Nikhilesh Rao

Topics :  Food & Nutrition · Dec 17, 2009  |  13  Comments

I had read Rujuta Diwekar’s book “Don’tLose your Mind, Lose your weight” on August 16^th 2009. Itprofoundly changed the way I thought about food & nutrition. Ityped up my thoughts, on the same day, on my blackberry and sent it as an emailto over 40 people. That email was forwarded on to a few hundred people and Istill kept getting requests to send my summary email.

I thought I would just postit up on the web so that I can point people here.

A few caveats-

1. These notes are not meant to be a substitute for actually reading the book. I would strongly recommend that you buy the book and read the whole book
2. I am not a dietician/nutritionist and have never met “Ruj”. I have interpreted the book to the best of my abilities. At the same time, I am not going to ask you to go to the “nearest” dietician/nutritionist since most of them don’t have a clue.
3. The diet plan that I have given at the end of my notes is also completely based on my interpretation. It could be way off, so please read the book your self, if necessary and make the appropriate adjustments.
4. A lot of the context/recommendations are primarily given to an Indian audience because the writer is Indian and the primary market is Indian.

My notes from the book-

1. Don't focus on weight loss. Weight loss could happen through any number of ways including loss of muscle and water. That's not good. Focus on loss of fat. The key metric is lean body weight. She also mentions in the book the title is misleading but the editors put it in there to catch readers attention (Pg 26/27/28)
2. Don't do extreme or crash "dieting". Its unsustainable. This should be a long term goal. She has listed many examples of diets (Atkins, South beach etc…) that don't work and are downright dangerous.
3. Don't do specialized diets like no carbs, only protein etc. Your body needs carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins and water. Focusing on any one of them to the exclusion of the other or vice versa leads to side effects and possible weight gain.
4. Similarly not all types of food are all good or bad. For instance, there is fast carbs (bad) and slow carbs (good). Slow carbs include brown rice and wheat based food.
5. There are different types of fat. Saturated fats (long chain fatty acids) are solid at room temperature and can be found in animals fats (e.g. Red meats), butter etc. Coconut/palm oil is liquid at room temperature but are also saturated fats. Saturated fats are harder to digest and have cardiovascular issues. Unsaturated fats (better for you) come mainly in 2 types: mono unsaturated fatty acids (mufa) and is found in peanuts, olive oil, avocadoes, almonds,  rice bran oil ; poly unsaturated fatty acids (pufa) are divided into Omega 3 (flax seeds, walnuts and fish oil) and Omega 6 (sunflower , safflower and soy bean oils).
6. Avoid trans fat (saturated fats converted to unsaturated fats) which is used in processed foods and restaurants and in foods like biscuits, pizzas, burgers etc.  It increases low density lipo-protein/bad cholesterol. (Pg 114/115/116/117)
7. Avoid low fat marketing products like low fat biscuits, baked chips/chaklis etc...are loaded with sugar and have transfat. Low fat processed foods as a whole are bad because of trans fat in them (e.g. Biscuits are terrible). In general avoid processed foods. (pg 118)
8. Exercise is critical (3 hrs/week or 3 times a week). FYI- walking is overrated. If you can talk while walking you are not working hard enough. Otherwise gym, swimming, yoga etc should work based on the person's personal preferences.
9. Sweeteners (no sugar etc...) are bad because of aspartame (pg 36)
10. Avoid deep frying (pg 121)
11. Don’t reuse oil. It’s toxic. (pg 121)
12. If you have to have fruits, have it in the morning and have only 1 uncut and not in juice format. Why? Fruits have high fructose content which leads to triglycerides especially in a half/full stomach. It should only be had when the stomach is empty or when the liver store is empty (basically in the morning or after exercising). Also juices remove the fiber and only store the fructose. (pg 37/38/88)
13. Honey lime water in the morning could be dangerous because of high fructose content and acidity issues (pg 147)
14. Avoid red meats (Lamb, goat, sausages etc...)
15. Coffee post dinner is bad since it interferes in the digestion and absorption of minerals like iron and calcium which leads to slower fat burning. Coffee post dinner also leads to acidity which leads to constipation and bloatedness (pg 175)
16. Avoid desserts. If you must eat, eat not more than once a week and NOT with your regular full meal. Desserts and sugar have a high glycemic index and when combined with a high load/intake (i.e. When consumed with a meal), there is a high probability of conversion to fat. (pg 88)

 

In addition to thesenotes, She outlines 4 key principles in the book-

1.  DONT wake up to tea/coffee- When we sleep our blood sugar levels are low. So, if we don't have anything in the morning, our body breaks down the muscle (lean tissue) to keep the blood sugar from dropping to abnormally low levels. Why waste all the high metabolic levels in the morning on breaking down muscle? Give the body real foods, provide nutrients, increase blood sugar supply and maintain your metabolic rate. This is the time to have a fruit. Ideally, have the fruit within 10-15 minutes of waking up. What tea/coffee does is postpone the hunger pangs and put it in starvation mode, leading to fat storage and making you feel hungrier later in the day. (The myth of tea and its antioxidant properties is explored in page 155) 

2. Eat every 2 hours- Eat in small quantities in 2 hour intervals. Your stomach can only handle so much. Eating lots in less frequent meals will lead to your stomach taking shorter time to digest which is better. Also, you will eat less and consume less calories. Prolonging the time between meals only signals to your body to conserve fat. 

3. Eat more when you are more active and less when you are less active- Fairly self explanatory 

4. Don't eat before sleeping. Leave at least a 2 hour gap. If you eat too late and more than the capacity, the undigested food remains in the small intestine tract and turns toxic leading to acidity, bloating, constipation and gain in body fat levels. As a corollary, undigested food, also leads to you feeling bloated the next morning and thereby not making you hungry in the morning (principle 1) which leads to a vicious cycle.
   
   

Based on what's written in the book and the other recommended dietcharts, here is the approx diet plan that I thought made sense for me. Iadapted the concepts etc to suit my life and tastes (which is primarily Indianfood). Obviously, I won't recommend this for anyone and would recommend readingthe book yourself to figure out what works for you.

Do's

1. Eat a fruit within 10 minutes of getting up
2. Eat Breakfast within 1 hour of getting up
3. Eat a mini meal within 2 hours of getting up
4. Try & have lunch (Major meal) between 12:30 & 2
5. Eat mini meals every 2 hours between lunch & dinner
6. Finish your dinner (major meal) by 8
7. Absolutely/Must leave 2 hours gap between eating and sleeping

 

Don’ts 

1. No Red Meat (Lamb/Goat/Beef)
2. No White Bread
3. No White Rice
4. No Potatoes
5. No fried stuff (French fries etc)
6. No Biscuits, Cookies, cookies etc...
7. No Pizza
8. No Alcohol
9. No Desserts/Sweets

Meal/Eating Plan-

1. Fruit within 10 Minutes of getting up
2. Breakfast within 1 hour of getting up
3. Mini meal in 2 hours of breakfast
4. Major meal for lunch at around noon
5. Mini meal in 2 hours after lunch
6. Mini meal in 2 hours after the previous mini meail
7. Major meal for dinner between 7-8PM

Suggested Foods/Fruits to execute onthe Meal/Eating Plan

Suggested Fruits

1. Apple
2. Guava
3. Banana
4. Orange
5. Papaya
6. Pear
7. Plum

Breakfast Suggested foods

1. Porridge
2. Brown Bread with Boiled Egg/Scrambled Egg/Fried Egg/Omlette
3. Indian Food
1. Regular Idli
2. Dal Idlis
3. Regular Dosa
4. Pessaratu Dosa
5. Besan Chila
6. Phulka/Roti with Egg Bhurji

Suggested Mini Meals

1. Almonds
2. Walnuts
3. Soya Milk
4. Skimmed Milk
5. Peanuts
6. Carrots
7. Cucumbers
8. Salads
9. Soups

Suggested Major Meals (Lunch or Dinner)

 

Veg MajorMeal

1. Egg with Tomato Curry
2. Yellow Dal
3. Tomato Katu (Yellow Dal with Tomato)
4. Brinjal Curd (Dahi Baingan)- 
1. Recipe: http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/dahi_baigaan_brinjal_in_curd_gravy
5. Green Curry with Tofu
1. Recipe- http://thaifood.about.com/od/vegetarianthairecipes/r/greencurry.htm
6. Wheat Veg Momos- Cabbage/Tofu/Mushroom/Carrot- http://vidhas-jg.blogspot.com/2009/03/wheat-veg-mamoos.html
7. Shahi Paneer
8. Palak Paneer

 

Non Veg MajorMeal 

1. Chicken Keema
2. Chicken Frankie 
1. Recipe 1- Chicken Keema + Sauteed Onions + Mint Chutney + Home Cooked Tomato Sauce
2. Recipe 2- http://cookinisfun.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicken-frankie.html
3. Wheat Chicken Kati Roll
1. Recipe - http://www.indianfoodandrecipes.com/chicken-recipes/chicken-kathi-roll.php
4. Wheat Chicken Momos
1. Recipe- http://vidhas-jg.blogspot.com/2009/03/wheat-veg-mamoos.html
5. Kalmi Kabab
6. Chicken Haleem
7. Chicken Keema Balls- 
1. Recipe: http://indianhomefood.blogspot.com/2008/01/chicken-keema.html
8. Green Tofu Curry
9. Chicken Bi Bimbap - http://www.recipezaar.com/Bi-Bim-Bap-Korean-137771 with Kochujang - http://www.trifood.com/kochujang.html
10. Wheat Spaghetti/Fettucine/Macaroni
1. With Chicken Meat Balls
2. With Diced Chicken
11. Seafood also works

 

Sides 

1. Brown Rice
2. Phulka with Wheat Germ
3. Misi Roti
4. Satu Roti

Chutneys

1. Mint Chutney with jaggery
2. Imli Chutney
3. White Peanut Chutney
4. Tomato Chilli Chutney
5. Chilli Chutney

RestaurantFood for Major Meals

1. Salads (go easy on the dressing)
2. Subway Sandwich (with whole wheat bread)
3. Chicken Breast
4. Chicken Kababs

 

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