Revise your portion

 The best example of a perfect, well-balanced meal is the Indian thali

The thought struck me first a couple of weeks ago as I sat down for lunch at a traditional thali restaurant. This, I said to my fellow diners, is the best way to practice portion control. 

You get a thali with small katoris containing tiny quantities of every dish you are going to sample with a small portion of rice or roti in the middle. If you don’t want to eat something you just ask for that katori to be removed. And then after you have had a taste of all, you decide which dish you want seconds of and it is served to you. So, you eat a variety of dishes in small portions choosing which one to have more of and ask for an extra roti or rice as required. Zero wastage. No overeating. What better example of portion control could there be?

But as I got thinking, I realised that many modern dietary practices and principles have their roots in traditional ways of eating in India. Let me count the ways. 

• Combining proteins and carbs: In a traditional Indian meal, we always include a protein like fish or meat in small quantities (paneer and dal if you are vegetarian), a subzi of some kind, all to be eaten with a roti or rice. But on the whole the roti is made of whole wheat which makes it a much healthier option. And the entire meal itself is an exercise in balance. 

• Using a healthy fat like ghee: The ancients knew a thing or two when it came to using gut-healthy fats. And ghee is right up there with them. So whether you use it for cooking, tempering, or just slathering on your chapati your digestive system will thank you for it. 

• Including a probiotic in the meal: They are all the rage now but Indians have been including natural probiotics in their meals for centuries in the form of a bowl of dahi (or its fancier variant, raita) or even a glass of buttermilk. This doesn’t just act as a cooling counterpart to all the spices in the food it is actually beneficial to your gut health. 

• Raw food: We are told by nutritionists that we should begin our meal with raw vegetables in the form of salads to aid digestion and ensure that the release of blood sugar is regulated when we eat. But we have been doing this intuitively all this time, adding a bowl of sprouts, slices of onions, cucumber, carrots and the like to our table every time we sit down to eat. 

• Fermentation and pickling: Yes, that’s the latest dietary fad that we are all supposed to follow. But we are way ahead on this with the array of achars that live on our dining tables, waiting patiently for meal times. And a good mango, chilli or garlic pickle beats kimchi every time. 

So I guess if you want to follow modern dietary advice you really can’t go wrong by adhering to ancient Indian rules of eating. You will eat well; you’ll eat the right stuff; and you won’t eat too much. And you really can’t ask for much more than that. 

Lose that weight!

Here's how you can do it the old-fashioned way

 

Weight-loss drugs are all the rage these days and over the past few months they have arrived in India as well. It seems to matter little that these medicines are targeted at those who either have diabetes 2 or are clinically obese, as everyone who can afford the (humungous) costs is lining up to take them. Some people are doing so to lose weight for aesthetic purposes while others have been attracted by the plethora of beneficial side-effects these drugs – Ozempic and Mounjaro, for the most part – are reported to have.

 

But what if you are one of those old-fashioned people who wants to lose weight the natural way; i.e. without the benefit of weekly injections? Well, if you are one of those, then this column is for you. Here, based on my life-long experience of struggling with my weight, are just some tips for keeping the kilos off.

 

·       I know that it is fashionable to sneer at portion control as a weight-loss method (though appetite suppressing drugs work on the same principle, more or less) but in my experience, it works a treat. So, if you are embarking on a diet journey, start by simply eating less of the bad stuff (fried food, white bread and rice, etc.) and more of the good stuff (raw vegetables, leafy vegetables, beans and legumes, white meat, fish). Your transformation will be slow but it will also be steady and that’s the kind of weight loss you want.

·       Learn to eat slowly, chewing each mouthful mindfully, instead of scoffing your meals down without a thought (and ideally, don’t eat while in front of a screen, whether it is your TV, Ipad or phone). This gives time for your satiety centres to get a message from your stomach that you are full. 

·       But don’t keep eating until you are too full to manage even one more mouthful. The sensible thing is to leave the table when you are just 80 per cent full – as the Japanese of Okinawa do; and who can deny that they are among the healthiest beings on the planet – so that you retain just a smidgen of hunger rather than feeling overfull. Follow this 80 per cent rule, known as Hara Hachi Bu, and see your health improve.

·       Sometimes it is as important to fool your eyes as well as your mind. So, start using smaller plates and bowls to serve yourself. That way, your meals will look larger than they really are, and if you are eating mindfully and allowing those satiety signals to go through, then it is extremely unlikely that you will go back for seconds.

·       Food pyramids make sense. So, do apportion the best part of your meal to good proteins and flavorful salads and vegetables (the base of your pyramid) and keep the unhealthy elements (the tip of the pyramid) to the minimum. But the order in which you eat what’s on your plate is equally important. So, eat your salads and raw vegetables at the beginning of the meal. Not only will this make you feel full quicker, it will also regulate the release of sugar in your blood. And you know, when it comes to eating, it makes sense to save the best for the last!