Eat Right To Feel Happy

Australian dietician Michele Walton, on a recent visit to Kochi, talks about the ways to enjoy food without becoming overweight. She also spoke about the charms of Kerala cuisine

By Shevlin Sebastian

Sometime ago, the Australian dietician Michele Walton went to the hill station of Coonoor with her husband Darren. They were walking down a road admiring the tea gardens on both sides. Suddenly, they saw a man standing on one side. Darren went to speak to him. The man's name was Akbar Ali. He told Darren that he was getting ready to celebrate Id.

Akbar immediately said, “You must come to my house. My wife is cooking biriyani.”

Even though they were taken back, Michele said, “Okay, it sounds good.”

So Akbar took them on his motorbike, one by one, to his home in a village.

“And we enjoyed a biriyani meal in an Indian family home,” says Michele. “The generosity and kindness were lovely. And that is why we keep coming back to India all the time. This warm hospitality cannot be seen anywhere else. So, we encourage people from Australia to come to India to enjoy the food as well as the ambience.”

Recently, Michele came to Kochi to give a talk at a seminar conducted by Nutrisolutions, owned by her friend Gayathri Asokan. “I spoke about how India and Australia face similar challenges,” she says. “In both countries, there is a lot of good food now and we have more money to spend on it. And since most of us are in sedentary occupations and do very little physical exercise, we tend to put on a lot of weight.”

Michele also gave tips on how to eat food that you like but in moderation. “In effect, I said that if you love chocolate you should have it, instead of staying away from it. But the trick is to have it in moderation.”

So how do you do that? “We tend to eat our food fast,” she says. “If you eat slowly and mindfully, then you will enjoy it more and eat less. It takes your tummy about twenty minutes to catch up to what you are eating. By eating slowly, you can give the chance for it to tell you that it is getting full. Another method is to have a sip of water in between bites. That can slow you down.”

But Michele has not slowed down when it comes to Kerala cuisine. “From a dietician's perspective, the Kerala dishes are easy to make, but I make small adjustments to suit the Australian palate,” she says. “In Kerala, people love the flavour of the coconut oil but for us, we are not used to it yet.”

She also makes the fish moilee because it is not too spicy. But her favourites are the appams and puttu. “When you dip the appam in a bit of coconut milk, it is heavenly,” says Michele. “I also love the texture and flavour of puttu. It is less oily as compared to other breakfast dishes. It is a good meal to have at the beginning of the day.”

Michele has also enjoyed the cuisine of places like Goa, Rajasthan and Bengal. “In Kolkata, they use a lot of mustard oil,” she says. “So, the flavour and styles are different. But I loved the misthi doi, sandesh and rosagullas. There was the Nolen Gurer ice cream made with jaggery palm syrup which was amazing.”

And then Michele added, with a smile, “But it was a calorie killer. So I had to eat it in small amounts.” In Mumbai, she enjoyed the vada pav and pani puri, while in Goa Michele enjoyed the vindaloo and pork dishes.

“Each cuisine is so different and special,” says Michele. “In fact, each state is like a different country. But the food is an interesting way to know the history and the culture of a particular place. Interestingly, I did notice how the North uses more bread, while the South prefers rice.”

Asked about the ideal diet, Michele says, “80 per cent should be fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meat, seafood, fish, wholegrain bread, cereals and dairy items,” she says. “It is better to avoid cakes and chips, as they tend to be high in salt, oil and sugar. If we have them, it should be in very small amounts.”

Michele says it is important to eat the right food in the correct amounts. Otherwise, you end up becoming overweight. And you will have to pay a heavy price. “When you are overweight, you immediately put yourself at risk to obesity-related ailments,” says Michele. “These include back pain, joint problems, heart disease, and painful knees, apart from diabetes. Eat right and live happily is my mantra.” 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode)