Carefree indulgence

Diabetes month

For the past 10 years Seema Pinto always had trouble dining out. Since she is diabetic, nutritional value of the food is of utmost importance to her when it comes to eating out to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. Hence she ended up eating salad or directing chef what all ingredients to avoid in her food. This very hassle led to the idea of starting “Diabetic Food Trail” across four cities to curate “diabetic-friendly” menu that will be served in 120 restaurants till November 15.

“A diabetic can eat anything and everything and the trick lies in how you balance calories and fats. People like me face a lot of problems when it comes to eating out with friends and family. The first thing that comes to mind is that the food will be bland, so while collaborating with restaurants we ensured that the dishes on the menu are not just nutritional, but tasty as well,” Pinto, director, Semora Entertainment Works and the brain behind this initiative, tells Metrolife.

While restaurants normally don’t get many queries about diabetic friendly food, Vinayak Gupta, chef and partner of Tawak, a Noida-based multi cuisine restaurant, agreed to be a part of this initiative because that would encourage families to dine out, together. “Usually what happens is that diabetic patients have limited choices when they eat out. So, they avoid going out or are the odd one out in the group. So if one person in the group is not enjoying the food, it kills the fun.”

“We thought it was a great idea to create great, delicious dishes for diabetes patients and we already have various healthy options on our menu, it is just that we need to take care of a few things in their case,” he adds.

To all the participating restaurants, Pinto asked them to submit their recipes with the calorie count and nutritional value and these recipes were then validated by Geetha Ghaliyavar, diabetes educator and exercise and sports nutritionist, who was “overwhelmed” by the avalanche of recipes she received.

“What everyone has to understand is that when it comes to diabetes, looking at calories is not the prerogative of the chef, he has to look at micronutrients. So while I calculated nutritional amount of these recipes, I had to give them suggestions like replace cream with hankered curd,” Ghaliyavar tells Metrolife.

“My role basically involved working on nutritional value, cutting down on calories and fat and bring everything together to a moderate value which is nutritional,” she adds.

What she also focused on was the fact that these dishes do taste good. “I am someone who knows too much when it comes to food. So, I take extra precaution when I eat out, like I avoid deep fried food. So, if I am offered a diabetic-friendly menu, I would love to have that because I know it is a healthier option,” she says.

She also emphasises that “healthy food costs more money” but it is a lifelong investment one is making for a healthier life.