Diet Is Not Deprivation, It's A Way Of Life: Ishi Khosla On Food Habits

Ishi Khosla is a renowned nutritionist, consultant and author. Her book, Eating at work, talks about the dilemma each work place professional has in relation to their eating habits and diet.

Through her book, she shows us how to make minimal lifestyle changes for lifelong health benefits. Her book is a unique offering for every kind of professional. It is for those with irregular or late night shifts also for those on the go and for those with sedentary day jobs. This is a must-have for those who want to be fitter, happier and be as beautiful on the outside as on the inside.

In conversation with SheThePeople.TV, Ishi Khosla talks about the different challenges faced by workplace professionals, and give some tips and tricks to be fit and professional advice on various health issues faced by people.

Her motivation to become a nutritionist came from her personal weight loss journey. She wanted to get into medicine, but because of her obesity in childhood and body weight issue, she turned towards practicing healthier eating.

Her motivation to become a nutritionist came from her personal weight loss journey. She wanted to get into medicine, but because of her obesity in childhood and body weight issue, she turned towards practicing healthier eating. In 8th grade, she realised that she could get fitter. Before that, she considered herself to be a 'bottomless pit', who could eat everything and anything. However, after her realisation she started cutting back on unhealthy foods and kept checking of her calorie count. This effect on her was transformational, both body and mind. This made her choose nutrition as a career.

She wrote this book, Eating at work to concretise her common sense advice into something crisper and solid. “Many people face special challenges in the workplace because of lack of availability of food and accessibility of food. These issues hamper their productivity at work and fitness levels. Be it night shift workers or people on the move, all of them go through health issues because of bad food practices. People often tell me they could follow my diet anywhere except at their workplace. This motivated me to write this book.”

Ritu Raonta, a 53 year old woman asked her how to keep her body strong at this age, to which Khosla replied that at this age, a woman is post-menopausal, meaning there is a change in hormones. One should cut down on sugary stuff and avoid late night food binging. It is important to eat anti-oxidant rich food and since every person has a different body type, one should get blood work done to get a customised diet.

Read Also: Diet Greatly Influences Women’s Mental Health: Study

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5 P's of nutrition

Ishi Khosla bust the myth of eating more means more energy. “In fact, eating less food but good quality food is better than eating more,” she says. Her tricks to a healthier body are the 5 P's:

• Planning - plan your diet, and how you want to go about it in your day
• Peak Hunger Time - address the time when you're hungry. Usually one gets hungry from 5 to 7 pm. So one must eat the most food during those times instead of delaying it and eating snacks in that duration.
• Proteins
• Proteins with vegetables
• One meal of uncooked food (unprocessed foods)

And she added that mindful eating is important.

Her go-to snack would be carrots and cucumbers with her favourite dip, be it hummus or hung curd. Seasonal fruits like local berries, bananas, guavas, are widely available.

How to tackle challenges faced by millennials in terms of cost of healthy food

Khosla said most candidly that healthy foods are cheaper than any other food. Her go-to snack would be carrots and cucumbers with her favourite dip, be it hummus or hung curd. Seasonal fruits like local berries, bananas, guavas, are widely available. “One need not buy exotic fruits,” she added. Dark green leafy vegetables are most essential. Lemon and Amla juice are great for the body and providing essential nutrients like Vitamin C and other anti-oxidants. “A handful of nuts like chana or peanuts can be great snacks with onions, lemon juice, and tomato.”

Important questions to be answered

Anuradha Gupta asked Khosla about the food that could potentially reverse cataracts. To which she replied that some foods can help in bettering in eye sight like Vitamin A rich foods such as carrots and papayas. And food with beta-carotenoids can help.

On being asked whether diet control is must even if one goes to the gym and is getting fit, she replied evocatively that both are important. Moreover, exercise only plays a 20% role in getting fit, rest requires a good diet.

To remain active, she advised to avoid carbs, fried foods and bakery products. One should focus on food rich in anti-oxidants and enzymes. Replacing sugary drinks, tea and coffee with water is a good start.

To remain active, she advised to avoid carbs, fried foods and bakery products. One should focus on food rich in anti-oxidants and enzymes. Replacing sugary drinks, tea and coffee with water is a good start.

For hair loss, her mantra is that the skin, hair and nails are a reflection of your diet so one must check for malabsorption and intolerance to certain foods. Blood work is important to get a more refined look at the issue.

Women, intermittent fasting and crash diets

According to research she concluded that women are more prone to health issues because of their hormonal cycles. Mistakes that women commit when it comes to food can lead to repercussions later. Women should not wait for their husbands to get back home and then have dinner if they are feeling hungry and most importantly quick fixes like tea and coffee with biscuits should be avoided at all costs.

"Being skinny does not mean you are fit and healthy."

She opposed crash diets which ensure fast weight loss. She believes that a diet should be sustainable as many of these diets make you lose weight fast and when you leave it, you gain more pounds. “One should have a fitness goal rather than a weight loss goal,” she added. She said that intermittent fasting can easily be misused which is counterproductive and is not for everybody. What you are eating in those eight hours plays a huge role. As far as Keto diet is concerned, she concluded that it was started for patients suffering from neurological diseases. “Diet is not deprivation. It's a way of life.”

Read Also: Emotional Eating – Food Consumption Beyond Hunger And Health

Writing her book

“Writing this book, Eating at Work, came very easily and naturally to me. It is in a very actionable language, which is short and crisp. However, the only challenge I faced was how much information to give out for people these days have a short attention span. I tried to package the info in a concise manner, and one USP of the book is its illustrations and read more section for people who want to take a deeper dive.”

Her book is releasing pan India and its official launch is on September 20. It talks about the common workplace disasters related to food, solutions (as there are no shortcuts to eating correctly) and how to sustain what one has learnt. Her last chapter discusses about why employers should make changes in the workplace related to food as it is a sound investment in a more productive and healthier employee. “Health is wealth. And a healthy nation is a wealthy nation,” she added.

Saumya Rastogi is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv