Fruit and Nut

This post is a reply to a reader on a forum on which I write about weight loss.

Dear Shiva,

I am glad to see your ur new post. Hey plz keep writing...you have literary skills as well besides being the motivationalist i liked the term. I would like to know more from you about the fruits you have had during your wt loss. did u eat mangoes? Also, how about potatoes? did you avoid boiled potatoes as well?

In my struggle to lose weight, I have tried each and every damn 'Don't do this thing'. Don't eat banana it will make you fat, don't eat mangoes it will make you fat, don't eat egg yolk it will make you fat, don't eat potatoes it will make you fat, don't eat rice it will make you fat. I tried giving them up but guess what I remained fat.

Holy cow, I love above foods and a life without them will be a pain in the 'place that is not supposed to be named on the forum'.

I am a foodie and I really cannot give up on food and I do not want to live a life drooling on other people's plate or cursing them silently if they have my favorite stuff without thinking about the calories.

So as for fruits here is my take and this is what I follow.

1. I do not exists without bananas. Apples, oranges, papaya or water melon, bananas are a must in my fridge. All through the weight loss journey I did eat bananas. They are my mini meal. When I am hungry I either have a banana alone or couple it with other fruits. Google the calories, the damn thing has 100 to 140 cal approx and is full of nutrients. I am a big fruit eater and they form a large part of my diet.

2. Like all sane human being I love mangoes. I have such lovely memories of stealing them in my childhood and they always manage to taste so sweet and yummy. Mangoes take me back to my childhood, they symbolize the utter pleasure of enjoying and not being bothered about the mess. This is one pleasure of life, so enjoy it. There is only one season of mangoes so have fun when they are around. Mangoes are high in calories. So be smart while eating them.

Like in initial period when I was loosing weight, My dinner used to be a bowl of soup and papaya mostly. Which is less in calories. So I would also enjoy a big juicy mango along with it.

I can never satisfy myself with only one slice of mango, no way I need to have the whole fruit. I enjoyed it till the last drop it because as it is my dinner used to be very light.

The logic is simple, a medium size mango is approx 200 plus calories (Google the right amount). So if you have it on a full dinner plate which consists of 2 rotis, sabji, rice etc. You are adding 200 calories, eat like this everyday and you will end up gaining weight.

So either eat it as a mini meal or with a light lunch or dinner. It fits the soup, veggie and mango scenario perfectly.

Smart people have their mango and enjoy it too.

3. Somehow, I have this notion that natural things cannot be that bad or lets say fat. So anything natural is always welcome. The only form of potato I avoid is fried potato. I do involve potato in my veggies etc. I have never avoided potatoes. They sit right there in my poha and upma and other normal potato including dishes. I have never eaten it in huge amounts. I have always eaten it in normal way, the way we eat in Indian dishes.

4. I have never been very fond of nuts but lately if hunger pang hits I grab a handful of roasted peanuts. I avoided them in past but not now. They do a good job in keeping the hunger at bay for sometime.

Life is short so pack all lovely things in. All I do is avoid outside food and that is what I preach. My whole struggle for weight loss was not to give up anything and I did not. If we stop ourselves from eating the basic food groups in life, the normal food (and I am not talking about the outside stuff) that we have grown up on, the stuff we associate ourselves with, sooner or later we will break.

In my case it was rice, take rice away from me and I will not only be sad but the whole purpose of my life will vanish. I ate it all through my weight loss.

Choice lies in our hands. Do we want to avoid the food we love to eat or do we want to keep enjoying the food we love but in small quantities. I vouch for the latter.