“Indian diet freaks need to edit their rule book. Every blood group requires a different diet pattern  and reacts to food combinations differently,” says  nutritionist Dr Shikha Sharma of New Delhi..  That’s why no particular  diet, be it Atkins, South Beach, General Motors, Detox and others, can be best suited for an individual.  Famous diets like Zone diet, Atkins diet and South Beach diet are based on the principle  of regulating  the production  of insulin. The Zone diet balances  the proportion of carbohydrates, proteins  and fats in the diet but does not address the practical aspect of dieting as well as specific diet requirements of people.  The Atkins diet advocates  severe restriction of carbohydrates and allows unlimited portions of meat, chicken and fish.

“Detailed Studies in USA has shown that  that Indians  have 33 per cent  inherent body fat as opposed to Caucasians and Africans  who have 26 per cent. The American study is for Americans and cannot  be extrapolated to Indians  who have more invisible fats in their diet than visible fats,” says Shashank Joshi of Lilavati Hospital and adds, “Moreover, our present version of  thalis are a travesty of the original version available in different parts of the country and our traditional diet did not contain as much fat as we now consume.”

Safe and palatable
The traditional thali, say experts, contains  rotis, two vegetables, dal, salad and fruits, and contains about 25 per cent fats that are essential  to the body. Again, in earlier eras we needed 3,000 calories a day , and today  1,500-2,000 suffice. The good news proven  by studies  old and new, is that traditional  Indian food and methods of cooking offer the best options for a diet  that is safe, palatable and promotes health without denying the pleasures of taste. So say goodbye to the  obsession with western diets that enveloped  India some years back. If dieting has to be consistent  and successful it must be an originate from one’s own kitchen and the available in one’s  own  country. It cannot be an imported reality.

Dr Krishnaswamy , former director  of the Hyderabad-based National  Institute  of Nutrition, says, that while  people are aware of the protective  properties  of Indian  spices,  they have forgotten the traditional  methods of cooking, washing, seasoning and eating food.

For various  reasons,  the term Indian food has a quicker association with parathas, puris, butter chicken, chaat, pakoras and the bhujiya variety than it has with Bengal gram, millet, besan ki roti, appams, idlis, gujarati steamed dhoklas and khakhdas  (dry, paper thin, non oily snacks) or steamed momos. 
Many Indians blithely condemn the thali as  bad for the heart/blood pressure and diabetes. But they forget that over the past one hundred years, we have let go of everything good in the Indian thali and have retained whatever is bad..
Yesterday’s food
For instance, till the advent of widespread use of the refrigerator, re heating and re frying of yesterday’s food  was practically unknown in India.

“The effects of re-heating leftover  food and the reuse  of oil for re-frying are needed to examined.  We have completely  forgotten the suitability  of food according  to personal  nature and body types,”  says Dr Shikha.
Then again, the ghee that is used in Indian thali has been much maligned. But does it deserve this condemnation? The answer is “No” Dr Shikha Sharma emphatically states and adds “It is wrong to throw all fat content out from meals.  And that fat from various sources is better than depending on a single  oil. It is  the limit of the total  intake that is crucial.  A maximum  of one tablespoon  (15gm) per person  per day is fine. And there is nothing to beat cow’s ghee with its low cholesterol content for this task.”
Then again, proper eating will not show results unless it is combined with regular, moderate exercise. “It’s about  understanding your body, understanding the various qualities in the food you eat and their balance,”  says Dr Veena Jain, senior vice-president (operation) at weight-loss clinic VLCC.  Balance is a  key word. Even the best of diets fail, if they are imbalanced, because  the body begins to experience  recurrent fatigue.