Don'T Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight

by Rujuta Diwekar

Body fat table Description Women Men Essential fat 12 - 15% 2 - 5% Athletes 16 - 20% 6 - 13% Fitness 21 - 24% 14 - 17% Acceptable 25 - 31% 18 - 25% Obese 32% + 25% + Note: this doesn’t state your body weight.

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So eat your fruit, but don’t think that it’s safer than eating a dessert. Its nutrients only work for us if we eat it at as a meal by itself: as a morning meal or after exercise, and not as a dessert after dinner.

To summarise: there is really nothing like ‘safe food’ or ‘fattening food’. Everything that you eat judiciously, at the right time and in the right quantity, is good for you.

Get the diet to grow on you instead. In other words, modify your lifestyle, ie eat right, exercise and think right about yourself. Crash dieting is like a fling with a bad boy

modifying your lifestyle is like being in a loving and committed relationship

Through the next few chapters my endeavour is to educate you about the different kind of nutrients and their functions in our body, how to manipulate their quantity to adjust to your lifestyle, and how to get a lean and toned body. Cheat sheet

(The word heart attack also is a misnomer. The heart is working for us from the time we are in our mother’s womb. It is in fact one of the first organs that is developed, somewhere around the 6th week of pregnancy. The heart that we owe our life to cannot possibly attack us. But we definitely attack it with our habits, eating, lack of activity and exercise, etc. And then like the case of ulta chor kotwal ko daante, we call it heart attack.)

Tip: don’t store sweets or fried foods at home. You might be gifted mithai and the like at festival time. After completely enjoying 1 or 2 pieces, give these away to friends, family, share it at office, give it to your watchman, bai, etc.

The biggest lesson that we have to learn is to stop eating before reaching the overeating threshold.

Savour every bit of what you eat, slowly and mindfully, and you will naturally find your threshold. All you need to train yourself to do, is to be attentive to your stomach.

Guidelines Before eating: Switch off your phone, TV and computer. Wash your hands (use a soap). Serve yourself half of what you usually eat, on a nice, clean plate. Preferably adopt the crosslegged posture or sit at your usual dining place. While eating: Drink a glass of water. Start eating (preferably with your hands) and eat slowly. Chew your food slowly and deliberately. Use the entire mouth and don’t just chew from 1 side of your jaw. While you still have food in your mouth don’t pick up the food from your plate (Keeping food ready in your hands or on your spoon means you are eating fast and will ultimately overeat.) Eat with all your senses and think about how the food is nourishing you from within. Now if you want to eat some more, serve yourself a second helping from the other half that’s left. But don’t eat it all. After eating Don’t be in a rush to get up and get going. Stay where you are for a few minutes. If you’re clearing up yourself, pick up your plate and clean it with water before leaving it in the sink. (Food that dries up on the plate will sometimes stay on the plate even after washing, and can cause stomach discomfort at a later point.)

When the mind is stressed, agitated, worked up, sad, angry and distracted you don’t secrete any digestive juices.

The function of cortisol is to lower our metabolic rate, prevent fat burning and help convert food to fat. The body has learnt this response as a means of fighting drought, famine, floods, etc. It also led to the evolution and survival of the human species from the caveman or cavewoman mode to what we are today. The body can’t fathom why we get stressed over petty things like deadlines, break ups, home loans, debts, what to wear, etc, but decides nevertheless that if we are stressed it’s a risk to our survival—and goes all out to protect itself. The means of protection is making us fatter.

But we can reduce our cortisol production by leading disciplined lives. Waking up close to sunrise, exercising daily, finding means of self expression, and by keeping all our senses focussed on one thing at a time.

Instead all you have to do is tell your best friend, your body, that you will be eating more than usual for Diwali, Christmas, Eid, your anniversary or party, etc. Your body likes being taken into confidence (who doesn’t), and it responds to this communication by increasing your metabolic rate, secreting more digestive juices, enzymes, and sending more blood flow to your stomach. So now your mind and body are both prepared for the onslaught of food and the calories that come with it. Because you have not fooled your body into believing that you will not be eating, and then loaded or stuffed your mouth last minute (completely catching the body unaware and disrupting its normal metabolism), your body will reward you by not storing the excess calories as fat.

Let’s say that you have a choice between ‘fattening’ peanuts and low fat protein enriched or fibre added biscuits. What do you choose? If you believe that marriage justifies the rape, then the biscuit by all means. Otherwise pick the peanuts.

High GI foods (fast carbs) get converted to fat quickly and low GI foods (slow carbs) have a much better chance of getting utilised for energy instead of getting stored as fat.

So the glycemic load of a particular meal is the sum of all glycemic loads of all foods consumed during the meal. What this means is that even if you fill up on a lot of low GI food, its effect on your body will be similar to eating a small portion of high GI food.

In fact, in the absence of carbs, fat cannot be utilised for energy.

Other low GI foods are; jowar, barley, bajra, nachni, legumes, dals, wholewheat. All sweets, biscuits, pizzas, processed juices, sherbets, jams and jellies are high on GI because they have no fibre. It takes no time for our body to convert the sugar that comes from these foods to fat. Stick to low GI food as a general rule. Your body can take high GI food only after exercise, when your body needs instant sugar.

Just because it’s good for you don’t eat all you want; always keep in touch with your stomach and make sure you don’t cross the overeating threshold.

So eat high fibre carbohydrates as much as possible and cut the biscuits, cakes, pastries, pizzas and anything that’s low fibre.

‘Eat local, think global’.

you can safely eat your brownie, gulab jamun, etc without getting fat. Two things: eat them not more than once a week (and that’s the most you’re allowed!) and don’t eat them with a meal. A brownie or dessert after a lavish dinner means pucca conversion to fat because glycemic index and load are both high. But if you want to have the gulab jamun with all the sweet juice and have developed the discipline to eat just one, then eat it by itself as an in between meal. This way, the high glycemic index will be set off by low glycemic load (less food at one time) and this will improve the chances of your body not converting the sweet treat to fat. (There is a good chance there is no conversion to fat, in fact.) So eat your pizza, but stop at one piece. Where the glycemic index is very high, reduce the load.

We should eat fruits when we are in a fasting state or when our liver store is empty: so, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, or immediately after physical exercise. Any

So if you must drink, drink no more than once a week, and always after food (or with it but never on an empty stomach) and with at least a glass of water. Hello, beer and wine are alcohol too, so treat them with the same gravity that you treat whisky, rum, vodka, etc.

Carbs you should never eat (these are high GI and zero on nutrient) And how to cheat on them

Carbs to eat through the day that ensure optimum fat burning and sustained release of blood sugar (these are low GI foods): Carbs to be consumed after exercise or any stressful activity (high GI foods):

Proteins you should never eat…(these are high on saturated fats) And how to cheat on them 1. Sausages 2. Cold cuts and processed meats 3. Beef 4. Lamb 5. Pork Eat them as your first meal or after your post-workout meal. Eat them once a week provided you follow the four principles and exercise three hours a week. Proteins to eat through the day, that ensures optimum fat burning and sustained release of blood sugar Proteins to be consumed after exercise or any stressful activity Eggs, chicken, fish, all milk products (paneer, cheese, yoghurt, milk), soy milk, tofu, sprouts, lentils, nuts Protein powder

least 20 grams of good quality protein per serving or 4-5 egg whites and this is a must) How to eat them How to eat them With vegetables, carbs or by themslves. Eggs, lentils, dairy products, soy and fish can be eaten at any time. Chicken should be eaten at the end of your working day as it’s relatively tougher to digest and can slow your body down during your working hours. The hours between 6 and 8 pm are a good time to eat fish and chicken as the body needs these nutrients then to repair itself. Eat them within ten minutes of your workout.

Include nuts, cheese, or any other dairy product in your diet. Consuming healthy fats in healthy (read adequate) amounts will actually ensure proper functioning of the body and optimum fat burning.

Make sure you have at least 1 teaspoon of homemade ghee a day, and have it guilt free. Ghee shall bless thou too.

Foods with fibre take longer to chew and thus our eating time increases. (The brain registers that it is full only after 20 minutes).

focus on eating unprocessed wholesome foods which are naturally rich in fibre like brown rice, wholewheat, barley, raagi, jawar, bajra, chole, legumes, nuts. And cut down on the biscuits, white bread, burger, pizza or maida. And importantly: avoid overcooking sabzis and killing fruits and vegetables in the juicer.

A diet that is high in processed foods, caffeine, alcohol, sugar and sodium reduces calcium absorption. So does regular intake of antacids and laxatives.

calcium citrate or lactate (soluble in form) compound is absorbed much better by the human body than the popular calcium carbonate or phosphate supplements. Use a supplement of 1000 milligrams a day for optimum health.

Eating first thing in the morning will lead to an Increase in blood sugar and energy levels, which will lead to an… Increase in metabolic rate and fat burning, and a… Decrease in acidity and bloating, and will… Reduce chances of overeating later in the day, and… Stabilise blood sugar levels throughout the day, which means… Less chances of getting fat.

Principle 2 Eat every 2 hours.

called DIT or Diet Induced Thermogenesis.

But when you adopt the idea of eating frequently, often what drops first is the size of the meal. You will then find it impossible to eat that pizza by yourself. One piece and you will feel full; 2 chapatis for lunch at 2 pm when you just had something at noon is difficult too. So you may land up eating just 1 chapati at 2 pm and the next one at 4 pm.

For all the in between meals, eat only one thing at a time: peanuts, cheese, nuts, milk, yogurt, soy milk or whey protein shakes.

Only busy people make time for everything.

Principle 3 Eat more when you are more active and less when you are less active

In fact, I will go to the extent of saying that no food is fattening. You have to just be smart enough to choose the right time to eat it.

If you lack enthusiasm or energy it’s just because you are eating more when you are less active and vice versa.

To summarise Eating more food when you’re more active will make your body an efficient calorie burner… Which will increase the metabolic rate of your body… Which will help you stay energetic through the day… And will help you lose fat more effectively.

Principle 4 Finish your last meal at least 2 hours prior to sleeping.

Just like khali pet pe neend nahi aati, overloaded stomach pe disturbed sleep aati hai.

Well this is the deal: a pre workout and post workout meal is a necessity irrespective of the time of the day you workout at. So even if its a 8 pm or 10 pm workout, make sure you have your high GI carbs and protein shake within 10 minutes of working out. Yup, even if it’s 11 pm.

So switch off that TV (including what you watch on DVD) and laptop at least an hour before bedtime.