You don’t need to compromise to be healthy
Suman Agarwal
“You don’t need to compromise to be healthy” : Suman Agarwal talks about health and nutrition
Good afternoon everyone. I will start off by telling you that I didn’t go to the lunch counters today. Which ever event I attend, I am told that if I go to the food counters, people will stop eating. Let me start off by saying that I am not a scary person who will stop you from eating or drinking. In fact, I am here to tell you how to strike a proper balance.
What I have experienced while practicing as a nutritionist, is that there are a lot of myths surrounding eating right. People who think they are dieting are not dieting or eating healthy. People who are overweight eat less, but still eat the wrong things and thus don’t lose weight. It’s either in their genes or their eating pattern isn’t right—which I break or twist—and design a health plan accordingly. So like all of us go to a designer to get our clothes altered, we must adopt the same approach for our diet. Self Care, my company, designs a custom diet for each individual as per their own requirements. What will suit you, your height, your body frame, your age, your condition, your ailments, are all taken into consideration. We have people who tell us they want to drink every day, so we design a plan for them accordingly. You just have to tell me what you would like to have, and we will try to fit it into your diet. The first myth which we see gripping everyone’s minds is that dieting means soup, salad and boiled vegetables. Not at all. We believe that you must enjoy your diet and you must look forward to eating your meals. Depending on your likes and dislikes, we can incorporate in moderation, everything from bread and desserts to rice.
We will in fact, give you at least eight cuisine options you can choose from and also tell you how to order your food and what dishes to choose. You don’t need to stop eating out as well. In fact, I insist you eat out once a week. It makes sure you still are accustomed to certain bacteria that cause all the foreigners who come to India to fall sick!
Don’t use sugar supplements:
Lots of people believe dieting involves eliminating sugar completely, so they replace it with supplements like Splenda. Everyone gets sold on the line, that sucralose is just like glucose. It is actually a chemical, which can harm your liver in long run. It is already banned in Canada and Europe. So if you are an artificial sweetener user, I suggest you quit immediately. You should moderate your sugar intake, but please don’t use supplements like Splenda. If you absolutely must, have Stevia, which is a natural substitute.
No dieting without Junk food: I don’t believe in dieting without junk food. Many of my clients are obese children who are eight or ten. I can’t stop them from eating everything they enjoy— right from bur gers and Sev Puri to noodles. So I designed a diet for them,whichincluded everything. That’s whenI came out with the book. It has interesting lunch options for children, working men and forworking women. The recipesalso steer clear from boring thingslike Roti, Sabzi and Dal. You can have junk food in moderation, butbe sure to balance the proteins,carbohydrates and fats.
Is Brown Bread Healthy?You are better off eating whitebread than brown. It is a hugemyth that brown bread is healthier.I have done a detailed study onthe calorific value of bread. I have realised that you can’t cutbrown bread as thinly as you cancut white bread. Thus, a thicker slice means more weight, whichmeans more calories. So where a thin slice of white bread has 50 calories, the fatter brown bread slice has 89 calories! Also, white bread stays fresher for longer thanbrown bread, which has chemical preservatives added to it to makeit last longer.
Don’t abstain from Drinking:Dieting does not mean boringweekends without any drinking involved. We believe, no greatstory ever started with someoneeating salad, so we do incorporatedrinking if you prefer to drink. Irecently had a client who agreedto do anything, as long as he could have a drink a day. So wediverted his menu in such a way,that he could have a peg a day.He eventually ended up having apeg and a half. Thankfully, he hasalready reached his goal and hassigned up for a reduction of anadditional five kilos.
Age healthily:We all want to look younger, workas we age and be active. But wedon’t want to think about growingold. However, it is important toage healthily. My goal for myclients is not only weight loss, butalso to cure them of any healthissues within my capacity and prevent future ailments. We do tests via blood samples to confirmthe presence of genetic disorders,deficiencies of vitamins, etc, before designing a diet, keepingin mind health, apart from weightloss.
We do this by simply following 5rules: First, you should time your meals.Your breakfast and dinner have to be 12 hours apart and the othertwo meals (or more), must bespaced accordingly. This preventsyou from binging and keeps youenergetic.
The second theory which we follow is complete your plate. This means include carbohydratesin your meal, though in limited amounts. Balance the carbohydrates, fat, fiber and protein in your diet.Eat until you are 80 per centfull. You need not eat till you are100 per cent full because yourstomach—since it is a stretchable bag—goes over capacity. It stretches a bit so that every subsequent time you eat food, you ask for a little more.
That’s why your stomach keeps expanding andyou keep putting on weight, not realizing it.
The fourth theory is that if youdon’t get time; just make sure you walk eight to ten thousand steps a day. A pedometer can help you measure this. Watch your favouriteT.V show or movie while you walk as it makes the task easier. We all need vitamins to aid anti-ageing, for maintenance ofgood health and to combat rising pollution levels. So you must havesome in your diet.
Facts And Tips
• One beer has 150 calories whereas a glass of red wine has 88 calories only.
• Eat things your body needs. So if you want to eat a dessert, have date fudge, which is high in iron, instead of binging on cream-laden desserts.
• If you goof up on your diet, put in an extra effort and exercisea bit more.
• While travelling on work, eat a heavy breakfast, reduce theintake of carbohydrates and avoid desserts and fried startersas they are difficult to digest when you are going to spend the entire day sitting in meetings.