bread toast.	Tomato Base Pasta

Let me know any suggestions you have regarding the menu......... I will post another set of menu with different recipes in the future.....