Build Your Balanced Plate
Choose foods from each category to build a balanced Indian thali. See how your choices stack up for key nutrients like iron, folate, calcium, and protein.
Choose Your Foods
Your Thali
Key Nutrients vs Daily Needs
Iron targets follow the ICMR-NIN 2020 RDA for Indian women — 29 mg a day when not pregnant, 27 mg in pregnancy and 23 mg while breastfeeding. The pregnancy figure is lower because it assumes periods have stopped, not because you need less iron.
The targets are sourced; the per-food figures are not. They arrived with this tool without a citation and we have not traced them to a published Indian food composition table. Where a figure looked wrong and we could not source a replacement, we withdrew it rather than guess — so treat these bars as a rough sense of the shape of a meal, not a measurement.
This adds up the milligrams on the plate, not what your body takes in. Plant iron absorbs at roughly 2 to 20 per cent against 15 to 35 per cent for iron from meat, fish and egg yolk, and chai or coffee within the hour can block half to three quarters of it.
Smart Suggestions
The Balanced Plate Method
A simple way to portion any meal — works just as well for a thali.
½ Plate — Vegetables & Fruit
Fill half with sabzi, salad, leafy greens (palak, methi) and a fruit. Aim for colour and variety.
¼ Plate — Whole Grains
A quarter for whole grains — roti, brown rice, jowar/bajra, oats — over refined ones where you can.
¼ Plate — Protein
A quarter for dal, rajma, chana, paneer, curd, egg, fish or chicken. Add curd or buttermilk for calcium.
Daily Nutrition Guide
Recommended daily intake for key nutrients across different life stages.
Adult Women
19-50 years
Pregnancy
All trimesters
Lactation
Breastfeeding
Medical Disclaimer
This tool provides general nutritional information for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional dietary advice. Consult a registered dietitian or healthcare provider for personalised nutrition guidance.
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