“Did you know that you can feast your way to shedding weight? Feast, not as in going on a binge of jalebi & samosa, or hogging rogan josh & biriyani every other day. But, feast, as in eating a lot more than you probably are used to.”
That’s exactly what I did and shed 35 kilos in under a year. Of course, the “more” comes with a * mark, meaning, “conditions apply”.
To lose weight, you surely don’t need to starve. That’s what you end up doing for all practical purposes, under a majority of the crash diet plans. Although I was overweight for years, I was scared to follow any such programmes. Not because I won’t get to eat much, but because of the adverse side effects I heard about, despite how well they seem to work in the first instance.
So, some years ago, I enrolled into a two-week naturopathy programme that involved calibrated fasting and some massages, besides yoga. I managed to lose ten kilos, but added most of it back in a few months. It was difficult to stay away from the food I was fond of, once I got back to my old routine. I repeated the drill after a few years at another resort. This time, along with a friend to keep company during fasting. The result was identical. At one level, ‘losing’ more weight in two weeks than what you ‘add’ in a year felt like an effort well worth it. But that’s no progress when losing, and losing more is the objective.
Then, in 2019, this friend of mine discovered Rachna Chhachhi and recommended that I too check out her holistic nutrition programme. I started as a sceptic, but as weeks progressed and the numbers on my weighing machine started going south consistently, I became an advocate of this approach. Along the way, I learnt what a ‘balanced diet is, and what I should do to ‘convert’ all the food I eat into ‘nutrition’ for my body. I haven’t become a nutrition expert, but gained enough experience to summarise what worked for me…
The Principles:
- Antioxidants protect us from oxidative damage – the damage that makes us age faster.
- The most powerful antioxidants are present in vegetables, fruits, nuts, green tea.
- For a strong immune system, the release of toxins is as important as the absorption of nutrients.
- Movement increases circulation, activating nutrient absorption and toxins release.
The Practice:
- Well-balanced Food: Increase vegetables to 50% of your plate. Proteins should be 25%. Reduce carbs to 25% (don’t eliminate altogether).
- Between meals, you can have fruits (apple, papaya, pomegranate), nuts (pistachios, almonds), and beverages (green tea). Keep a gap of 90 to 120 min between these and meals.
- One glass of water every 90 minutes ensures consistent hydration for nutrients to reach various parts of the body via the circulatory system, and for the toxins to get released.
- Walk to earn your meals – 10 minutes before breakfast, 10 minutes before lunch, 10 minutes before dinner. Round up the day with another 15 minutes of walk two hours after dinner.
“Most important: Sleep for eight hours. At least seven. Much of our stress – physical or mental – can repair itself when we sleep.”
I will keep exercises, especially breathing for another post. But the big revelation, for now, is that the exercises don’t need to be strenuous.
Makes sense? Come. Join the party.
S. Sivakumar
A senior business leader at ITC Ltd. He could hide behind lack of time but has healed himself, lost 35 kg and walks the talk on making time for yourself to get healthy.
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