From ignorance to light - Happy Diwali

Diwali time. PARTY time.

Too many parties, too many late nights, too much taash, too much food.. blah blah.. 'So does that mean that I will gain my weight?' 'Or I am too stressed because of Diwali because I HAVE to eat.' OR 'What should I do if I over ate last night at my party?' Its the season for all these questions and confusion.

We resist and resist food some more only to give in some hours later and eat with a vengeance. Of course if you eat too late any amount of food you eat or don't eat will leave you feeling restless in the night and bloated the next morning.

So whats your best bet? The best thing you can do right now is to enjoy Diwali in its true essence. Just like you clean up your car, house, wardrobe etc clean up your mind. Just like we give up old, useless things at home and buy newer better ones, we need to give up old emotions of guilt and punishment associated with food. Just like dust and old belongings keep wellbeing and positivity away from home and hearth, guilt and punishment rot the mind and dull the body. So replace the dullness and ignorance with light, the light of kindness and compassion. Be kind to your body. Don' t punish it by starving before venturing out for the Diwali party. Eat all your meals and surely eat the ones at 6pm and 8pm, thats the only way you will be equipped to deal with the late nights and food. Eating, after all is an act of love and compassion.

Happy Diwali.

A related passage from my book -

If you have a wedding, party, Christmas or Diwali feast or anything else coming up where you simply must eat that pudding, modak, laddoo, jalebi or special mithai, what do you do? Declare that you are on a diet and deprive yourself of the yummy mithai and desserts? Or fake a tummy upset? Worse still just not turn up for the party? No, too boring. Instead all you have to do is tell your best friend, your body, that you will be eating more than usual for Diwali, Christmas, Eid, your anniversary or party, etc. Your body likes being taken into confidence (who doesn’t), and it responds to this communication by increasing your metabolic rate, secreting more digestive juices, enzymes, and sending more blood flow to your stomach. So now your mind and body are both prepared for the onslaught of food and the calories that come with it. Because you have not fooled your body into believing that you will not be eating, and then loaded or stuffed your mouth last minute (completely catching the body unaware and disrupting its normal metabolism), your body will reward you by not storing the excess calories as fat. Remember the section on food and stress? You will convert maximum food to fat when you’re disturbed in any way. So dig your teeth into that luscious pastry or gulab jamun. Enjoy it and eat it guilt free. A relaxed state of mind is the best preparation for any indulgence.

P.S. - Please dont ask about compensation. If you overate last night, its really OK. Its really OK as long as you enjoyed what you ate..

Exercise or diet – What is important?

I have been asked, get asked, and will be asked till (I tell myself) I hang my boots. Sometimes it’s asked out of curiosity, sometimes out of a serious doubt, at times to just check if I have a bias and at other times to plain look for an escape.

Well here’s my boring, practised but honest answer – Exercise & diet are like the two sides of the same coin. To ask me to choose which is more important/ effective/result oriented is like asking a mother to choose the favourite between her two children or like choosing between the devil and the deep sea, depending on your perspective.

Dieting- we should make friends with this word, it’s not our enemy. “Diet is my best friend”, proclaimed Kareena at my book launch, as I looked, awestruck (one more time) at her ability to communicate simply and clearly. All this while I had grappled to say what I meant – Diet has become a four letter word that it is not/ Dieting is the misunderstood word etc. But not once did I communicate as clearly as Bebo did to faces which would flash when the lightening from the camera paused, albeit for a couple of seconds.

But I meant exactly what she said. But when I said it – it all came across so vague/ so unclear , leaving lot of room for preconceived notions. She put words to my feelings and she did it with ease because she had experienced this friendship with dieting, firsthand.

We really need to make friends with our diet because eating right , eating often and eating on time (and not starvation) is the only way to achieve that dream body. To be able to eat right and to eat on time, we need to re-establish contact with our bodies, specifically our stomachs. Only exercise puts us in touch with our stomachs. It improves our blood circulation, strengthens the digestive fire and intestines, prevents us from stuffing our stomachs, trains our body to consume calories from food instead of storing it as fat, and most importantly puts us in touch with our hunger signals.

When you are in touch with your hunger signal, you will eat often, eat small and eat right (now thats exactly what the word “diet” means). The benefits of exercise are many, least of which is that it teaches you to “diet”!

Also read - “Diet Perceptions”.

Diet perceptions

‘Diet? – I cant go on one! I cant starve! I can do any amount of diet till 5pm after that I am a full toss!’ Not eating at all, eating too little, eating with way too many restrictions, not eating “normal” khana and everything on the same lines is our perception of diet and dieting.
I am just back from Johar valley in Uttarakhand and out there diet is something else! Johar valley was one of the major Indo – Tibet trade routes now deserted after the Indo- China war but beautiful nevertheless.
As we trekked towards the Nanda Devi base camp we came across many “hotal”. ‘Plate ya diet?’, asked one of the enterprising hotal owners. Amused I looked on as GP asked for explanation, ‘matlab?’ ‘Plate matlab ek bar rice aur chana dega, diet matlab aap kitna bhi kha sakte hai. Mango jitna rice,chana milega. Aur diet ke saath bhang ka chutney bhi milega!’

A 'hotal'

Wow, I like the Johar valley’s understanding of diet. It also matches the way I talk about dieting in DLM, LYW. Of course, you should know how much you need and how not to cross the overeating threshold. Till then happy dieting! :)

For more such trips: www.connectwithhimalaya.com

Trekking stories

As I set off for another trek to the Himalaya, I ask myself what is it that I keep going back to? The flower filled valleys (Most Himalayan valleys are valleys of flowers. Infact the “valley of flowers” now has lesser flowers thanks to the high tourist inflow), the majestic snow covered peaks, the glacial streams or the congenial natives?

Or is it the stories? Stories as surreal as the mighty peaks at dawn, as beautiful as the flower laden valleys, as innocent as the rhododendron in early March, as gorgeous as the deep gorges (oh, should I take to writing poetry?) as moving as the water which flows under the glaciers..

My book, ‘Dont lose your mind, lose your weight’, starts with one such story. Almost everything that I do, think, say has got to do with some “real” Himalaya story. I wonder what Nanda devi holds for me and my group from “Connect with Himalaya”. GP has updated me on the all the facts, myths, history, mystery, conspiracy and geography of Nanda Devi. All of it is super exciting (exciting enough to throw caution to the wind and take a two week break) but I am sure what will finally happen on the trek will be the “real” thing. The real stories only happen when you finally surrender to the might of the Himalaya, when logic pauses and feelings surge.

My anticipation of Nanda Devi story brings back the memory of the Darma Valley story. We trekked in the Darma valley last year, a really remote, untouched valley on the border of India, Nepal and Tibet. (Will write in detail about it someday but in the meanwhile you can check GP’s piece on it here).

So we all were on this major ego kick that nobody really travels to this valley and we were discussing this over pakodas in the homestay at Nagling village (which is another story that will feature in my “diet book” sooner or later). We hadn’t finished being in awe of ourselves , our fitness levels, zest to explore and our adventure spirits, when our guide informed us that two “gentlemen” from Banglore were staying in the same village. They had gone to the Panchchuli glacier yesterday and would return to Dharchula (road head/ end of the trek) tomorrow.

The group was eager to meet them to know more about weather conditions at the glacier, the walk, difficulty level etc. Just then we saw the head and face of a middle aged man bob up from the ladder that connected the lower level to the traditional courtyard (and now our chai, pakoda and cards place). A much older but fitter looking man followed him. We exchanged the usual pleasantries. But something seemed out of place. Were these two “oldies” the gentlemen that our guide was referring to? Had they successfully completed the trek that had our “hava tight”?

No, actually these doubts didn’t cross our (atleast my) mind when we met them. We all were (and the girls more so) taken in by the older man’s glowing face, bright forehead, sparkling eyes and confident stride. He was only 73 years and was on his 23^rd trek. Phew! We clapped almost spontaneously. His companion was 58, on his first ever trek and was in awe of his senior’s fitness levels. “I needed a stick all throughout but he can walk effortlessly” he told us. All this while we 20 -30 somethings looked starry eyed at him.

“Do you know who he really is?”, suddenly asked the 58 year old. We all were starry eyed about Mr. Rao and just instinctively knew that there was something special about him. He is the EC, I thought, confusing him with T.N. Seshan (blame it on the altitude), Jahnavi thought he was the RBI governor, somebody from NASA thought GP….. all 13 of us imagined him to be 13 different personalities.

“Well, any guesses?” pressed the junior. Now Mr. Rao looked clearly uncomfortable but we still stared starry eyed at him and (luckily) nodded “no”.

“Aha, he is Mr. Rao, the father in law of Mr. Aamir Khan, the super star of the Bollywood Industry.” SILENCE in bold. We didn’t know how to react. We half smiled at Mr.Rao who was now looking ACKWARD (in bold again). Oops!! we dispersed immediately and laughed only 30 mins later. No, not because of the association with Aamir Khan (God knows we love him and can’t wait to see 3 Idiots) but at our wild imagination of who Mr. Rao was. I forgot what his real profession was but what I will never forget is the ease with which he climbed the shaky ladder, his terming the walk to the glacier “easy, specially for you youngsters”, his sparkling forehead, his age, only 73 (wow, age is really  just a stupid number), his being on his 23^rd trek (he only started trekking post 40 or 50) and the surge of respect and admiration I had for him for preserving not just his fitness levels but his love for trekking, exploring and for being out there in the open at 73!

Recently  when I watched Ghajini, I had short term memory loss, I forgot I was in cinemax (paid some ridiculous amount of Rs.275/-) and relived the Nagling experience. Aamir Khan, Mr. Rao’s son in law was bashing some guy when my astral body came back from Nagling!

P.S – I am open to receiving offers for writing a “trekking story book” from publishers;-)

Hey Sita!

‘Hey, I need to buy a book on the GSB  rituals’, thought my friend aloud as both of us sipped on nariyal pani. Helllo! Get off it!! I gestured with an animated facial expression.

Sarika, my friend was on a guilt trip. A haryanavi married into an orthodox south Indian Brahmin family, she was feeling guilty (not again ya) because her husband had (out of compassion) carried out a north Indian ritual (at her parent’s place) which was not in accordance to his birth in the GSB community. A casual remark by her well meaning father in law had put her on the oft treaded path- that of self blame and guilt. According to Narayan, her husband, all this was ‘ok yaar, chill’ category.

 But not according to Sarika. She had appointed herself as the custodian of the GSB

community rituals, belief and pride. So she had to make sure that Narayan remained pure! And if he didn’t it was her fault. Here was one more woman seeking approval. Whose? Now thats a very good question.

So are women the sole guardians of culture, tradition, rituals, and the bhartiya sabhyata or whatever? Shri Ram sena “warriors” recently beat some girls drinking (Hey Ram!) in a Mangalore pub. Can you blame them? Even Shri Ram, Maryada Purushottam, put his wife through agni pariksha.(Or so says Ramayana, at least). These were mere mortals.

Now, why didn’t Sita put her foot down and ask Ram to take the test?  If she would have, we women wouldn’t be conditioned to find glory, approval and acceptance in conforming to norms set by men. A victimised woman, who is all set to burn herself, buy books on rituals, wear the ghunghat, sweat it out while making parathas, etc finds much more respect in the society than a woman who is all set to take charge of her life.

Instead of blaming the Shri Ram sena warriors we women need to blame ourselves (yet again!) for being way to willing to conform to norms when they are clearly unsuitable and inconvenient to us. For not bringing up our sons and brothers, as adults who are responsible enough to look after themselves. For not pulling up our fathers, husbands, father in laws when the cross the line with us. For not creating a noise when we ought to. For not standing by women who stand up for themselves. For taking that agni pariksha.

The sita within us has a choice. Lets make the choice of saying no to the test. Let men bear the burden of the burkha/purdah/sindoor/mangalsutra/virginity or whatever that it is. Lets make the beginning by treating ourselves better (seriously, we can only get treated as badly as we let ourselves).

Sarika, don’t buy that book. You are not the sole guardian. And seriously its no big deal! Get off it please.

Book launch video

Check out the videos of the launch of my book 'Dont lose your mind, lose your weight' by Kareena Kapoor at JW Marriot, Juhu, 14th Feb 2009.

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/broadband/video/Parties-and-Events/bX3yh512/3/Kareena-s-Diet-Guru-Reveals-Size-O-Secrets.html

CNN-IBN video: http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/85409/size-zero-secret-out-kareena-launches-fitness-book.html

Times now video: http://www.timesnow.tv/frmVideoDialog.aspx?VName=NV29487.wmv

Diet atyachar!

Diet stories never fail to totally shock me. The latest one I heard: eat as many chewing gums as you want but don’t eat food. Now why would somebody do this kind of diet aatyachar? For results, of course. The result? Weight loss, my dear. And may I add – ‘guaranteed’.
Only eating biscuits that are low fat and have added fiber, replacing sugar with sweeteners, dinners that are only soup and salad, gulping down juices, smoking endlessly, 12 cups of coffee a day, Atkins, South beach, cabbage soup; what is it within us that makes us ‘try everything under the sun’? Why is it that we fail to use good old common sense when it comes to our body and health?
This disbelief in a common sense approach to getting fitter or losing weight persists inspite of repeated experiences (first & second hand) of crashing weight in no time and gaining double the weight in much shorter than this ‘no time’. Is it really so difficult to believe that a healthy lifestyle which includes workouts, eating right and at the right time, regular wake up and bed times will help us lose our excessive fat stores and also help us get fitter, healthier and smarter? The obsession with Kareena’s size zero is only a reflection of our perverted minds. The focus if at all should be on what she changed in her mind, eating habits, sleeping hours etc that brought about the change in her body and not the body itself or its size.
Yog and Ayurved, the two traditional Indian systems think of the body only as an ever changing exterior of the very core of our being. Western scientist too have long woken up to the fact that the mind and body are interlinked. Though, of course, to understand that the calm content state of mind leads to a healthy and lean body is not rocket science.
A mind which enjoys its share of peace realizes that it has this basic responsibility of feeding its stomach at regular intervals. We also have an intrinsic sense which tells us when to eat and how much. We have all woken up in the night wailing as little infants forcing our tired and sleep deficient mothers to feed us. Its this regular eating pattern that protected us from infections, improved our immunity, memory, sharpened our senses, learning skills, and developed our bones, tissues, organs and limbs. And the most important thing that it did was make us feel loved, protected and important.
Excessive fat stores are our body’s way of coping up with the condition of starvation that we put it through. We do this by keeping long gaps in our meals (lunch at 1pm , dinner at 10pm, nothing other than some tea/coffee in between) or by going on deprivation diets. If eating regularly is a way to nourish and love our body, not eating for long hours or depriving it of any ‘real food’ is a way of punishing it.
Our lifestyles are abusive enough. We really shouldn’t be abusing our body any further in the name of dieting or losing weight. Weight loss that beats common sense or that which is brought about by depriving your body of carbs, fat or protein is the beginning of the end. The end of health, vitality, and peace.