Jan 03, 2023While still at Dubai Airport’s Departure lounge, I Gorged on Mutton Rogan-Josh and Dum Biryani. I could have waited 3 hours before entering the Homeland, but I didn’t. Good food and good opportunities must not be wasted with the right amount of procrastination.
Arrived in Mumbai in November 2022 after a 3.5-year-long gap since the last visit.
The 3.5 number also happens to be in kg, the weight I lost during my 3 weeks ‘vacation trip’ to India. I came back looking healthier and slid back into my BMI index after nearly 12 years. I consider this an achievement significant enough to write about and share a few things that worked for me.
Let me tell you that with age, I have found it increasingly difficult to lose weight through diet. I’ve made many failed and partially successful attempts over the years. And I dislike, hate, and detest exercise or putting my body through any physical pain to achieve fitness.
In Full disclosure, I follow a largely animal-based diet, mainly consisting of chicken and eggs. I can’t flirt too much with red meat as it raises my uric acid levels.
For the past 6 months, I have made conscious efforts to limit carb intake and limit foods which contains seed oils and high fructose corn syrup. These self-imposed limitations and intermittent fasting have changed how I view and consume food. I fast for 14-16 hours between my 2 main meals. And yet, all my efforts towards losing weight through dieting in Dubai have yielded modest results.
Paul Saladino, aka @carninovremd, is one of my biggest health influencers in 2022. He is years ahead and decades ahead of his time compared to even a conscious being in India with half-baked knowledge of Ayurveda.
He is known to use hyperbole and claims eating most plants is unhealthy while wearing a T-shirt that says Kale is Bullshit. Ironically, a guy with Salad as part of his last name reminds us that most plants contain many defence chemicals that mess with digestion.
Did I mention I love food, particularly Spicy Asian and Indian food? Mumbai is where I grew up and is all about my old favourites – comprised of seafood at home and from well-known restaurants, street-style Mumbai food and Indian-Chinese. Having lived outside India for the entirety of my adult life and some, the annual India trips made in the past 19 years have one thing in common. I come back Heavier, bulkier and with some all-around chunkiness.
This time it was different from all the other 19 years. While my body and mind are auto-tuned to dive deep into nostalgia through food, there was another side of me overriding this Autopilot and plotting a course of its own.
How did I then lose weight on this trip in the land of Carbi-stan?
When in Mumbai, I ate every kind of Pav – The Vada Pav, Pav Bhaji, MIsal Pav, Kheema Pav and brands of mineral water with a Pav flavour. I also chow down humungous portions of my favourite food as my friend eating alongside me at a seafood restaurant looks on in amazement and disgust. My mentor Paul has stated this is the correct way, eat until you’re full.
A week into my Mumbai stay, I had managed to ‘maintain my weight’ which was the first bit of good news for me. The remaining two weeks of my India trip were in North India, and I did not have access to a weighing scale for most of the trip. As we travelled North, the selection of food available also changed. Seafood and Pavs disappeared, and I gravitated towards Chicken Tikka and Paneer Tikka as my default options. Pro Tip – Parathas in North India are dangerously good – keep away!
Navigating through the India trip with my Dubai-born North Indian wife and 9-month-old son meant I did not have time to reflect much on how I was achieving the seemingly impossible.
I’ve been living in Dubai for nearly ten years. I love eating food from different cuisines of the world, which are all available here. My taste palate is happy to eat Indian food on a Monday and a Tuesday. But by Wednesday onwards, I started to crave either Arabic mixed grill, Yemeni Mandi, Birria Tacos, Vietnamese Pho, Mongolian hot pot or an Indonesian rendang curry. Arriving in North India was that Wednesday moment for me. Despite the regional variations, I was already bored with Indian food and didn’t have other options.
I did not deprive myself for 3 weeks. Energy levels were good throughout the day on a highly demanding trip with a newborn baby. I started every day with my handmade coffee like I always do. I love coffee, and I’m not too fond of breakfast on most days. Does it help that we Gujaratis don’t have a breakfast culture? Maybe!
Coffee, the black kind without milk or sugar, kills the appetite and the desire for breakfast. I eat my first meal closer to 2 PM and until roughly 7:30 PM.
In the words of various YouTube doctors, ‘Fasting is good. Snacking is bad. Proteins and fats are good. Fresh fruits are a good source of Carbohydrates. Insulin Resistance is real and evil.’
There are no secrets here nor strong willpower at play. There’s orienting your likes and dislikes with the science of healthy eating.
