[BookReview] Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight (Rujuta Diwekar)

This book is not about weight loss but health gain - physical And mental.

"No food is bad.... all foods are good for health"
(eaten in moderation and at the right time)

What does time have to do with weight?
Everything.....
'Coz a stitch in time saves nine!!

"Dave: The less I eat, the fatter I get.
Lomper: So stuff yourself (regularly and in small portions) and get thin!"
[Adapted from The Full Monty]

(as explained in the book:"Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight"
- by Rujuta Diwekar)

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[Take-aways from the book]
1) The Body shares our attitude towards Money.
In times of Recession we save more and spend less. In times of plenty it's the reverse.

2) Body is stability based.
Unlike machines which short-circuit beyond some limits, our body adapts to whatever conditions happen in our life.

Sugar levels, rest and activity levels are resources which vary widely during any day.

The body uses fat and muscle as storage areas in response to fluctuations in supply.

If we fluctuate widely from drought to floods - under-eating, missing meals, irregular timings or overeating - the body tries to save up on supplies in the form of fat.

If we take care to stabilize the inputs like food and rest and ensure that the body never runs short of these supplies at any time during the day, it'll become calmer and stop saving up on fat in the body.

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0) Cheap:
The cost of the book is quite low (Rs 156 with discount) and it's worth every paisa twice over.
You can order it online... about 3 days delivery time.

1) Holistic:
Unlike many other popular "diets" this is a holistic approach taking into account many things that happen in our lives and gives insight into how and why these affect our health and weight.
Distinguishes between malnutrition(starvation diets) and optimum nutrition.

a) For example it gives tips to very active sportspersons about when, what and how to eat to ensure accounting for their heavy energy and nutrient needs.

b) Its not just for "fat-people". It's for every human being...
Though all of us eat food we ALL need good nutrition (and rarely get it no matter how simple/rich food you eat) esp. in urban areas.

2) Useable:
It links up a whole encyclopedia of scattered info found in research studies, allopathy, yoga, physiology etc and makes all of those easily usable by common man.

To avoid information overload she gives 4 simple principles which if followed will help you to simply reorganise your diet and daily schedule to within 80% reach of optimum. For more you'd need to customize it with a dietician like Rujuta. This is hardly required for us "non-models".

3) Informative:
After reading the book it started making sense why body fat happens inspite of "not eating too much". Contains loads of useable info on properties of different kinds of foods.

4) Insightful:
It is an excellent book and gives lot of insight into what goes on in our body and mind.
For example Binge eating is a combination of mind and body pangs.

5) Background info:
It talks about how small things in our "modern lifestyle" and way-of-life contribute to health problems. And it means not just fat gain but other things as well...
If you want to understand what "health" is about this seems like a good book written by a dietician, yoga trainer.

6) Myth-busting:
I read this book slowly to "digest" what she's talking about.
I plan to reread this book a few times so that I can absorb the rich but simple information in it.
Many of the myths that I had in my mind about good diet were turned on their heads.