DIET is the mainstay of weight management and plays a central role in diabetes treatment.

But for you to follow a diet for a long period of time, the diet needs to be individualised to your needs.

It must be realistic, flexible, and take into consideration the your likes and dislikes, to as large an extent as possible, and must suit your lifestyle. 

Most of the diet sheets and charts which are given to you either in order to lose weight or for the treatment of diabetes are monotonous and very difficult to understand and follow for any long period of time. Moreover such sheets and charts rarely, if ever, take into account the traditional Indian foods which are often a mixture of many ingredients. This makes it quite difficult to calculate the calories in the foods you normally eat ! 

This is where the Calorie Counter can help you tremendously.

So how is this to be used?

First, go to the BMI and the WHR Counters and find out your body weight status. Do you need to lose weight, gain some pounds or do you want to maintain your present weight but still keep to your diabetes treatment.

In order to lose weight, you must understand that for a person to lose one kilogram of weight the body must have a negative balance of 7700 calories ( 3500 calories to lose one pound of weight). In simple terms, what this means is that if you want to lose one Kilogram of weight, the body must "lose" 7700 calories in excess of what it takes "in" in the form of food.

This can be done in two ways: either you eat less and therefore take in less calories or you exercise more and lose that many more calories. It would be better if one were to do both. that is, take in less calories and lose some more than you are doing at the present times.

Use the Calorie Counter and roughly estimate the total calories that you eat in a day. Now from Counter, see what food items you can either omit from your diet or eat in less amount. The Counter will tell you the number of calories which you will be "losing" by eating less.

Next, use the Activity Log, to see what additional form of exercise, and for what duration, will allow you to "lose" more calories.

In both cases, diet as well as exercise, make only those changes which you feel you will be follow for a long while.

Now add up the total calories "lost" per day.

7700 divided by this figure will tell you in how many days you will be able to lose one kilogram of weight. As an example, if the calories "lost" each day is 350 calories, you will lose one kilogram of weight in 20 days!

You should aim to lose about 1.5 to 2 kilograms each month till you reach your optimal weight.

In case, you find that you have to gain weight, the Calorie Counter will show you which items you can increase in your diet and also the calories which you will gain. 

Thus, a judicious use of the Calorie Counter and the Activity Log, will allow you to reach your desired weight, whilst at the same time allowing you to follow your diabetic diet, if you have diabetes.

ANOTHER way by which the Calorie Counter can be of immense help is if you have been given a fixed number of calories to eat everyday as part of your diabetic diet prescription. As we have said before, such fixed calorie diets are usually given along with diet sheets. Most people feel that such sheets make the diet dreary and dull. Not only are the instructions in such sheets difficult to understand, but they are almost impossible to follow for any period of time!

Here again, the Calorie Counter can make the diet easy and interesting.

From the varied foods given in the various categories you can chose the items which you would like to eat and the Counter will tell you the amounts of these foods which you can eat so that the total calories in a day meet your prescribed calorie number. Moreover, in view of the choices available in each category, you can vary your diet such that it never become dull and monotonous.

We will be continually be adding more and more items to the Calorie Counter.

In fact, if there is a food item which you like and which does not find a place in the list, please let us know. We will definitely add it to our list. 

One word of caution. 

You must realise that the caloric value of the foods can vary according to the method used in cooking, the spices and masala used, as well as the amount of oil/ghee utilised. Thus, when calculating the calories for each item, you must assume a caloric variation of 15-20 calories from the given value. This is especially true when one considers the diversity of India and its foods.

This is useful to remember when you do not see the expected change in weight!

Which is the reason why we will soon have a detailed Counter in place in which you can place in the recipe you use to make the food items including the types and amounts spices, oil, etc and the other main ingredients and the Counter will give you the precise calorie content of the food item.

So use the Calorie Requirement and the Calorie Usage………..

……………………………and Happy Dieting!