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Business News/ Opinion / Eat more, eat right
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Eat more, eat right

Counting calories doesn't work when it comes to fighting flab. What matters is the food from which you are getting these calories

Drink water, not juice.Premium
Drink water, not juice.

So you’re eating well and working out, yet you find that the scales are not budging and neither are those inches. And it will soon be Diwali and then Christmas, and being in the middle of the festive season doesn’t help with weight loss. But you can change the situation. Let’s look at some of the reasons your diet has not been working, and then I’ll tell you how to change things so that “eating right" becomes a lifestyle:

You think fruit juices are good for you: Replace juice with water. Juices have only calories and no fibre—unlike the full fruit itself—and therefore, they do nothing to keep you full.

You eat fruit-flavoured yogurt: These are also sweetened with fructose and have almost the same effect as fruit juices.

You are guzzling diet soda: Drinking calorie-free sweeteners is like dumping water in your fuel tank, which means it fills you up but doesn’t keep your motor running. When you are hungry, drink water and fill up on wholesome foods.

You’re depriving yourself: When you cut out wholefood groups like carbohydrates and fats from your diet, you set yourself up for failure. Instead of cutting them out completely, learn to choose healthy fats and carbohydrates. Make sure you don’t feel like you are being “punished" and start craving them.

You are staying up too late: People who go to sleep late tend to eat more high-fat, high-calorie foods. If your work doesn’t permit you to sleep early, keep at hand healthy foods like air-popped popcorn, roasted chana or a glass of skim milk.

You’re starving yourself: Eating less calories slows down your metabolism. It confuses your body, which thinks you are starving it. As a result, it starts conserving fat. Simply put, you want to lose more, eat more. Just eat right, eat every 2-3 hours. That way you’re constantly giving your metabolism energy to burn and not burdening the body with lots of calories in one go.

Your plan is too strict and you’re miserable: Ever so often I get a patient who has a sweet tooth but has decided to stay off sweets to lose weight. If you deprive yourself completely of what you love, rest assured you will crave it more—you will be miserable and, sooner or later, you will give in. After this “failure" comes a feeling of defeat and, thus, you give up. Instead, work with your doctor or nutritionist and have her create a “lifestyle" for you that revolves around mostly healthy and wholefoods, but tailor-made to suit your palate and incorporating planned treats or “cheat meals".

You are doing the high-protein thing: You are most likely doing a high-protein, low-carb diet, or a modified Atkins diet, which is ever so popular. Sure, you will lose weight. But this weight loss comes partly from losing water in the beginning of the diet. In the first few days of a low-carb diet, you’ll be in the bathroom so much more. And the first few kilos of “weight loss" are not fat loss; they are temporary water loss. This happens because the body, starving for the glucose normally found in carbs, is using up stored glycogen. As soon as you allow a little bit of carbs back in, your water weight comes right back. The weight loss from this diet also comes from eating fewer calories—eliminating most carbohydrates means doing away with calorie-dense, highly-processed foods. Of course, you lose weight when you give up cookies, cakes, chocolates, fruit juices and white bread.

Instead, include wholegrains like brown rice and quinoa, and beans and lentils, which give the body the much-needed slow and steady supply of glucose. Glucose is not a bad thing; it’s the source of fuel for the brain and the body. Wholefoods like grains and beans release their sugar very slowly because of the fibre in them. They don’t give you a sugar rush but fill you up and supply ample energy to go through the day.

You aren’t getting enough fibre: It controls your weight because it adds volume to foods without adding a lot of calories—so it makes you feel satiated. Fibre helps slow down the release of glucose, thereby stabilizing your blood sugar, which means the cravings stop. All complex carbohydrates, found in oats, brown rice and quinoa, are a good source of fibre.

Counting calories doesn’t work. It’s not the calorie count but where you get your calories from that makes the difference. Get your calories from complex carbs and fibres instead of simple sugars like juices.

Don’t succumb to a diet that eliminates food groups entirely or one that makes you feel deprived or constantly hungry.

Don’t follow “rules" that require overnight, radical changes and hard-core discipline that make you hate your life and have you thinking constantly about food.

You need to focus only on progress, not perfection. Life is meant to be enjoyed and that includes enjoying your food. I know I say this often enough—weight loss is a science, not a gamble. Do it right and it will not only happen but will last forever.

Vishakha Shivdasani is a Mumbai-based medical doctor with a fellowship in nutrition. She specializes in controlling diabetes, cholesterol and obesity.

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Published: 28 Oct 2013, 08:10 PM IST
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