Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar has launched her new DVD. She chats with Karan Bhardwaj on the relevance of local and home-grown food in modern times
After writing books like Don’t lose Your Mind, lose Your Weight and Women and the Weight loss Tamasha, why a DVD nowIJ
The DVD is based on an interesting concept called ‘special interest’ which covers five main sections. They are ghee, the saptadhatus (seven elements or tissues of the body), pickle, banana leaf and filtered oils. You will learn why ghee is a super food in India, how the body receives nourishment in a particular order through its tissues, why the pickle is reverred and integral to the Indian diet, how it promotes the healthy probiotic bacteria in your gut, why the Banana leaf is used for serving food, its significance in tantra and yoga and how filtered oils of groundnut, sesame, mustard, coconut are healthier than the new-age oils. The DVD is backed by Shemaroo Entertainment. The total duration of the DVD is 1.48 minutes with about 10 minutes of bonus features. It features Kareena Kapoor Khan, Anupam Kher, Karisma Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Richa Chadda and some of my clients and readers of my books, all of whom have followed the principles from the film. They share their views on how eating local, seasonal, fresh produce has helped them look young, toned and feel calm, happy. It’s like a candid chat on the most intimate aspects of their lives.
Tell us about your acquaintance with traditional food.
I am brought up in a traditional Koknastha Bramhin family which regards upholding their traditions including food traditions as the main agenda of their lives. We fiercely guard our culture, almost to a point of looking down upon everything that’s not indigenous or foreign. To a large extent this attitude helped me stay on track with India’s food and well-being practices, to revere and respect its holistic and compassionate view of creating a harmony in man’s internal and external surroundings. Practically this is and was achieved by eating sensibly, watching out and not letting greed creep in while eating, sitting crossed legged for meals, shutting off external stimuli of TV, books, newspapers etc during meal times.
Isn’t it like going back to basicsIJ
My grandfather sang me songs which described and derided bread, biscuit, alcohol as foreign and he often warned that consuming these will not just mean losing my value system but losing myself, my mind would look for slavery, compliance instead of freedom and fearlessness. These songs were filled with humour and wit and I always took them as a joke but deep down they influenced, changed and equipped me to deal with all the diet fads that would come my way. Today the West and their labs are acknowledging what our elders always knew and lived by — food is not sum total of its nutrients, its way beyond. Ghee is great, so are coconut and rice. Thankfully I didn’t need to reorient myself to these beliefs, I was brought up in a culture which didn’t wait for the West to certify that they were on the right track with their food or lifestyle.
Is western diet responsible for diseases like diabetesIJ
Native societies like India, China, parts of South America and Africa are giving up their local food habits for a Western diet and packaged food because of more exposure to the West and increase in dispensable income. Along with this there is also a decrease in our physical activity and this together brings about a phenomenon called ‘Nutrition transition’ which is now globally acknowledged as the prime reason why India and china are turning into the diabetes capitals of the world.
What is you fitness regimeIJ
I work out thrice week. It’s a mix of yoga and weight training. Eat right every single day, stay disciplined with bedtime and wake up at the same hour everyday. By the way, I learnt a lot of this from Anil Ambani.
Who according to you is the fittest Bollywood actorIJ
Kareena Kapoor.