The Art of Eating!
I once had love-hate relationship with food. I would starve too much and then indulge in food, again feel guilty, and start hating food and starve again. I fell into this vicious trap for quite a long time. I had tried to starve and reduce weight but failed miserably.
If the starving is not helping, then there must be a way out. That was when I came across Rujuta Diwekar and Dr. B.M. Hegde suggesting to eat healthy food in small portions, 6 to 8 times per day.
I try very hard to understand something before I follow it religiously. More I tried to explore and understand food, more I fell in love with food. Now I cook and eat food with passion. I enjoy it!!!
We all know that our heart is about our fist size. How many of us know the actual size of our stomach ?? Any guesses ?? It’s about our palm size. I had overloaded my stomach and extended/stretched it to a great deal. Somehow if I can bring my stomach to its original size, my victory over obesity is assured. You might think if it’s possible to bring our stomach to its original size…yes, it is !! This is how we achieve it.
Healthy food in small portions. I serve myself half of the food (1/2 portion) I would normally eat and take double the time to eat by taking small bites and chewing each bite 32 times. If I am still hungry, then I would serve myself half of whatever is leftover (1/4th portion) and take again double the time to eat it. After finishing that, if I am still hungry, then I will eat the remaining food. In normal scenario, I would be full after the 1st serving. Let me tell you a secret - we will not be able to eat for more than 20 mins. If we chew our food and eat small bites, we will consume less food and feel full as well. 80% of food should get digested in mouth itself. Moreover, nutrients get observed only if food is mixed with saliva.
No Tea/Coffee on empty stomach, be it early morning , afternoon or evening. Have tea/coffee after light snack. If it is early in the morning, have banana or dry fruits before having tea/coffee.
I will never drink fruit juice until my teeth are intact. I always eat the whole fruit for the dietary fibre content.
Eat Local and Eat Seasonal. Fresh food is always healthy. Rujuta Diwekar says, distance travelled by food from it’s source is directly proportional to distance travelled by our stomach from spinal cord. Olive oil is great for people who live where Olives grow. Growing up in a village and coming from a farming family, we always ate food as per the seasons. I still have the same taste for fruits, I like Banana, Custard Apple, Sweet Lime, Guava, Papaya, Coconut, Jujebe, Palm Shoots, Watermelon, Mango, Sapota, Jackfruit, Ice Apple (Munjalu), Palm fruits (We ate almost all stages of palm fruits — Munjalu , Taati Kayalu, Palm Shoots), Indian Dates, Indian Blackberry (jamun). I am sorry to say, I just can’t eat Apple and Pomegranate because they never grew in my place where I grew up. Nature provides us food as per the need for that season and place. If we tune ourselves with nature, 80% problems are solved. Yes, I get your question, how to know which is in season ? Whatever is cheap (they grow abundantly during that season and they grow near your place) in market or whatever is new in market is in season.
Eat Variety of Foods. Well balanced diet is very essential for healthy gut microbiota. Gut bacteria defines our health and metabolism also. Bacteria are living organisms that need to eat. “A healthy, varied, balanced, high-fiber diet with complex carbohydrates is good for the bacteria living in your gut and encourages a diverse ecosystem,” says Dr. Hohmann. So, basically we eat to feed the bacteria. :) We had lot of traditional dishes in our Indian cuisine to feed and protect these bacteria. For example, Curd is a culture of good bacteria, pickles, panta bhat, water from washing rice and starch removed while cooking are fermented together (it is called Kali in telugu) and many more. I wish we could revive all those traditional foods. India has very rich and unique bio-diversity. We can eat different staple food without repeating for at least a week. I will list few — Rice, Wheat, Sorghum/Jowar, Pearl millet, Little millet, Kodo millet, Foxtail millet, Finger millet, Proso millet, Pigeon pea, Black gram, Green gram, Bengal gram, Cow pea, Red gram, Horse gram, etc. We have to satisfy nutritional hunger of the body and only then we will not crave for junk food.
I always plan for next meal and I will not be starving by next meal time.
I keep my meal simple. I will not eat more than 3 items in a single meal. Reason behind that is, few foods need acids for digestion and few foods need alkaline for digestion. If we eat too many varieties in a single meal, stomach will produce both Acids and Alkaline. As we all know they both will get neutralised and food will not get digested properly. As per Ayurveda, we shouldn’t eat Virud Aahar (incompatible or conflicting foods) in a single meal.
I keep myself hydrated. I know, if I am dehydrated, my metabolism will go for a toss. Next time, when you feel hungry, try drinking a glass of water, you might just be thirsty.
I eat good fat (Ghee, Cold pressed oils, Almonds, etc). So, my body doesn’t have to worry about fat storage for future.
No Packaged food.
My diet on any normal day would look like,
Our body goes through repair and restore process during our sleep and it needs some energy, Milk (Whole) is good for that.
Yes, I do have few things different in our kitchen.
Cold pressed oils, Single polished rice, no pressure cookers or aluminium vessels for cooking, Mom makes pickles with sea salt and I use rock salt for cooking. We drink whole milk. I also make ghee at home.
If we don’t know what to eat, when to eat, how to eat, and most importantly when to stop, then what we eat will make us meet our sorrows.
As I started understanding the science behind the Indian traditional cooking, I developed an immense respect and great devotion to my mom and grandmas. They have the knowledge which no nutritionist in the world can possibly know. To all those moms in the kitchen, I bow in respect. You are the real representatives of the Healthcare system and the healthy nation.
Happy cooking, happy eating.
Love you all, Mallika.
