Food, Fashion and Fighting eating disorders is the ‘New Normal’ .

Yet again Rini A. Dasgupta, a graduate from NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) and a budding nutritionist has dawned her cape of experience and is imparting wisdom on the back stage life of Models with whom she has spent relentless years to understand the fitness quotient. This post is in continuation with the previous one and I believe this post digs out the urban legend on ‘eating disorders’ and killing yourself with morsel-feed regime.

“YOU (and your body) ARE YOUR FIRST LOVE, FOOD IS YOUR CLOSE SECOND.

One friend – “But I still don’t fit into this dress! I hate my body. I hate food. I hate what it does to me.”

Me (Rini) – “Why do you hate your body so much?”

Friend – “I’ve got love handles which my clothes can’t handle. I had promised myself I would lose 10 kilos by tomorrow, and I have lost only 3. How do I lose 7 more by tomorrow? Ugh! I have no dedication!”

Me – “I think you have no brains.”

Friend – “What did you say?”

Me – “I think you –“

Friend – “Yeah! I got that dumbo. Anyway, I have to pick a larger dress for myself for tonight (sob), so just give ten more minutes to get ready.”

I wish I could hold her, shake her and possibly plant some brain seeds. But hey! She eats nothing, pukes what she eats and eats carrots the entire day (when she DOES feel hungry) so if I did shake her she might just break. However, I am not one to lose my temper at the drop of a hat, but yes, I will lose it at the drop of a body. So I asked her to grab a bite before she headed to the event with me.

Me – “Well, you anyway haven’t really lost weight, so eat for now.”

Friend – “Are you bloody mad? I have a massive ass already!”

Me – “!@#$@!@”

At the party, there was a brilliant display of delicious looking dishes and I bumped into another friend of mine who turned to greet us.

Friend # 2 – Hey Rini! Hey Friend! Nice to see both of you! Let’s go grab a bite now.

Starved Friend – “No, I can’t eat anything. I have put on weight. Is there any salad? I’ll eat that in small quantities.”

Why am I telling this story? Because this, sadly, is the case with most women and most of them are not out of their closets yet with these potentially fatal disorders. My friend was out of the closet (just with me and few people) and seemed to think she was doing the right thing. I have come to the conclusion that the decision to starve yourself and not listen to your wailing body is a decision that stems from, ironically, nutrition starved brain. It is a vicious circle. The good news is, this happened a long time ago to my friend, and now she eats, exercises and looks fit and fabulous. Oh, another good news is that you can do it too! Or help a friend for that matter.

For those of you, who are still inside your closet with such horror stories, please come out (not to face us, but your own conscience) and I’ll put a question before you – what did your body do to deserve this? It is YOUR fault your body is like this in the first place, so now punish it by torturing it even more? Seriously, you need to love your body a lot more than that. I mean, the poor thing is the reason why you are walking in the first place, going places, doing your chores, socializing, you name it. Even after all the trash you give it, it still puts up with you and tries to do everything it can to protect you! You know why? Your body is a temple where your soul resides. It will do anything to keep the soul intact.

Let’s get a little serious now. Why are you tormenting and starving your body? Because you have done enough damage by eating junk, not exercising and some Einstein tells you food makes you fat, hence you quite rice, rotis etc. Oh, and there is that dress you need to wear for the ramp or that Vogue event. Social and psychological pressures that lead you to death, funnily enough, the same society is hardly bothered about you when you do look great (I mean, they have their own face, makeup, bodies to look after).

  

Eating disorders has gone beyond just anorexia and bulimia.

• Skipping meals one day to flaunt a flat tummy on the next is a disorder.
• Skipping lunch because you have to eat at a party is a disorder.
• Living on curd for five days to burn belly fat is a disorder.
• Quitting rice (a vital food group is deleted hence) is a disorder.
• Deleting essential fats like peanuts, almonds, ghee etc. is a disorder.
• You got the picture, basically.

How are we to tackle this then? Steam belts? Or liposuction? I feel like shooting the ones who invented such nonsense.

The New Normal Principles are as follows:

1. Love thyself – UNCONDITIONALLY. Love yourself when you wake up with dirt in your eyes and bad breath. Love yourself when your hair is out of place. Love yourself when your manicure isn’t done. Love yourself even when you haven’t waxed your armpit hair for a bit (but do it soon, purely for hygiene purposes). Love yourself with your tummy tires. Love yourself after you lose them. In short (because life’s too short) just keeping loving yourself. There is thin line between loving yourself and self-obsession – the difference between thinking “I am good” and “others are bad”. When you love your own self, you are giving the same signal to your body, who is then reassured of a kind loving soul, willing to cooperate with its duties. This leads to all the other processes I have mentioned in my previous article.
2. Eat well – as much as clichéd it may sound, you have to eat. Eating helps you to lose weight (refer to previous article again). Now, what are we to do when we have to eat at a party? Refer to the meal breakup in my previous article and continue that.  CASE 1 – You plan to eat nothing “fattening”, but once you get there you end up hogging. What happens to your body then? You have made up your mind not to eat, which tells the body not to do anything, and suddenly when the body is least expecting it, you goad it with food! Of course it can’t digest all that! Of course you will become fat! So tell your body prior to the party that yes you are going to eat and it rewards your honesty by increasing the metabolism for that day (it happens sometimes, if you overeat regularly, the body will do nothing much) and hence you burn fat. CASE 2 – You plan to HOG so eat nothing for lunch. In this case, again, don’t skip any meal, take your body into confidence and tell it you are going to eat.
3. Delete guilt – In my previous article I have mentioned about how the body does anything to survive. The body has never understood why we yell, why we skipped a meal, or why we feel guilty. To it, there is just one thing – a threat to survival. What does that mean? It starts holding on to the fat stores and burns less of the meal that you just ate. So the next time you  hold a gulab jamun, please eat it with a smile and relish the taste and don’t take a small bite with immense guilt and remorse. Practice MITAHAR (previous article again) to erase guilt.
4. Buy clothes that fit you please – don’t set targets such as “I have to drop 5 kilos in one week yaar”. Love yourself enough to get clothes that drape you, not drain you. Think nutrition and not weight loss. When you are focused on maintaining a good health and an active workout schedule, a slim sculpted body will be a by-product of the same. No need to torture yourself and your body.

 The list is actually endless, but we have to stop somewhere. For me, as long as you get the point, my job is almost done. When you practice it, however, I consider my job completely done. Don’t set a date or a deadline. Your body is intelligent enough to do what it needs to in its own course of time, provided you give it what it needs.

Cheers again, and hope to catch many lovely meals with all of you!!”

( Guest Blogger: Rini Ankita Dasgupta )

dasgupta.ankita@gmail.com (feel free to compliment/complain/add opinion/suggestion)