BUSTED: The most common food myths

In a the concluding part of a two-part interview, fitness expert Namita Jain busts food myths and tells you just how you can lose weight!

Fitness expert Namita Jain has recently released two books -- The Four-Week Countdown Diet and Figure it Out: The Ultimate Guide to Teen Fitness.

In Part 1 of the interview, Jain shed light on short cuts to losing weight, health concerns amongst the youth and busted myths about gymming and six-pack abs.

Today, she talks about eating right, foods that are detrimental to the body and busts food-related myths

How does one eat right? Can you offer tips on eating right?

Do not skip meals. Have something every three hours. This does not mean you should be indiscriminate in eating. Remember what you eat should be in small portions and healthy. By doing this you are increasing your body's metabolic rate.

It could be something as small as an apple and some curd -- anything small.

If you only eat three large meals what happens is you're overloading your digestive system and giving it too much work to do followed by long phases of absolutely no work when you consume nothing!

So rather give the digestive system little work to do at regular intervals.

I encourage you to eat balanced food. A good breakfast can include any cereal like bread, chapatti, rice, corn flakes, poha or upma.

Have some fruit and vegetables and have some protein and some salads.

For instance if you're having muesli you have you cereal in oats, fruits in the form of the nuts and protein in the milk. Nuts will also provide your body with fat. So there you have a balanced square meal as breakfast.

Basically, when you skip one major nutrient your body craves for it. There are many people who will avoid carbs but they end up having sugar cravings so they have chocolates. What they don't realise is the body digests carbohydrates and converts it into sugar.

Try eating a balanced meal.

Even when you're eating outside make healthy choices.

If you're in a restaurant for instance, opt for an idli rather than a medu vada. Have sandwich without cheese and butter. Avoid coconut chutney with your dosa. Pick up a fruit from a vendor or have fresh fruit juice. Carry some healthy snack in a ziplock if you must.

It is no rocket science to figure out what is healthy and what isn't.

For the evening snack you can have some kind of a cereal like bran, corn or wheat flakes or perhaps popcorn or even a sandwich without cheese and chutney will help.

You need to jot down things you can enjoy and stick to them.

For dinner, have a bowl of soup, a glass of buttermilk or vegetable juice so that your immediate hunger pangs are taken care of.

Have some salads and fruits and then if you are still hungry have your main course.

Stop eating when you think you have place for one more chapatti. It's always good to leave your dinner table when you're still a little hungry.

What foods should one should avoid for dinner?

Avoid anything that is heavy, greasy, fried and sweet. Absolutely don't have anything with full fat like paneer or cheese. Do not overeat even if you're eating healthy. A lot of people go berserk on salads and soups because they are healthy. Overeating anything is not good.

What if someone has a sweet tooth? How do they get rid of their cravings?

Have fruits like pear and apple with honey and only once in a while, indulge. But there are rules to indulgence as well. Indulge in something you really like.

For instance if you really love chocolate cake, those calories are worth it. If you think ladoo is so-so why have it? Give it a pass.

Even when you're indulging in something you like, make sure you don't have too much of it and more importantly, compensate for the indulgence.

Illustrations: Uttam Ghosh

What foods are most detrimental to the body?

Alcohol: you may not realise it but alcohol has just as many calories as fat. When you consume alcohol it goes directly to the tummy. It has no nourishment whatsoever.

All kinds of fatty foods: Today when one goes for a party or a wedding everything is fried, greasy, cheesy and sweet. It is okay to have it once in a while but if you make it a way of life you're asking for ill health.

Too much of sweets: Sweets are addictive so the more you have them the more you want them.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

What are the most common food myths?

Western food is unhealthy and Indian food is unhealthy.

I don't know where people get this idea from because Indian cuisine also has just a many unhealthy options as western food. Unhealthy food is unhealthy food -- western or Indian.

You need protein to lose weight.

A lot of people think that having a protein-heavy diet will help you lose weight. Dr Atkins (who emphasised on protein diet) died because of excess proteins. Like any other macro-nutrients, it is toxic. It places too much stress on the kidney. So this myth needs to be busted.

I need to omit carbs

Do you know fruits and vegetables and dals contain carbohydrates? Carbohydrates are present in most foods and your body and brain need carbohydrates. So if you omit carbs, it is lethal to your health. Moderation is important but omission is bad.

Don't eat after 7pm

This is something that a lot of books are recommending these days. The fact is that given our lifestyle it isn't always possible. If you have to eat, you have to eat but make sure you eat right.  If you have your last meal too early in the day you are bound to feel hungry in the night. Of course you do have to eat less in the nights because your body's metabolism is slow.

Fruits should be had alone

People believe that if they have fruit along with anything else it is toxic. I have researched very deeply on this issue I can assure you that it is a huge myth. The body doesn't know fruit from vegetable. When you feed the body it receives food in a chewed form so it doesn't know what it is receiving.

I should not drink water while having meals

The reason why we were told as children not have water while having food is because it kills our appetite and we would end up eating less. This has been misconstrued.

Illustrations: Uttam Ghosh

Tell us something about the four-week countdown diet plan

This diet plan eases you into a diet.

Week one you focus on your dinner because it is the most abused meal of the day and one where you indulge the most.

Week two the focus moves to breakfast where you modify your breakfast (and stick to the dinner you've been having for the last one week)

Week three we focus on snacks because the right snack choices can help increaser your metabolism and you lose weight.

In the final week, we focus on lunch. Now lunch s a mean when your body is going full throttle as you run through your daily routine. So you can eat a decent amount to sustain your energy levels.

No person can suddenly change one's eating habits. The idea of the four-week countdown plan is to prepare your body to get into a diet. However you will begin to see the effects the moment you modify your dinner in week one!

Illustrations: Uttam Ghosh