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There is confusion in the world of health, once again. Eat this, not that; drink like this, not like that; how to cook, workout, when to sleep, and so on and so forth. So many instructions can leave one baffled and mentally stressed out.

In the race to lose weight, inches, fat or gain bulk, one tends to fall prey to a maze of enormous, half-baked information available on the internet which may prove harmful instead of beneficial.

Based on my 25-years of experience as a practicing Dietician and Clinical Nutritionist, I believe that whether your goal is weight loss, managing medical conditions or achieving high energy athletic bodies, the core of our well-being depends on how well we can alter our current diets with healthy substitutes to achieve the goal. After all, good health is the balance of our physical, mental and emotional well-being, where food plays the hero in keeping this balance, thus making us healthy and happy.

As a nutritionist, I need to manage my patient’s dietary lifestyle as a whole – while continuously focusing on the physical, mental and emotional impact on the patient.

Physical health

Physical health is based on various parameters which one can see and measure. These include our weight, fat percentage, BMI, body measurements and blood reports. Other parameters include physical complaints such as gut health issues, body aches, allergies, ability to exercise, skin, hair, etc.

Managing these scientifically and cleverly without making a drastic change in your lifestyle, can help us sustain good physical health effectively.

For example, if you have high cholesterol levels and your goal is to gain muscle, it’s important to incorporate sufficient lean protein such as legumes, protein supplements, fish and egg whites in the right proportions along with high fibre carbohydrates. This combination saves the consumed protein for muscle repair and growth, and at the same time can prevent any further increase in cholesterol. In addition, one can also incorporate cholesterol lowering foods such as Kashmiri garlic, Omega 3 rich nuts, seeds and similar homemade chutneys. This can give excellent results towards both your goals – muscle gain and improved cholesterol levels.

Mental health

Food is a mind game and your mental happiness quotient matters the most when it comes to following any diet. Most people tend to eat with their eyes and tongues and not necessarily to fill their stomachs. This is human nature, eating out of greed and not out of need. Every cake lover can eat a piece of cake despite a full stomach. In such a case, following a diet should not be a punishment but should become a healthy give and take strategy.

Believe it or not, I have seen considerable transformation in people’s weight and health by simply including their favourite food with simple, sensible management.

For example, if you’re a diabetic and dessert is your weakness then it’s important to ensure that the other meals around it are very low glycemic index foods. Such foods include barley, fenugreek, psyllium husk powder, oats etc. which will largely neutralise the overall spike in blood sugar levels. Further we can apply our give and take strategy by advising portion control and frequency of cheat meals. Little treats can convince the mind to live with considerable restrictions and thus give us sustainable results over the long run.

Emotional health

This is the most challenging and important area to achieve sustainable results for a happier, and healthier you. All said and done, eating is emotional in a big way. This may matter a lot for some and may matter less to others, but the truth is it matters.

When you indulge in large portions of high calorie foods despite a full stomach, then it is possible that you are eating emotionally. Stress, depression, feeling lonely and unhappy can lead to binging on large quantities of fat and sugar laden foods. Emotional eating is eating mindlessly and is completely controlled by your state of mind.

This can be caused by 2 factors – firstly, over-eating has become a habit to fill a void or to momentarily feel good. Secondly, your electrolytes are not balanced which further aggravates emotional eating.

For example, when I hear a patient say, “I’m not hungry, but I still find myself finishing an entire pizza” that’s my cue. In such cases, pungent spices like peppercorn, cloves, ginger etc. have worked miraculously to instantly distract the mind. In addition, electrolyte rich options such as nimbu-pani or fruit-chaat aid in satisfying the craving. However, in severe cases counselling is recommended along with an intelligently designed nutritious diet.

I have always believed that a nutrition plan is not complete without taking into account all these three aspects – physical, mental and emotional health – synchronously. Food and eating habits play a large role in maintaining the much needed harmony between our mind and body and vice versa.

This approach of aligning the physical, mental and emotional health aspects of an individual while creating a nutrition and wellness plan is what I call the Composite Nutrition Philosophy.

It’s one thing to simply lose weight, but it is a whole different process when it comes to gaining good health. It is not just about getting the numbers (weight, BMI, blood reports, fat percentage etc.) alone right, but it is equally important to feel mentally happy and emotionally in control of your eating habits. Applying this composite nutrition philosophy to my routine practice has been my mantra to achieving excellent and lasting results for my patients.

I often say, “feeling good is the goal; let weight-loss become the by-product.”

We each are unique and there’s no one size fits all. Hence, following a generalised diet plan strictly, will not work long for most people. After all, your goal is not to reach the finish line fastest, but to remain healthy in a sustainable, balanced and natural way.

Chasing perfection in short-term goals could reverse or worsen your results in the long run sometimes. Choosing the possible and practical route for the long-term is more likely to stay with you, and you can continuously benefit from it.

Always remember, health is your true wealth and we must choose to enjoy it lifelong.

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