Review: The Great Indian Diet

The Great Indian Diet The Great Indian Diet by Shilpa Shetty Kundra
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Great Indian Diet written by Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Luke Coutinho is a pretty good book. I was pretty apprehensive while buying the book as mostly the books by celebrities has its own way of deviating from the focus of communicating the idea to self-advertising vehicle. Thankfully this was not a complete one such book.

Luke is one important person I personally follow and was pretty much eager to know what has he brought to the table. The book starts with giving great inputs about certain indigenous foods and how to take it. Sometimes we do take foods in a wrong manner which defeats the purpose of the food on the first hand. The authors have slowly introduced the foods and methods to take those foods. This in a way gives you a good idea of living healthily with just Indian foods. In the age of westernisation books like these gives a glimmer of hope for local sustainability. On a holistic point of view, these books can help in striking a balance in food consumption.

Having said all that, I find this book to have a little slower pace and I am unable to agree with all the points mentioned in the book. The first thing that came to my mind when reading this book is the work of Rujuta Diwekar. Although many of the thoughts of both the nutritionists align they do differ at certain points drastically. Rujuta's books on similar subjects can hold your interest with many real-life examples while this struggles a bit on that account. Secondly, few foods are said to be healthy while the facts about that a not elaborately explained. Also saying Fructose cause no harm or helps in diabetes is not making any sense. And also suggesting fruits as a dessert too is a bit harmful.

What makes this book readable and likeable is bringing people back to their roots. Also, This is a good book for beginners to get an idea about the diet with Indian foods. The key points discussed in this book are cut out processed foods, eat locally grown foods and differentiate good and bad fats. Opt for local oils and use in moderation. Also above all keep your calorie intake in your mind. Despite the title being Great Indian Diet, the authors have included a few foreign names such as Stevia, Oats and so on into the diets along with the regular Indian staples.

A good read and you can know a bit more about the Indian Staple foods along with some recipes and a model diet chart.



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