Celebrity dietician-turned-author Rujuta Diwekar has teamed up with Bollywood diva Kareena Kapoor and recently launched the first of a three-part series of Facebook Live interactions where the two bust myths on pregnancy diets and stressed on the importance of eating local produce.
The author of the popular book, Don't Lose your Mind, Lose Your Weight has been Kapoor’s dietician for a decade. Diwekar has been tracking Kapoor’s diet closely through her pregnancy and plans to compile the series of live interactions into a book.
Diwekar, who has charted a strict diet which the actor will have to follow, says pregnancy makes a woman crave for healthy food naturally. No wonder then that Kapoor’s craving of late has been the notorious karela. “Everyone suggests I add a little sugar to it and the bitterness goes, but I don’t like that. I like that it has a bitter, pungent taste to it. It’s something that I enjoy,” says the 35-year-old actor.
Known for promoting an Indian diet in her book, Women & the Weight Loss Tamasha , Diwekar firmly believes that breaking down food into proteins, carbohydrates and fat is erroneous. The new mantra, according to the dietician, should be “farmer, retailer and consumer”, which takes into account where your food comes from. “It’s important to eat food that helps the local economy as well,” says Diwekar, while dismissing several dietary fads that have been imported from the west.
Agreeing with her dietician, Kapoor eats produce that is locally grown and sourced. The actor experiments with a mix of vegetables. “We have such a variety in India. You could eat something as simple as beetroot sabzi with jowar roti, and it is a wholesome meal”, explains Kapoor.
The duo has also released a ‘mental meal map’ which promises to help people eat the right amount and prevent wastage of food. The first step in the map is to visualise the quantity of food one wants to eat. Then you serve yourself half of it. The final step is to take double the time you take to eat to finish this portion, and if you’re still hungry by the end of this, then you could repeat the process. “This must be supplemented with exercise, even when pregnant,” emphasises Diwekar.
According to Kapoor, a pregnancy does not force a woman to put her life on hold. “Getting pregnant is not like getting an inflammation. I will continue to do normal things,” says Kapoor who practises yoga and walks to keep fit. Encouraging her celebrity client, Diwekar explains that women are at their energetic best when pregnant. “Much before female Olympic athletes took steroids, they got themselves pregnant to enhance their performance,” claims Diwekar.
The duo’s second Facebook live interaction will take place in November. Both Kapoor and Diwekar support the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in declaring 2016 as the year of pulses.
