Sorry to bring back this topic, especially after all that time, but the discussion seemed quite interesting.
In India, cases of obesity, diabetes and atherosclerotic heart disease did increase shockingly over the last decades. It's certainly true, some regional cuisines do use, you could say, excessive amounts of oil (just think of the kashmiri cuisine, where almost anything gets fried first) or the typical indian street food, which today is an integral part of their culture, but uses similiar amounts of oil and gets often also fried. Or the typical indian desserts, which consist of high amounts of sugar, or get fried in hot ghee. But there are quite a few studies which suggest, that the western-lifestyle, and that means for example, the replacement of traditional oils (mustard oil, groundnut [peanut] oil, coconut oil) with refined vegetable oils, or the consumption of less vegetables and more meat, does play an important role, too. I think mustard oil is still banned in some parts of the world, e.g. the EU (for consumption), but newest findings suggest that it's really healthy, especially for your heart, more than any other oil. (funny, isn't it?) Indian docs often blame the excessive usage of ghee, and would be happy if more people would use some oil instead sometimes.
I do believe, that traditional, home-cooked curries are in fact healthier than most of the indian takeaway dishes. Just take "Rajma Chawal" (kidneybeans and rice), an all-time favorite of the punjabi people, which has a biological value above 100, plenty of protein, vitamins, minerals, but almost no fat or cholesterol. Kidneybeans can reduce the risks of a heart attack and rice could help you to lose weight. It depends, of course, on how much and which oil the cook adds, or if there's any cream that he or she adds, but it's definitely healthier than the typical BIR-curries. Most of the indian households, but this is already changing, use, for religious or financial reasons, lentils, greens or generally vegetables instead of mass-produced meat, which I think has positive effects also. But after all, it depends on how you define "healthy". On the other hand, I don't think that BIR-curries are unhealthy per se, and I do believe that it's just fine for kids to eat. With a balanced and well thought diet plan in mind, I think it's absolutely fine for anyone, to eat BIR-curries even regularly.
Personally, I lost about 20kg just by eating traditional, vegetarian, indian food. And that includes stuff like Paneer Pakora, Dal Makhani, Rajma, Pav Bhaji, Samosas, Aloo Mattar, Masala Dosa and many, many other things. In fact, I would say that I have never eaten that good in my life before, and still lost weight by doing it. So it's a pretty fun and damn tasty way to do it. And I guess that would even work with meat (not on a missionary service here ;P), while still enjoying some restaurant-style curries every now and then. Will check out a new curry-house at tuesday, so at least I do it that way (:
Greetings!