FOOD SPECIAL ....................Food Fad - `FREE-FROM FOOD'

Food Fad - `FREE-FROM FOOD'





The fixation with free-from foods -that contain no gluten, wheat or dairy -is alarming, say health experts. People obsessed with getting celeb-inspired bodies are giving up on nutrients that aren't always unhealthy for everyone

When everyone around you seems to be losing weight with the latest diet craze, it's hard to not jump on the bandwagon. All you need to do is google the word `weight', even before you finish typing, the search decides your options: `weight loss', `weight loss diet', weight loss tips' and `weight loss exercises'. It really doesn't matter if you were searching for the average weight of a hippopotamus for a school project; Google's pretty sure you want tips for weight loss. The culture of `thinspiration' -with pictures of dangerously skinny models on magazine covers, photos of celebrities airbrushed to unrealistic standards, and euphoric comments by celebrities about their “instant“ weight loss by skipping gluten, dairy, wheat, carbs etc., has made sure the rest of the population sees these foods only as villains.

BAN THIS, BAN THAT

If Miley Cyrus can lose weight by skipping gluten, so can I. So, gluten banned at home.If Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't eat carbs to maintain that hot body, why can't I? Carbs get thrown out of the refrigerator and kitchen shelves. Drew Barrymore and Halle Berry are lactose-intolerant, so that must be the reason for their slim bodies. Back home, Kareena Kapoor gave up meat and look how thin she became... Nutritionist Vijayalakshmi Iyengar says “People are constantly bombarded with messages about how they can be happy and lead a successful life only if they are slim. When actors flaunt their hour-glass figures in films and say that they have achieved it by eating or eliminating a particular food item, people tend to believe them because they see a living proof in front of them.“

What was once a corner in a supermarket shelf has now become the pride of a prestigious shop. Free-from foods and other foods without carbs, and proteins adorn main shelves of supermarkets and are advertised all over. A report published in the UK daily, The Telegraph last year, said that though just one per cent of UK's population has coeli ac disease (a condition that requires patients to avoid all gluten), and an estimat ed 15 per cent are lactose intolerant, the market for free-from foods has doubled in the past five years.

Clinical psychologist Seema Hingorrany explains this fixation that's going out of hand. “An eating disorder is a kind of mental health disorder when it reaches this level of obsession. A lot of women read up stuff on the internet and come to me with extremely unhealthy diets that can never be beneficial,“ she says. Adds Iyenger, “Eliminating random foods from your diet leads to nutritional deficiencies, and scars you emotionally and psychologically in the long run.“

`Diet', according to nutritionist and fitness expert Neeraj Mishra, is the most misunderstood term. He says, “When you hear the word `diet', you instantly associ ate it with deprivation and dele tion of food. But diet actually means the kind of food you consume on a daily basis. A healthy diet would include a combination of proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins and miner als that are required by your body for everyday functioning. An unhealthy diet is usually high on one of the above mentioned substances or lacks most of them. Whether it is no-grains, no-dairy, low-carb, low-fat or only grapes, a fad diet most often makes promises it can't keep. It requires you to cut out entire food groups, or limit portions of particular foods while promising you unlimited quantities of others ­ thus offering you an effortless weight loss plan. It's all a gimmick.“

`SHARE' CULTURE

Moreover, diet isn't a thing to share. “Following a diet plan designed for someone else is similar to wearing an outfit stitched as per someone else's measurements,“ says Chirag Sethi, fitness and nutrition expert. Singer Adnan Sami says, “Every human being is unique and reacts differently to different food items. A diet that works for you may not necessarily work for your friend.

I could shed all those extra kilos by choos ing the right way. I believe that sugar is just as important for our body as salt is, and other natural foods. So I eat everything, even sweets ­ but in smaller portions. It works for me.“

Tripti Gupta, lifestyle nutrition con sultant, says that removing a food group from your diet, because it has more calo ries, is foolish. “Eliminate a food group only if your body is intolerant to it. For ex ample, dairy products are full of lactose and if your digestive system is allergic to lactose, stay away from it. When an expert asks you to cut off a food group from your diet, he or she also suggests appropriate substitutes. If you want to lose weight, consume food in small portions instead of deleting it completely. Focus on reducing your calorie intake rather than cutting out a whole food group,“ suggests Gupta.

shikha shah TL22MAR15