JOIN USShonali Sabherwal, a celebrity dietician-turned-author, unravelled the secrets of a healthy diet from her book ‘The Love Diet’ at the Ritz Carlton recently.
She demonstrated some recipes from the book. A severe advocate of the macrobiotics diet, she explained why this lifestyle is wholesome and the key to healthy living.
Alongside chef Chandra, Shonali cooked three recipes for her audience, all of whom received samples of the dishes. She started off the event with an introduction to this lifestyle and why she got into it. “My father was a cancer patient. I also saw all these people with ailments walk in and it was so hard.”
With a mission to help her father and improve health conditions of society, she began her life as a health practitioner.
Preaching that food is the most important source of energy, she constantly stressed on eating to improve the inner well-being. She also spoke about the effects of eating right and told the audience not to avoid their cravings and instead to satisfy themselves with natural, unprocessed versions of the food groups.
Starting off with a mango smoothie void of any dairy product, she demonstrated the recipes along with some of her secret ingredients to make it wholesome. She explained the importance and nutritional value of every ingredient.
Dietician to Bollywood stars Jacqueline Fernandes, Katrina Kaif, Hema Malini and ace director Zoya Akhtar, she is one of the most recognised nutritionists in the country. She also said that she incorporates all food groups in her diet and explained how the macrobiotics diet is different from the vegan diet and is a better option.
Her second dish was a chickpea salad that was wholly enjoyed by the audience. The last and final dish that was prepared with the help of chef Chandra was a tuna salad. She gave an interesting spin to these simple dishes to make them healthy as well as sumptuous and tasty.
She educated the crowd on the ill-effects of current dairy products and suggested a few alternatives. Her session was interactive as well as she answered all the queries posed by the audience.
From the worries of the absence of dairy in the diet to abstinence from white rice and apprehensions that arose from the methods of cooking, she answered them all effectively and put everyone at ease.