“Eat rice? Cool. But you’ll tell me how much I can eat, right? Should I send my driver to fetch my plate and katori?” asks my client.
“I don’t need to know the size of your katori or plate; eat as much as you want,” I tell her. “How will I lose weight then?” she shoots back, throwing her hands in the air, exasperated. That’s it: she is convinced she will never lose weight if she eats as much as she wants.
Have you ever asked anybody how much money you should be making? Just like money, food is a resource too. And just like money, abusing food or investing your calories in the wrong foods has side-effects.
This paranoia with quantity is a modern-day curse that we have brought upon ourselves. The weight loss industry has us convinced that we are simply incapable of stopping ourselves at the right amount; and that we need somebody, preferably a trained and certified dietician, to constantly monitor our food portions and reprimand us if we’ve eaten ‘more’ than prescribed.
I find this trend ridiculous. If you are listening to anybody other than your stomach for advice on determining quantity, you are doomed to stay fat. Your stomach is your biggest diet guru and if you are attuned to your gut, you will know the exact quantity you need to set the fat-burning process, well, burning. Eat less than what you need, and you set the stage to overeat at the next meal. Eat too much, and you have already overloaded your stomach.
The key is to eat out of need and not greed, or even worse, guilt. It’s easy to figure out your needs if you listen to your stomach: the signals are loud and clear. The question is, are you paying attention or are you just changing channels and discussing the latest fad diet that’s been cooked up?
(Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar’s latest book is called Women and the Weight Loss Tamasha)
