Don't lose your mind, lose your weight by Rujuta Diwekar - Book Review

The biggest buzz these days is related to losing weight. I was under the impression that only the fairer sex indulges in such complexities but was astonished to see guys nibling on green veges as well. With this being the case, no wonder we have so many diet books, websites giving advice on losing weight, supplements claiming to remove those extra pounds within 15 days and institutes bragging to do the undoable. I always rejected all these ideas with a shrug, wondering how people could put themselves through the ‘starvation ordeal’, but the book by Rujuta Diwekar, India’s sports science and nutrition expert, “Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight” caught my attention. And I don’t regret reading it.

Most of the people going through the so-called dieting process are keen on starving themselves, surviving only on fruits and uncooked/boiled/grilled vegetables. Running in the marathon we call “life”, we want everything to happen quickly, if ti’s weight we want to lose then we prefer throwing it off in a matter of 15 days or merely a month.

We want to see results quickly without putting in too much efforts. It’s equivalent to try passing a tough exam without studying. We don’t want to waste our precious little time exercising, we don’t want to give up on chai/coffee but amazingly are willing to skip any meal thinking that this would eventually lead to healthy body. In her book, Rujuta Diwekar puts an end to all these atrocities we commit ourselves to. The book starts with the discussion of different varieties of dieting people adopt, reading about which you will start realizing it’s nothing but stupid to torture yourself like this. Rujuta Diwekar explains the reality behind such diets and encourages people to not entertain anything without first understanding it.

Dieting according to Rujuta should be

“a representation of what you will be eating your entire life.”

Rujuta narrates stories of her clients who in trying to lose weight ended up becoming dull, losing not just the glow from their faces but also their positive attitude towards life and (unbelievably) increased cholesterol levels. Rujuta tries to explain that we need to change our life styles, bringing in routine exercise yet NOT showing the door to our favorite foods. She boldly states;

“All food is good.” (which by the way is a relive for me, for I, can’t even dream of living on fruits.)

Thus, putting to shambles all low carbs, high protein diets.

Fitness should be the goal rather than mere weight loss. The diet plan proposed, which is to be followed your entire life, may at first seem absurd and un-follow able, but will start making much more sense once you understand the reasoning behind the rules and read the success stories of celebrities who have taken up this diet.

Rujuta gives four basic principles to be followed in order to stay healthy;

1) Never wake up to tea or coffee: Don’t be scared or skeptic if you are an addict and think you can’t even begin to imagine a life without your morning dose of tea/coffee. With what Rujuta proposes, it won’t even remotely feel like giving up.

2) Eat every two hours: For all the people who have a ghastly expression on their face after reading this, again please don’t be skeptic. Let Rujuta explain, and for that you’ll have to read the book.

3) Eat more when you are more active and less when you are less active: Sounds sensible right? You’ll need energy when you are performing some physical activity or exercising your brain cells. And energy is what you get from food.

4) Finish your last meal at least two hours prior to sleeping: Again, sounds sensible and more importantly something we all already know.

All-in-all it’s a sensible small (just 279 pages, including appendix) book which is quite easy to read. It doesn’t give strict rules but gives real life examples on how to follow the rules. With a cheat sheet at the end of every chapter which can be referred to while trying to follow the diet plan. Tables on which food should be focused on and why and which food you should try to avoid is also be of great help. For all the people who are willing to do ANYTHING to shed those extra kilos, go ahead and try Rujuta’s style.

Happy ‘Dieting’!