The Fantastic Food Law

Discussion in 'Recipe Central' started by shivachoubey, Jul 12, 2010.

  1. shivachoubey

    shivachoubey IL Hall of Fame

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    People usually comment about me being so disciplined about my lifestyle and that is why I am so successful in my weight loss. This is the biggest irony of life, I have never been disciplined in my life. My sleeping and getting up hours have always been erratic and so are the other things in my life.

    But having said that I did manage to lose weight and that too a considerable amount, so I guess I must have done something correct to get this result.

    So here are the disciplines that I observe for weight loss.

    Weight loss is based on 3 disciplines, if you make them your habit weight issues will be the last thing on your mind. Covering all disciplines in one post is not possible.

    The three disciplines of weight loss.

    1. Food discipline - The Fantastic Food Law

    2. Exercise discipline.

    3. Psychological discipline.

    Today I will talk about food discipline rest will follow shortly.

    1. Be a smart eater : When you are at the dinner table and you see a piping hot aloo paratha loaded with butter, saying an absolute NO to the paratha is not food discipline. With all your might you will say no to it for couple of times but can you say No to it for life. No you cannot.

    So here is what I did when faced with such situation. My rule was simple, have a bowl of soup and salad along with the paratha.

    When I was visiting my in laws I was 76 kgs at that time. Weight loss was constantly on my head. As we were home after a long break my MIL prepared all delicious dishes. But 3 thing were a constant feature on the dinning table, my lentil soup, salad and papaya. I would take a little amount of any such temptations but will make sure to have my 3 things first. Now to me this is discipline.

    Till date when I make any thing high cal for DH and of course I would like to have it too, I make sure to have it with my soup, salad and fruit. What it does is it automatically reduces the amount of high cal intake. Initially I had to force myself to eat the soup first, but the deal was finish the soup and salad and papya and then I can have the tempting stuff (in moderate quantity).

    Whenever its possible do it. When I am in some function, I do it with salad. Where else did I get the trick of loading the rice with lots of salad and then top it with little gravies.

    During weight loss try saying No but if it is too tempting then have your low cal food first and then go for the temptation.

    2. Microbiotic Eater - Fancy term and with this I mean small amount eater. If you can master the trick believe me nothing like it.

    I was never a small eater. For me the plate should be loaded and then the second serving was a must, even the spoons should be large. But then I did train myself to eat small. It helps in long run.

    In past I would finish off 3 big aloo paratha made with lots of ghee and of course lots of potatoes. The classic way to eat them was with lots of butter, yum. I can hardly eat past 1 paratha now. SO you see, I am happy eating the stuff I like to eat but because I am a microbiotic eater I am happy and satisfied with the small amount. Weight loss should be for life and so should be your habits.

    If you eat super size you will be super size.

    The choice is always in your hand. To eat the food you like through out your life but in small quantity OR being told off by doctors to completely ban food as it is not good for your health.


    3. Be a slow eater : Never in my life could I eat slow. I would finish my meal in max 5 minutes and would go for the second run. I ate really fast.

    Even during weight loss I ate fast and to stop myself from taking more food I used to drink water. But then I read about this and I told myself let me give it a try. I got the desert spoon out and I started eating with it. Now I eat slow and I am much more satisfied with the first serving.

    One more trick to eat slow is to count the times you chew. Chew 20 times and then swallow, your eating speed will get slow.

    4. Comfortable diet food - Always remember that the diet that worked for others might not work for you. So if lentil soup worked for Shiva and Shiva likes drinking it, its a wrong assumption that you will like it too.

    You can force yourself to drink it for few days but not for life. Best way is to search and mark your own low cal diet food that you can accompany in your meal plan. The food that will help you to feel full and will reduce your food intake as a whole.

    5. Change the age old eating habit - If you do not suffer from any medical condition then in all probability you are eating more food than you require that is why you are over weight.

    My eating habits were simple. I would have a breakfast of sandwich, lunch of roti and rice, evening snack, dinner of again rice and roti, 2 -3 times in a week I ate out. Simple.

    But I was overweight. I was working and I used to feel so tired at night, I needed that much of food. I can never be so wrong in my thinking.

    Give your body a chance. Eat a little less and see how it helps in your lifestyle. You really do not need all that roti and rice and dosa, small amount will go a long way too. So always evaluate your meals.

    As a child I was given a proper break fast, lunch would be 2 roties followed with rice. Evening we would get snacks and night again the same portion as lunch. I was never an active child, was never into sports.

    With age my activity level only decreased but my diet habit remained the same. You do not require the same amount of food that you required while growing up.

    The real change happened when I broke from the age old rule of eating what I was supposed to eat since childhood.

    The problem starts when we stop thinking what goes in our stomach and eat only based on our habits and tastes.

    6. Being hungry never helps - If you are depriving yourself you are bound to break sooner or later. Best way is to fill your stomach. We all have a certain signs to feel full. Some people will associate a burp to feeling full, I associate a stuff feeling in my stomach. Try achieving that with low cal food.

    7. Calorie Adjustment - For me weekend used to start from friday nights. It meant a heavy outside dinner. Weekend would start with heavy breakfast of either parathas or poha loaded with sev, fried bread rolls etc. Dinner again will only be outside.

    The best part was I got up hungry in the morning and would go on to eat large quantity of food. SO you see on weekends I was eating real high calories and on weekdays I was having normal food (which again was high calories). So where did the calories went, any guess to my body where else.

    When I started weight loss if I ate heavy meals I used to go light the next day out of guilt. I felt as if my weight will come back if I do not adjust the amount I ate the previous day.

    Now if I have a heavy meal specially dinner next day I am not able to eat heavy. It has now become my habit to go light. Had I been like this since the beginning I would have never put on a kg more.

    It always works for me. So if you do eat out and have stuffed yourself with heavy food then just relax the other day. You need to eat the normal home made food but a little less quantity and with more salads and soup. That is all it takes to balance.

    8. Dieting - There is no such thing. I have met amazing people who lost 14 kgs in 5 months and got all the weight back. Recently I met the woman who started me with weight loss. I have told this story before, this lady was really overweight and I saw her lose weight.

    She has alternated her diet with fruits and soups. So one day she ate proper food and next day only fruits and soup. Sadly this time when I met her she was no longer thin. She told me how difficult it is to diet.

    If you are eating boiled veggies and are on a diet of fruits and soup through out, always ask yourself if you are happy about it. If you cannot do it for life then there is no point in doing it for few days, the weight is bound to come back once you leave the diet.

    In my desperation to lose weight I was tempted to follow the alternate diet plan but I knew it is not me who will like eating that way. I devised something that suited my lifestyle and which became my habit. I do not diet, this is how I eat. This is not temporary this is permanent.

    The summery of this big post is that until you make changes for life the changes won't be permanent. Temporary changes are guess what temporary.

    The Fantastic Food Law states that - If you are a microbiotic slow eater who follows the food discipline then you can eat anything and still lose weight.
     
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  2. anamikasureka

    anamikasureka New IL'ite

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    You know Shiva I liked every bit of your long post..:)..I try follow all the points and for me is eating on time and go to gym every day ..rest I follow religiously..

    I use to eat two chapatis and less of dal and sabji..Now i have increased dal and sabji and i eat one chapati..It makes me feel full and do not make me starve as well..

    Only thing is I need to have to fix my timings of eating and eating slow also.

    Great post and great laws..:)
     
  3. shivachoubey

    shivachoubey IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Anamika,

    Honey, you became the first one to comment here too. Whenever I hear from you I feel so happy.

    These are few things I always follow and that have helped me to keep my weight off. I am glad to know that you follow most of the steps.

    Have a great day ahead.

    regards

    Shiva
     
  4. Shanvy

    Shanvy IL Hall of Fame

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    Shiva,

    I have been analysing what i eat. i realised i have been eating less but somewhere something was wrong.. still not sure what worked. today i eat less. i stopped eating in a big plate (the plate looks empty yaar..) i take a smaller plate, heap it with veggies, less rice this way i tend to satisfy my sense of sight that first tells my brain that my plate is full...

    You rock, with so many ideas for the people who really want to lose weight.

    I never tried any alternate ways, as i am scared with too many side effects from my steroidal abuse.

    great going buddy. have a nice day.
     
  5. shivachoubey

    shivachoubey IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Shanvy,

    Eating is a small plate is a great trick. It makes you feel as if you are eating all the food and not depriving yourself.

    Whatever you did Shanvy, you did good that is why the weight loss happened dear.

    I try to document all the tricks that I follow and the tricks that work for me.

    Have a great day ahead my friend.

    regards

    Shiva
     
  6. jaishvats

    jaishvats Bronze IL'ite

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    Hi Shiva

    Great points. There is one more I would like to add.

    Do not hesitate to check your weight. Get a weighing machine if possible.

    When I was overweight I was scared of checking my weight; not prepared to face the huge no. I knew I was overweight but i would never quantify it to hide embarrassment. But once i went on the attempt to reduce my weight i found this as an important factor. You check your weight and you know how much you want to reduce. You find it has reduced in a month , its a great boost to continue your attempts. And its a great help in attempting to maintain your weight once you have reached the desired number.

    This really made a difference in my case and so just wanted to share.
     
  7. shivachoubey

    shivachoubey IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Jaishvars,

    Weighing one self is very important. Weighing scale is a must. I did not write about weighing scale because it does not come under food, the post is about food.

    But you did raised a valid point and thanks for posting your experience. I keep telling my readers about how important a weighing scale is. Weighing scale always guarantees that weight will never increase.

    Thanks for sharing the experience again.

    Have a great day ahead.

    regards

    Shiva
     
  8. Traveller

    Traveller Gold IL'ite

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    Dear Shiva,

    a neatly drafted post with excellent pointers. this is not just for people with weight issues but for anyone who would like to eat sensibly and stay fit. By genetic build-up i'm someone who likes to snack often than eating 'properly' thrice a day, takes long to eat. Now I'm sort of relieved that i'm following the right path:) I've tried this 'avoiding' food once in my life but that never helped me. rather eating sensibly has. and yes you said it very rightly. never stay hungry or deprive your body of good food:)

    Latha
     
  9. Lalitha Shivaguru

    Lalitha Shivaguru Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Shiva,

    Can see your determination in each & every word thats the reason you have become our idol & inspiration. What you say is 100% true Shiva. We need a diet which can be sustained through out our life and not a temporary one. One thing I liked about your diet was no restriction as such on food. We need to alter our preferences which was quite easy for me. Normally many dietician says 2 idlis for BF thats it...I just cannot manage with this kinda diet and stopped in the middle. Goin fasting is not dieting at all is my take. Here you came into picture and helped me solve this problem and eat sensibly.

    Beautiful blog and comes from the heart Shiva. Thanks a lot.
     
  10. BeeAmma

    BeeAmma Silver IL'ite

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    Very cool Shiva. Thanks for the inspiring tips.
     

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