Bored of eating roti every day? 6 easy ways to add whole grains to your diet

Rotis are a good source of fibre but in case we need a healthy alternative to rotis, these whole grain options which are high on fibre content are easy to incorporate into your diet.

Roti-sabzi-dal is a staple diet for many in North India, and is combination is considered the healthiest of all considering it has the right mix of fibre, vitamins, minerals, protein, and other essential nutrients. But eating this healthy trio day in and day out can become monotonous for many and cravings for unhealthy food may set in. On days when you don't feel like eating roti, but do not want to deprive yourself of the essential fibre, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, here are alternative whole grains that can play substitute to rotis and provide you almost the same nutrition. (Also read: Leftover Roti recipes: 7 mouth-watering fast foods to make with your humble chapati)

Here are some whole-grain options that are easy to incorporate into your diet(Shuttrstock)

"Rotis are a very good source of fibre, but not all of us know how to make them. Replacing it with processed grains will be of little use, as they have little to no fibre content. Whole grains can be a better option, as the alternatives I have discussed in this post have high fibre content and are easy to incorporate into your diet. When we don't know how to make roti, most people depend only on rice, poha, upma, which severely lack fibre and micronutrients," says Nutritionist Bhuvan Rastogi in his recent Instagram post.

Rastogi suggests some whole-grain options that are easy to incorporate into your diet:

1. Wheat daliya or Bulgur

Wheat daliya is easily available and is a coarse form of wheat with intact fibre Bulgur, however, is available in Western countries and is already partly cooked. It's like rolled oats but made up of wheat, making it a convenient whole-grain option.

2. Barley daliya

Barley has a higher fibre content than wheat, jowar and oats. Barley daliya is a convenient way to add fibre to your meals.

3. Quinoa and oats

There are the most common whole-grain options in the West and hence the most famous. Their nutritional values are comparable to the other options like wheat daliya and barley.

4. Rajgira/Amarnath

This local pseudo-grain is from the same family as quinoa, with comparable nutrition. It's easy to cook and digest, making it a good option for your whole grain needs.

5. Split Jowar and Sorghum

Jowar is a type of millet that is a good alternative to rotis but hard to add to your meals. But, split jowar can be an easy way to accommodate the goodness of jowar into your diet

6.Samak/Vrat Chawal

Samak/Vrat Chawal are not actually rice but a millet with comparable fibre content to other whole grains, much higher than rice.

"Most whole grains have a comparable fibre of about 10g per 100g (including quinoa and oats). Barley has a higher fibre content of 14-17g. Choosing one over the other makes very little difference. On the other hand processed grains will always have much less or even no fibre, so incorporating whole grains over processed ones makes a much bigger difference to your well-being," concludes Rastogi.

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