Recently, we had a fasting day in the house and naturally, Sabudana khichdi was prepared for the dinner with a glass of buttermilk. That got me thinking about whether I can eat sabudana for weight loss.
Sabudana or tapioca peals mainly consist of carbohydrates and calories with empty nutrients. It is a dense food and overconsumption could lead to weight gain. However, since it satiates longer it helps to maintain a calorie deficit, which helps in weight loss.
There are many ways to consume sabudana, which will allow you to have a healthy impact on your diet. First, we need to know why it is not viable to consume sabudana for weight loss.
Why Sabudana is not ideal for weight loss?
To understand whether a recipe or food can serve your dietary needs. We need to look at the ingredients and examine all compounds it incorporates.
Let’s examine the ingredients:
| Nutritional Information | Per 100 gms serving |
| Calories | 351 gms |
| Carbohydrates | 87.1 gm |
| Fats | 02. gm |
| Proteins | 0.2 gm |
| Fibre | 0.9 gm |
Source: HealthifyMe App
Therefore, as you can see sabudana is high in calories and carbohydrates for 100 gm of serving.
The recipe you choose will decide the quantity of sabudana and other ingredients in it. Moreover, the quantity of sabudana will decide the impact on total calories.
Since sabudana is high in carbohydrates, it is more likely to make you hungrier within few hours of its intake. However, if sabudana is soaked in water before consumption then it can help satiate longer.
Sabudana is considered as an ideal food for weight gain. Consuming sabudana for breakfast or as a pre-workout meal will fill you up with a good amount of energy to help you push for more sets. However, since it is mostly an empty calorie food we must get our essential nutrients from other sources. This way sabudana assists to work out more and eat more, thus aiding weight gain.
Generally, you do not consume sabudana just by itself. It is a base ingredient in some of the most delicious Indian recipes. Most popular of them being sabudana khichdi, sabudana kheer & sabudana vada.
Let us examine all three recipes and see if sabudana helps in weight loss.
Sabudana Khichdi:
Sabudana khichdi consists of peanuts, coriander, sabudana, potatoes, and sugar. Potatoes again being an ingredient that is high in simple carbohydrates leads to weight gain and are also not recommended for people with diabetes, heart problem, and obesity.
Another, alarming ingredient in sabudana khichdi is sugar. It provides simple carbohydrates with no nutritional value. It will spike your sugar level and it can also cause inflammation which can last for many hours. In addition, it is the most common ingredient that aids in weight gain.
Peanuts and coriander in sabudana khichdi provide essential nutrients like fats, vitamin B1, vitamin A, and vitamin C. They help to strengthen your immune system. Therefore, it adds value when used along with sabudana. (Source)
By reducing the quantity of sabudana and add more peanuts and potatoes will not only improve the taste but also improve the nutritional value of sabudana khichdi.
Sabudana Kheer:
Sabudana Kheer is a delicious pudding made of milk, saffron, cardamom, cashew nuts, raisins, sabudana, and sugar. Apart, from sugar, all the other ingredients add some nutritional value to this dessert.
Sabudana Kheer contains 361 calories per serving (Source). Both fat and carbohydrates go above 100 calories.
With normal dairy milk and sugar, the kheer can add to the weight gain unless better alternatives are used for the same. Jaggery is considered a good replacement for sugar. Skimmed milk is a better option to reduce the fat content in the kheer.
Cashew nuts do provide a good amount of healthy saturated fats. Nevertheless, use them in moderation.
Sabudana Vada:
Sabudana vada is a deep-fried snack and the word “deep-fried“ itself should ring an alarm for the weight-loss conscious folks. It consists of the same ingredients as the sabudana khichdi and in addition, it is deep-fried.
We should consume deep-fried food in moderation as they are unhealthy.
It is a very delicious snack for sure, something I would not be able to keep my hands off from binge eating. Therefore, they are better kept farthest away from you if are on a weight loss journey 😉
How can you use sabudana for your weight loss?
Sabudana is a very high source of energy since it is loaded with calories and carbohydrates.
Weight loss is a very simple process, to understand. Calorie deficit = Weight loss!
In order to lose weight, we have to create a calorie deficit by either consuming fewer calories by eating smartly or burning more calories by being more active. However, it is easier said than done.
A person who has successfully achieved their weight loss/ fitness goals will tell you that the key lies in managing the nutrition aspect.
In my approach to lose weight, I relied more on managing nutrition than exercising. I followed the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule, in which I focused 80% on nutrition and 20% on physical activity.
So how can we use Sabudana to lose weight?
It is still the same principle of creating a calorie deficit. If you consume sabudana, which is high in calories, then you have to create a calorie deficit. You do that by either eating less or exercising more, for the rest of the day.
You should also modify your eating schedule if you choose to have sabudana.
Sabudana is recommended as a pre-workout meal or to be taken for breakfast. Since it has almost 351 gm of calories per 100 gm of serving, it can make you full easily and provide you enough energy for heavy physical activity.
A study was conducted wherein 8 cyclists showed that ingesting combination of sago (sabudana) with soy protein delayed their fatigue during high-intensity cycling and also increased endurance capacity by 37% and 84% respectively (Trusted Source).
Another study showed that 8 cyclists who consumed sago porridge immediately after exercise in warm-humid conditions had a more rapid recovery and also improved their performance by 3.7%. compared to those on water-only control. (Trusted Source).
Sabudana is a convenient and portable source of high energy. So prefer using it instead of the unhealthy snack bars or fast foods.
You are on fast this Navratri, how do you maintain weight loss when sabudana is the only option? (Introducing: Navratri Diet!)
A diet that I have tried myself can help you get through the Navratri fast while keeping your weight loss in check. It helped me lose 6 kg in 9 days.
(I was 115 kg then and hence the large amount of weight loss. However, it was a motivation trigger and I went on to lose 32 kg in the next 7 months. It is not that simple. Email me if you want the details 😉 )
I amusingly call it the Navratri Diet:
In this diet, I allow only two meals:
- Breakfast: No breakfast
- Lunch: A large bowl of sabudana khichdi. Sabudana being a high-calorie food will keep you satiated for the entire day.
- Dinner: A large boiled potato stir-fried in ghee/oil with salt and pepper
Continue this diet for nine consecutive days and you will love to weigh yourself each day. The first 4 days should be easy. From the 5th day, there would be mild weakness. To tackle the weakness, just reduce your physical activity.
Related Questions:
How many calories does one serving of Sabudana Khichdi have?
Sabudana Khichdi will provide 655 calories per serving.
How do you keep Sabudana from sticking?
Toss the sabudana in coriander and then thoroughly wash it in cold water until the water clears. This will take off most of the starch and prevent it from sticking.
How sabudana is grown?
Sabudana is grown by extracting the starch from tapioca roots, which are then further processed & transformed into spherical pears that often vary in size.
Can sabudana be given to babies?
Although sabudana contains empty nutrients, but due to its simple form, it is considered as a good introductory food for babies.
Is Sabudana good for gastric?
Sabudana can be eaten by anybody as it is gluten-free and non-allergic except for people with diabetes. It does not cause any allergy.
Kind request
I want to request you to have an open mind and give my program a try. I am not charging any fees for it. I genuinely want you to achieve your goal. At any point, if you face any problem in understanding the program please feel free to email me. I promise I’ll help you in every way to achieve your goal. Wish you the best. Happy Eating!