Tag: diet

Home is where the food is 😊

Homemade Almond Cake 🍰 Super delicious 😋
Thin crust Bell Pepper Pizza
Mushrooms and Broccoli Buttons 😋
Mini Samosas – Baked
Sweetcorn Salad
Stages of making Falafel Wrap. Hummus, Garlic Sauce, Veggies and homemade Tortilla Roti
Falafel Tikki – Baked
Garlic Bread with Chole
Bold and Beautiful 😍 when I paint 🎨
Just taking rest and recovering
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Indo Western Food

Typical Gujarati Lunch – Bajri (gravel) Rotla, Baingan (brinjal) Bhaji, Bhindi (lady finger) and Dal.
Garlic Buns
At midnight, I suddenly had a craving to bake buns. So now I call them – Midnight Buns
Pesto Noodles
Mushroom Risotto
Diet Pizza made of Wheat Base, homemade Pizza Sauce and Cottage Cheese.
This is a Gujarati dish called Handvo. Filled with veggies, crispy on the outside and healthy.
Masala Khichdi. Again, lots of vegetables and protein rich.
When I make art with Oil Pastels (crayons)
Post bath
Little cuddle baby he becomes after bath
Big Rat 😅

Cook, eat, sleep, repeat……

Sevaiyan on Eid
Potato Carrot Rosti
Kung Fu Paneer
Sulemani Tea with Lemon
Khao Suey cooked by my sister
Rotis, Mango, Aloo Pyaar ki sabji, Dal and Handwa
Gujarati Dessert – Fada ka Sheera
Basen wali Bhindi Pyaaz Sabji
Breakfast on Mother’s Day – Samosa, Dhokla and Patra
Young soul departed too soul. Made this for a brother as a memory for his younger brother.
No concept of personal space
Yup!

Finger Foods

This is Gujarati Special finger food. Dhokla and Sabodana Vada.
Mango Milkshake in a Beer Glass hand painted by me.
Mint Tea and Fryums
Pav Bhaji is a Mumbai Special dish
Tandoori Maggie
Common Red Curry which can be mixed with any vegetables or can be had as it is with garlic bread.
Lockdown Moments. When I paint 🎨
Dance with your demons. When I paint 🎨
He hates bath 🤷🏻‍♀️
I asked him to look at the camera 😁

In the mood for food…always!

My favourite sabzi Bhindi, Salad, Upma, Dal, Butter Milk and Roti.
Had a weird combination dinner one night. Falafel Wrap and Bhel. However, both were delicious.
Falafel Wrap in Sour Cream, Hummus, Garlic Sauce and of course – Falafel Pattie.
My signature and ultimate favourite dish – Paneer Butter Masala with Parathas and Salad.
Usal is a Maharashtrian dish and is had with Pav and Bhusa as garnishing.
Onion Potato Chilli Paratha and Masala Tea
Swiss Cheese Fondue and Sesame Toast
Pot Vegetable Biryani
Black Masala Pulao
Made this for someone’s dinning area. Wanted it to be a positive painting, so sunlight, plants and tea; as they are tea lovers. When I paint 🎨
He will keep starring at me from different angles till I get uncomfortable and finally get up to feed him before his meal time.

Home is – Junior and Food

Sweet Corn and Veggies Burger with Cheese and Mayo. Yummmm!!!
Multi Cuisine Lunch – Pasta, Hummus and Papad
Mom made vegetable Momos with sweet tangy sauce
After a loooooooong time – Panner and Pyaaz Bhajiya with Cardamom Tea
Made lunch for 2, I ate it all 😁
Medu Vada
Methi Garlic Bajri Paratha with Onion Kadhi. Super healthy, filling and delicious. Excellent meal for cold climates.
Never eaten a delicious Thai Curry than this. Made by a friend.
House party calls for homemade cupcakes
And more cupcakes 😻
Obesity is not a crime. Just embrace your body while you are in the process of making it fit and healthy. When I paint 🎨
Look away
Look at the treat
Finally 😀

Breakfast in Goa 😜

This is what my breakfast in Goa looks like 😀
Yes, I ate all 😉
Waffles 😋
Dinner in Goa – Sushi
I made Pop Tarts at home
Spinach Pesto Cottage Cheese Pizza. Super delicious and healthy.
Line and wash. When I paint 🎨
My sleeping partner ❤️
Can you see his twisty turvy teef 🤣
Just a friendly reminder, he is the most sleepy baby always.

Fit to Fat to Fit!

I am overwhelmed to share with you my incredible, and, almost impossible journey from fat to fit in just 6 months. Why impossible? Because I am a big time foodie. As you can see in many of my posts, I love cooking and trying out new dishes all the time. I wasn’t like this always though.

In my teens, my lifestyle wasn’t exactly healthy; I would wake up around noon and post that, I would freshen up and straight leave for college. Breakfast was always skipped, and lunch was junk food at all times. Ironically, I was super skinny then despite of surviving only on junk and deep-fried food. Then I got engaged, and, married at a very early age, and started putting on weight. In denial, I chose to blame it on the happy hormone, but the fact was, I had stopped caring for my body all the more after marriage thinking “I do not have to impress anyone now. I got my prince charming and it is forever.”

When I was 16, then 25 and now at 36 years old.

Apart from having a senseless thinking, I had a senseless way of eating too. I won’t be wrong if I say “I just couldn’t stop eating.” From a twiggy 44 kgs damsel, in a matter of just a few months I was 68 Kgs and still gaining, all this at the age of 23 years. From a size 0, I jumped the ladder to a size 12, which was not only physically visible but also affected me medically giving me constipation and acidity. Now, you may be wondering that 68 kgs doesn’t really sound too heavy or worrisome. Trust me, when I say this, it is extremely worrisome! As per my body statistics, my ideal weight should be between 48 to 52 kgs. The worse part was that I was living in complete denial that my lifestyle wasn’t unhealthy one bit, and, I chose to completely ignore the long-term damages.

Too glam to give a damn!

Then life took a U Turn (as mentioned in my previous posts). I was awakened, and, decided to start working on myself, physically, and, mentally. I was head strong this time, and determined, to get to my ideal body weight under any circumstances. I started consulting a renowned dietitian; the best thing about his diet was that it was more of a lifestyle diet rather than just target weight oriented, and one could follow it even after they have reached their ideal weight. That diet is an integral part of my life even today. I am never starved, I do have my cheat days, and thoroughly enjoy my daily meals and fit life. With the lifestyle change, the medical issues vanished and I no longer have constipation or acidity. Although he is no more now, till date I am thankful to my dietitian for revolutionizing my lifestyle. Believe it or not, he worked till his late 80s before he passed away.

Before and After

It’s not that that I had not tried dieting before. I had; and miserably failed. My failure was due to being starved which lead to lack of motivation and will power. I would follow the diet for a month, then would return to my old dumb habits. KITO, detox, treatments, etc., you name it.

My present scenario, I am 48 kgs and size 2 at the age of 36 years. I lost 20 kgs in 6 months 8 years ago, and I am still maintained. All my hard work, dedication and the right information is still paying off. What diet did I follow and what exercises did I do? Let me share all my tips with you.

Then and Now
  • First and foremost, my dietician wrote down a few blood tests to rule out any underlying disease. And just in case anything came up, he would prescribe a diet accordingly.
  • It is a little slow process for women with PCOD/PCOS or thyroid to lose weight, but not impossible.
  • Since I had no underlying disease, I was put on his regular diet which included Wheat, Dal, Rice, Milk and looooooooooots of Vegetables.
  • Never stay hungry for more than 2 hours. Apart from your Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, have one sugar free and cream free biscuit hourly.
  • My last meal of the day, is at 6.30 pm, max at 7pm. Before bed, I have a cup of tea or butter milk.
  • From the past 1.5 years I have been going to the gym to tone my body. Prior to that, my only workout during the process of losing weight was walking my dogs three times a day, each time for 20 minutes (I am so thankful to them). You can go for a walk for an hour at a stretch too.
  • Consume a lot of veggies. It will help to keep full, you won’t starve and it’s the healthiest option.
  • My daily diet:
    • A big cup of Masala Tea + 2 Marie Biscuits for Breakfast.
    • 2 Wheat Rotis + half bowl of Curd + lots of cooked Vegetables for Lunch. (you can modify as per your liking like vegetable parathas or vegetable sandwich)
    • A big cup of Masala Tea + 2 Marie Biscuits for Supper.
    • A small bowl of White Rice mixed with Dal and Vegetables for early dinner. (sometimes, you can substitute rice with pastas or sandwich again or dosa or idli)
    • Butter Milk before bed.
    • 8-10 Marie Biscuits throughout the day.
    • 1 hour of Walk

Since I am a vegetarian, this is my diet. Please do note that I do not have any underlying issues. It would be advisable to get your blood work and other tests done or consult a good dietician before jumping into anything which would be drastic in any sense.

My weight loss not only cured my constipation and acidity problem, but boosted my confidence to another level. Now I love dressing up, I look prettier than before, I look younger than my age, I ran my first Marathon, I am less stressed and mentally fit too. I can work for hours without feeling lethargic.

Weight loss is not just to look pretty. Infact, looking good is just a small part of it. A healthy weight loss without starving yourself will keep you FIT for the longest time and you will not even relapse. By relapse I mean, many people feel that eating less will help them loose weight faster. Yes, it is true, but then you will relapse and gain double the weight of what you originally were. Remember! All the efforts, and, hard work you put in to lose weight, should not backfire by gaining double. It’s the most common problem.

So please, choose a dietitian who will give you a lifestyle diet and not just target weight diet. It has been 8 years since I lost my excess weight and I am still slim, trim and fit.