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)

 

This Summer let’s get Physical with Food Science, shall we?

I am friends with Rini A. Dasgupta, a beautiful soul and a fellow MBA, Rini at the very threshold of life has cracked the secret to Food science and Human biology which overlap to give you mind boggling results. Let me warn you folks, Rini is pretty keen on her fashion senses too and spends most of her time amidst models. So if you are keen on losing the belly fat or bat wings this summer then Rini is your girl to follow. Let’s see what Rini has in store for us with food and workout regime:

” FOOD FOR THOUGHT (AND STOMACH AS WELL)

To begin with – Rohan, brilliant article on food in your blog! It gives me immense joy and delight to see people like you who love food and eat it guilt free (and which is exactly why people must say to you, “Hey! You never put on any weight, you eat so much!”). What I have written below is a simple, holistic way to enjoy the delights food can offer you (thanks Rujuta Diwekar for being my biggest eye opener) and realize that a good body is an outcome of food + workout.

So readers, you must (obviously) have encountered instances when someone very rudely turned to you and said, “Why are you eating so much of rice? You want to put on more weight? Huh?” and you then (if you already have weight/fitness issues) immediately pause to think and very “diligently” delete it from your platter and load it with “fibre-rich” biscotti (oh the fancier the name, the better it must be for health!), vegetables (boiled only mind you), tasteless, tadka-less edibles (I call it non-edible). And when you DO indulge in eating good food, you do so with guilt. So now you have been successfully brainwashed into believing that YUCKY = HEALTH and YUMMY = FAT. Enter weight-loss industries with slimming belts, electric currents and other (devastating) methods. Enter GM diet and cabbage soups and other methods designed to torture thy holy self. Is that why you were born? To live a life of immense pain and say no to the wonders of food God gave us? Oh my GOD.

        In case you’re thinking what’s my point here (what! Is she crazy? She’s telling us to eat to lose weight!)  yes I am your crazy writer/new friend/very fit asking you to eat to lose weight. Let’s start with why our digestive systems, digestive fire etc. exist in the first place. To eat, swallow and digest, silly! Let’s get to the actual point(s) now.

1. DIT – Diet Induced Thermogenesis

This means the more you eat, the better your metabolism. No, this doesn’t mean one plate of rice and veggies every fifteen minutes. This simply means that you have to eat every two hours. The human body doesn’t understand logic (i.e. lunch is delayed due to office) it simply does what Mama Nature taught it – survival (remember Charles Darwin’s “only the fittest survive”?). Hence, when it misses a meal, it goes into survival mode, lowers metabolism and starts holding on to the fat stores because the body simply thinks there is lack of food and a threat to survival! Feeding it every two hours is a way of reassuring the body that there is no such thing so keep up the metabolism!

  2. A Balanced Diet –  A wholesome meal

Now just because I said eat every two hours, it won’t do you any good to run to KFC and Mc Donald’s every two hours! Any diet is not “one size fits all” but this is a general pattern. You have to include mostly what you have been eating since childhood and remain close to your genes, which means if your ancestors have been eating idli for 5000 years, yes you can eat them too. If you are a Punjabi, eat your paranthas. If you are a Bengali (like me) then eat rice! Indians, in general, should eat rice. Paranthas, gulab jamuns, dhoklis etc are NOT junk food!

• MEAL # 1 – Pre-Breakfast – Start you day with a high calorie fruit AS SOON AS you get up (and brush) because your blood sugars drop the moment you open your eyes. Fructose stabilizes your blood sugars + which leads to an escalating metabolism + hence your appetite is the way it is supposed to = now the body is equipped to burn more fat during the day! Now you are not empty stomached while taking a bath and getting ready for work etc. 

 

• MEAL # 2 – Breakfast – continue eating your parantha/ idli/ upma/ dosa/ cornflakes and no you will not put on weight because you have a good metabolism now!

 

• MEAL # 3 – Midday Meal – this is your meal two hours after breakfast and two hours prior to lunch. A pack of unsalted nuts like peanuts, walnuts etc. high in omega 3, they take care of your pre-lunch hunger cramps (aaaooo, I’m so hungry, stupid professor not releasing us for lunch!) well, just have them in class/office!

 

• MEAL # 4 – Lunch (usually the second meal of the day for most people who then wonder, “Arre I hardly eat man, still I am fat yaar”) – this is the time to eat your rice/dal. Remember to eat rice every day (another article for another time, for now just believe me). Vegetables keep rotating and just continue eating what your grandmother/mother used to eat. Your stomach will tell you when to stop on time now, simply because you have nourished it since morning!)

 

• MEAL # 5 –the 4pm meal – you stomach makes a slight demand again, so you can very well eat a small bhel (wet bhel, not dry, as pudina is a brilliant laxative for your stomach) and your body is back to being your content wife/child and does no drama.

 

• MEAL # 6 – and the 6pm meal (what a coincidence!) – this perhaps is the most important meal after your first meal (fruit in the morning) because this will determine your dinner appetite. Never skip this one COME WHAT MAY, because if you do then you will overeat for dinner, which results in bloating, no hunger in the morning, and then you skip your pre breakfast and breakfast. Bad thing na? Now this meal is as simple as a glass of milk/chaas/lassi with a small sandwich (yes you can have white bread or brown, your choice) or a couple of carrots.

 

• MEAL # 7 – the LAST supper – roti/veggies/lean proteins whatever. And you won’t overeat now because? 100 Rini points for your answer.

 

• Now, eat you meal # 7 (your last supper) two hours before going to sleep. Why? Because your body does its repair work after you sleep hence with undigested food in the tummy it is torn between the two duties. It finally chooses to leave the food unattended (not digested) and does the repair work. This also leads to bloating by the way!

                        

• MITAHAR – The “sweet” experience with food

Engaging your senses (ALL FIVE OF THEM) is crucial to keep your agni chakra (digestive fire commonly known as metabolism) burning bright. This ensures that your mind is accepting the food that you eat and the body then does a better job of digesting it. So look at your food and let your eyes enjoy the colours of your meal, smell the lovely aroma with your nose, touch the texture and feel it with your fingers, taste it with your tongue and then hear it crumble inside your mouth with your ears. That means – no television, phone calls, spoons and other distractions. Mitahar ensures you don’t overeat (because the body acknowledges all that goes in and how much should go in). Junk foods numb your senses, hence mitahar is difficult to practise then.

 EXERCISE – if you have an ass, move it.

Now that we are done blaming food for all the fat that we gain, let’s get more real that we already just did. We are not here to lose weight, but to stay fit. Fat weighs very little and muscle mass weighs a lot, so weighing scales tend to mislead you in terms of health. Even after you burn a lot of fat, your weight may remain the same or even increase as that is your bone and muscle mass. It is crucial to build muscle mass because the more muscle you have, the more your fat burns automatically. No, weight training does not make you a body builder (they have ENTIRELY different lifestyles and diets, including pills and steroids). The human body can only build so much of muscle and upon reaching the peak with a certain amount of weight, it maintains the same with regular exercise. Again, exercise is not “one size fits all”, so invest in a gym/trainer and be regular.

To conclude, I would simply like to say that you have to 1.eat and 2.exercise and 3.enjoy both. You don’t have to exercise because you eat, but because you have a BODY. It doesn’t get simpler than that. Cheers everyone and enjoy the wonders of food, exercise and the brilliant health it will shower upon you!”

(Courtesy Rini Ankita Dasgupta – Guest Blogger)

dasgupta.ankita@gmail.com (feel free to compliment/complain/add opinions/suggestions)

 

Does the word, ‘Food’ tickle your senses?

Hello everyone, I am back and this time I would love to share with everyone some nutty dishes. It is impossible to work on a blog topic post heavy lunch and that’s how I reached my new topic – Food. However even with droopy eyes I have gathered all the leftover energy and shared some my favorite dishes that I know is every Punjabi’s dream. Trust me when I say, the very homely food would find a place in the top ranked dishes on my lists of favorite foods but then I confess to have found solace in some very wisely done recipes that might just do the magic.

Being a typical food lover (I am a Punjabi and can’t blame my genes) since childhood, I have had a mouthful of punjabi dishes and also a good feasting on various other kind of foods available in the vicinity. The food options were truncated as I am a pure vegetarian and only a few options remain to pick from. The best that I can conspicuously recollect are the spicy Hyderabadi Biryani, the immaculate Sambhar and Idlee and the soulful Gujarati farsan is to die for. Hopefully the list of food I would share today would not fail to impress a few. So let me stop chit chatting and quickly get down to business:

5) Rajma Chaawal: The Number 5th on my list is the graciously done Rajma Chaawal. Every Punjabi’s Sunday or any other major occasion is incomplete without the preparation of Rajma Chaawal. A simple recipe of Kidney bean soup in Tomato curry and rice can give a headache to many who cook without a prior training. Recently, I have learnt about my moving away to an alien land for work and this is one of the dishes that would make me eager to wait for holidays.

4) Gajjar ka Halwa: The list would be sympathetically empty, if there is no focus on dessert. A Gajjar ka Halwa is one specialty that normally people binge on during winters. The sweet carrots when marry the cream/ Mawa to make the perfect blend of Halwa, it is simply magic. The servings include garnishes with silver paper and loads of dry fruits but I prefer mine with some cashews and honey. Well, If you haven’t still tried it…… what are you waiting for?

3) Sindhi Curry with Aloo Took:   I first happen to have Sindhi Curry and Aloo Took at my Sindhi uncle’s wedding and right after then I am head over heels for it. The Sindhi Curry is a Tomato preparation with fried vegetables. The Aloo took are the double fried Potato chips served as complimentary item. On and all it is like your dream girlfriend – Saucy, sweet and sour and crisp to add that little zing.

2) Chat Pakora: The road side junk food has eventually managed to climb my best food list with a very little efforts. The Onion, Potatoes and Dal bhajjiyas (Pakora in punjabi) are best with cutting chai (Half cup tea) during monsoons. I know a lot of us have a very hygiene conscious for the street side preparations but this calorie filled dish is served best with pickled green chilies and garlic powder and once you have it, your enslaved to the warm and aromatic flavors.

1) Panner makhanwala : Also known as stir fried cottage cheese with sweet and spicy seasonings in butter and best served with Naan or Butter Roti (Indian Bread). The classic Panner, wins hand down to all other items in the list. The Makhan Panner which is the best main course is prepared in butter (Hence makhan) and cashew cream is added to enhance the rich texture. A dish that can give you a tiring day in gym after it is consumed is the crown jewel for all food items.

Well guys, this is it. These dishes make me thank Lord, All Mighty every time I dine and lick every drop off my plate till the last morsel. It would be superb if you can share the best dishes you have had in past or savor in your bucket list. Thank you for your time and Salute to a Healthy life ahead.

(Image Courtesy : finelychoppedk.wordpress.com, whatscookingmom.in, kitchenadda.blogspot.com, chefandherkitchen.com)