Counting Calories in "Calorie Kitchen"

When I see food on the table, something interesting and appealing, the last thing that comes to my mind is calories. I occasionally suffer from guilt pangs as an after thought which leads me to exercise with a vengeance for a while. Little did I know that diet plays a much larger role than exercise in overall fitness until I met the zesty Arti Singh. The first thing I observed is the air of fitness around her. She started Calorie Kitchen in Bangalore as a diet partner to cater to healthy food, nutrition counselling and Door Step fitness training.

Measuring Calories in Food

As I browsed through the menu, I realized that every meal from Calorie Kitchen comes with a calorie tag. Most of the salads were between 100 to 200 kCal per helping, multi-grain or brown bread sandwiches sans cheese and butter averaged at 100 kCal, and the full meals around 450-500 Kcal depending on the dishes. There was an interesting section for the muscle builders which were different combinations of Tofu, Quinoa, Broken Wheat with lots of grilled vegetables and chicken. The calories for each of the preparations have been assessed by a trained nutritionist based on publicly available information on individual ingredients

Picture Credit – Jimmy Kuruvilla of SoukWagon

She offered me to sample the chicken meal which had a portion of brown rice, serving of dal, chicken, phulka, salad and raita priced at Rs 140 with a 515 Kcal tag. The chicken gravy tasted like home, barely any oil, mildly spiced (ginger, garlic, cumin powder and onion) and well cooked. The dal was regular, sans the ghee tempering but absolutely yummy so much so that the taste still lingers in my mouth. The raita was fresh creamy curd and not diluted stuff that is normally served in the name of curd. I saw the kitchen staff preparing a low calorie salad complete with fresh leafy vegetables, tossed in low sodium salt and low fat egg white mayonnaise which I did not taste.

Target Audience for Health Food:

Ideally all of us should be always having food that is healthy. Since it is not to be most of the times the menu from Calorie Kitchen is ideal for the fitness enthusiast or someone trying to make peace with diabetes, cardiac disease or simply lose weight. It is also very suitable for you and me who want to take a breather from the regular binges and go healthy for some time. Next time you are looking out for a healthy meal in the Koramangala area of Bangalore, dial Calorie Kitchen.