Just what the doctor ordered
November 2013 The Diet Doctor by Ishi Khosla, Penguin Books, 218 pages, INR 250
Another book on diets? Yes, and a welcome arrival too because it is refreshingly different from the usual fare. Calories, which are a perpetual mystery to the weight-loss seeker, are easily navigated through Ishi's dos and don'ts. You may wonder if there is anything left unsaid about fruits and vegetables. Yes! Ishi makes crucial connections such as that an excessive intake of fruit can cause high uric acid levels and can even be the hidden cause behind excessive visceral (abdominal) fat! Many such insights with case studies pepper the book. More than half the book is devoted to food itself through recipes and diet plans which are actually do-able in every Indian household. Whether talking of main meals, snacks or even fasts, Ishi has healthier versions of the usual Indian fare. More importantly, the book devotes two entire chapters to addressing Indian eating behaviour. How should we select when confronted with a buffet? What should we eat at a South Indian or Chinese dining experience? How can we use a simple old-fashioned diary as well as overcome tech-shyness to self-treat safely? But how much food do we actually need? How much weight must we shed? The book provides detailed methods of calculating these figures for a variety of Indian body-types. And precisely to de-mystify measurement, almost the first thing one sees when one opens the book is a drawn-to-scale picture of a measuring cup, which tells us what the right amount is. Most eaters conveniently interpret the size of a measuring cup to be the equivalent of a bowl, or plate. From the lip to the hip, altogether an eminently readable (and do-able) book by this clinical nutritionist and founder of Celiac Society of India, and Whole Foods India.
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