4 Weight Loss Principles that I learnt from Rujuta Diwekar's "Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Yo
Rujuta Diwekar, who doesn't know her! Not only a famous dietician & nutritionist for Begum Kareena Kapoor Khan and other celebrities like Amrita Arora, Alia Bhatt,she is also famous for her teachings that focuses only on natural products, hard work and no short cut for weight loss & opposing silly diet plans. look at Bebo, the way she is back to the stunning shape after giving birth to Taimur and has gathered energy and stamina right after child's birth. Apart from her exercise routine, the nutritionist mam also plays a major role. So that was a quick bio about my personal favorite nutritionist too. Since the time I have read her book, my mantra about eating and dieting has also changed, Its how the book influences you!
"Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight" as appropriately said by Rujuta mam shows how to lose weight without dieting and Eating Right at Right Time. It is probably the only book that tells you to EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT. As per Rujuta mam, no food is harmful or bad. All foods are good. Just that the goodness or the badness of a food depends on how and how much we eat it. It explains the nutrients – carbs, proteins, fats and vitamins. And also foods that provide these nutrients to our body.
Let's take a look at the interesting 4 principles that we need to follow as mentioned in the book :
#Principle 1. Never wake up to tea or coffee.
The first and foremost thing is to quit Chai or BedTea or Coffee as the first thing in the morning :
In India, we cannot imagine how to start our day without Tea or Coffee! Some people literally die if they don't get tea or coffee as a early morning fuel in their bodies. But why it should be changed and not consumed as the first thing in the morning? When we sleep, our blood sugar levels drop in the night. In the morning our liver stores are almost empty. So our blood sugar is low and it’s our responsibility to bring this up to an optimum level. Low blood sugar is also a reason why we feel ‘low’ in the morning. Eat real food. This kicks in the action of insulin, which is secreted by the body as a response to an increase in blood sugar levels. The stimulants provided through tea and coffee increase blood sugar levels but provide zero nutrition to the cells that have been starving for the last 9-10 hrs. In reality, body feels stressed but we take this as feeling awake. Stress is the biggest enemy of an efficient digestive system, the fat burning process of the body and hence, keeping body stress-free help you burn the fats at better rate.
#Principle 2 :Eat every 2 hours.
It may sound rubbish that how can you eat so frequently & still stay fit, but this principle will lead to a conducive environment in the body to burn fat and thus fewer calories get converted to fat and we get a flatter stomach and no need to hold on to fat stores. Our body, when we eat at longer intervals (no breakfast, lunch at 2.00 pm & dinner at 10.30 pm), feels that it’s a starvation mode & hence, stores food (in form of fat) as it doesn’t know when the next lot of food will come its way. Also, when we eat at prolonged gaps, we tend to overeat. Eating every two hours makes body feel cared & reassured. It doesn’t feel like storing fat as it’s getting its food intake regularly. Also, when we eat at short intervals, we tend to eat less which means calorie intake is small. This simple mantra cuts down your fat stores and reduces your dependence on stimulants like tea, coffee & cigarettes. This also gives you the feeling that tummy is full and thus avoids munching on snacks.
#Principle 3 : Eat more when you are more active and less when you are less active
We need to up our eating during high demand periods and cut down when relaxing. No food is fattening. You have to be just smart enough to choose the right time to eat it. Eating more when you are more active will make your body an effective calorie burner which will increase the metabolic rate of your body and helps you to lose weight more effectively. Activities like intense thinking, gymnasium, attending important meets are the ones where you are actively involved & are demanding a lot of energy from you. Low activity is when you are passive & do not use much of mental energies too. Activities like watching movie or TV, small chat over phone, being driven in car are considered as low activities. Eating more food when you are more active will make your body an efficient calorie burner which will increase the metabolic rate of your body. This will help you stay energetic all day long & will help you lose your fats more effectively.
A lot of foods have a tarnished reputation only because they have been routinely eaten at the wrong times. Laddoos, especially the homemade ones, with fibre rich grain, ghee, dry fruits and the most important ingredient, ma ka pyar, if eaten as a meal in the morning can put any cereal and milk, toast and beans, omelets, etc to shame. But we either carry them to office and share it with the gang post lunch or save them in the fridge and eat them as dessert post dinner. At both these times they are eaten post meal instead of as a meal in itself. And because laddoos are dense in calories, if they are eaten with a meal or late at night, no prizes for guessing: they are converted to fats, and all the nutrients are wasted.
The body cannot absorb nutrients on an overloaded stomach (post meal) or when it is slowing down (post sunset).
Not just this, the cells of our body become less sensitive to nutrition and calories if they have not been active. So when you are just chilling, the cells become dull, they don’t want anything (they’re in no mood to absorb nutrients and see no reason to make energy demands); so if you load your stomach at this time, it just gets converted to fat. But post activity (mental or physical) the cells are energy and nutrient deprived. This increases their sensitivity, which means that whatever you eat will get used up to replenish those hungry cells and not get converted to fat.
#Principle 4 : Finish your last meal at least 2 hrs prior to sleeping.
We need to start eating less post sunset and as our activities wind down.
What are you doing just before sleeping? Generally unwinding and watching TV, reading, chatting, etc. Basically your activity is lower than what it was in the morning, so is your metabolism, and the digestion capacity of your stomach. The worst thing is of course eating a lot and then sleeping immediately. Just like khali pet pe neend nahi aati, overloaded stomach pe disturbed sleep aati hai.
One of the most dangerous habits that we have developed is not eating dinner unless it’s really late. In the night, cells are naturally not very sensitive to energy or nutrients as they don’t really need much so if you overload your stomach most of it will get wasted or converted to fat. If the stomach is full of food then, the body either starts working for digestion & ignores the rejuvenation OR ignores the digestion and works of repairing wear & tear. Both these things harm body.
Keeping 2 hours gap between last meal & sleeping will help most of your food get digested and that leads to making you feel hungry in the morning. The principle 4 again ties down to principle 1 as you can see.
Apart from this, there are also small tips that are beneficial in Weight Loss :
Just as everyone is different, everyone’s diets have to be different too. Don’t try someone else’s regime.
Exercise is non-negotiable. Unless you exercise, you will never see enough of a result, despite all your good eating habits.
Be nice to your stomach. If you want to lose weight, 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.
Compare the nutrient to calorie ratio. A paneer parantha is always better than a pizza. When it comes to food, think of nutrients and not calories.
Carbs are very important for day to day activity. So you should not cut down on carbs. In the absence of carbs, fat can not be utilized for energy. Point is to choose low carb food. Low carb foods are fibreous in nature. For eg. brown rice, jowar, bajra etc. For carbs that are high on GI (glycemic index) for eg. white rice, sugar, you must reduce the load. The best time to eat high GI food is post exercice.
When to eat fruits? – as the first thing in the morning on an empty stomach or immediately after physical exercise. Any time aside from this, the body converts the fructose from the fruits into triglycerides. Have fruits as whole and not as juice.
Verdict :
Dieting is not about depriving yourself of food, rather it's about providing our body with the right kind of nourishment. The book is at times Funny too, the way it relates to the real life incidents experienced in Rujuta Diwekar's life, its easy to read and full of great advice, it argues that we should return to our traditional eating roots, nutrients are more important than calories and, most importantly, Eating Right at Right Time & yet stay fit and healthy.