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The dilemma about dieting
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If you thought dieting means eliminating items from the home menu card and battling with a depressing list of don'ts, it's not so, says GEETA PADMANABHAN
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ENJOY EATING See that you have a balanced meal
For French women, Brigitte Bardot and Cher are no longer figure models. A Paris nutritionist has announced that one-third of French women are overweight. One reason is women have switched from family meals to a supermarket-freezer-microwave-table culture. That France has one of the largest sets of MacDonald's and Burger King outlets outside the U.S. may not be just a coincidence.
What do we do here? At 40, we take a look at the mirror, gasp in alarm and puff to the nearest gym. We deny ourselves the food we like. We wait and watch, become irritable and tired. We diet-crash into ill health and unhappiness.
Misunderstood
The idea of dieting is completely misunderstood, according to Dr. Varsha, Founder Chair, Indian Institute of Nutritional Sciences. Diet, for us, is what we are forced to gulp down at a hospital. Diet, we believe, is eliminating items from the home menu card, battling with a depressing list of don'ts. But eating is not punishment! It can be guilt-free! A positive pleasure!
In this battle of food vs. form, nutrition vs. nut sundae, we face a trinity of challenges. First is commercial nutrition: what we tuck in at hotels, food supplements, packed foods, ready-made items like baked products and snacks. When we eat out, we eat our heart out. "Don't waste it! It cost a bomb!"
Next is community nutrition: with a festival every month and weddings to fill the gaps, we are on a constant gastronomical high. . But that's not they were meant to be. Each had a different menu, quantities were small and we ate them like prasadam. There was no fridge.
Most times, we fasted at night. Or ate light. We also went out and visited people, didn't watch TV.
Finally, there is clinical nutrition: this is food we associate with illness and lifestyle diseases. Tell people you want less sugar in your tea, they say, you have a sugar problem?
"In whichever situation you are eating, you should get all nutritional ingredients," said Dr. Varsha. "We form food habits based on height, weight, age, gender, likes and dislikes. And on outside influences like cooking styles, climate, composition of the family, source of income and geography. Only two things are vital to forming a meal pattern — time schedule and meal composition. The trick is to balance the nutrients into the universally accepted eight mealtimes.
"When I go for weddings, people sneak behind to see what I have on the plate. I'm sure I shocked a lot of guests. I fill the plate with all the stuff I like. Eating well is not denying yourself," she said.
6 a.m.: Milk-based beverage. Coffee is caffeine and black tea has no minerals.
8-9 a.m.: Breakfast. No breakfast can beat the combo of idli-chutney-sambar. Idli is fermented and the dals are varied. Change the veggies, but have sambar every day.
11 a.m.-12 noon: Mid-morning drink. Should be water-based. Could be fruit, tomato or mixed veggie juice (with honey?) or coconut water.
1 p.m.: Lunch. Knock down a mixed rice/chips/pickle blend, you fill the stomach and starve the body. Once you have the fill of cooked and raw veggies, go ahead and eat what you want.
2-3 p.m.: Same as mid-morning.
4-5 p.m.: Your beverage + fruit. Why don't you bite into a gorgeous guava? Or the all-purpose banana? Banana is anti-hypertensive. A handful of chundal will do as well. It is protein. Have nuts or oil seeds.
"People choose to have vadai on Monday, pakoda on Tuesday, bajji on Wednesday, mixture on Thursday ... and tell me, `I have vadai just once a week!' Chomp any of these, but once in a while."
7-8 p.m.: Dinner. Night meal doesn't mean leftovers. Rotis are fine, if surrounded by koottu/korma and veggies.
9-10 p.m.: Now don't shriek. Sleep you get before 10 p.m. is the most beneficial. A glass of buttermilk with a bit of ginger, curry leaf and hing is the best sleeping pill. Buttermilk + herbs is good for digestion and a sleep inducer. We delay dinner thanks to our serials.
Enjoy eating. See that you have a balanced meal. Your food need not be elaborate and variety-based. Better monotonous fare with nutrition than short cuts and starvation. If you are the one who cooks, you have an enormous responsibility. The person who cooks influences the family in all ways.
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