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WednesdayDecember 9, 2015

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TakeapeekintocomedianSundeepRao’s lifePage3

LalanaandManishsaythattheyenjoy liv-ing in theCityPage2

The festive season is uponus and calories are smil-ing at you from every-

where in the form of attractivecookies, appetising cakes,wines and other lip-smackingdrinks. Leftover pie-slices andtasty tarts in the refrigeratorkeep inviting you to indulge.With food a big part of theYuletide season, one tends tobinge a tad bit more. However,health and wellness expertsare there to help one keepaway from excessive holidayeating and keep an eye on theirhealth.

Anamika Gonsalvez, ayoung professional, says that itis difficult to stay away fromsweet treats of the season likerose cookies and plumcakes. “I keep my family andfriends informed that I follow aparticular diet so that they donot bring sweets or thick con-centrated wines as gifts. Also,whenever I go for a party, Iwatch whatever I eat,”shesays. She stays away fromdinner parties and attendsevents which have games andsocialising.

“There is dancing, talkingand games, so the concentra-tion on food is minimal. Also, ifit is a potluck dinner party,which I cannot avoid, I make ita point to take healthy snacksfor everyone,”she adds.

Health experts like DrPriyanka Rohatgi, chief clini-cal dietician with Apollo Hos-pitals, says that keeping one-self hydrated is importantduring the festive season.“When one binges uncontrol-lably, one should remember todrink a lot of water. If you arehydrated enough, you willbinge less. It is also importantto exercise regularly,”she says.

She adds that it is importantto keep a tab on the number of

Ruhaniyat’ will be held onDecember 19 at theJayamahal Palace Hotel.

The performers in‘Ruhaniyat’ this year includesome first-time artistes as wellas all-time favourites. The ba-sic theme of transcendencewill be the thread connectingall performances.

The programme will in-clude ‘Gorakhnath to Meera’,by Voices from Kutchh whichincludes Vesabhai Bhopa fromGujarat. ‘When hearts con-nect’, an Indo-African produc-tion, will be presented by Ma-madou Diabate N’agoni(Balafon player/singer fromWest Africa) with Mir Mukhti-yar Ali (Rajasthan), and Par-

vathy Baul from West Bengalwill present ‘Baul songs’. Theevent will also include‘Qawwali’ by Niyazi-NizamiBrothers from Delhi.

footsteps one takes through aday during this time.

“There are so many appsthat one can access to keep atab on this. An average humanneeds to walk 10,000 footstepswhich can be monitored on apedometer app. So, when youclosely monitor it and find thatyou’ve walked only 2,000 or3,000 steps, you will make aneffort to do the same,”shesays.

When headed to a party, “itis always better to eat some-thing and go. When you arehungry, you end up eatingmuch more and consuminganything that is available,”shesays.

Priyanka adds that “oneshould concentrate on foodsthat are lesser in sugar con-tent. Don’t skip the meal andjump to the desserts directly.Always pick up some healthysnacks and then the maincourse meal, after which onecan have minimal desserts.Portion control should also beadhered to. Also, remember tohydrate oneself throughoutthe meal with lime juice orfruits,”she says.

Protein-rich food like chick-en or ‘paneer’dishes, whichare not visibly greasy, would begood options to have and avoidconsuming ‘maida’- based

snacks, she points out. “Toomuch sweet in a meal item ordessert is also a bad option.Beverages like wines or otherdrinks should also be avoidedor consumed carefully. Fruitdrinks are the best way to go,”says Priyanka.

She says that she has heardof cases of ‘Chronic FatigueSyndrome’where peoplehaven’t eaten healthy and feeltired throughout the day. “Thebest quick fix to this is hydrat-ing oneself with electrolytes.”She adds that when one hasconsumed a heavy mealloaded with carbohydrates,they are bound to feel sleepy.“The right balance of every-thing is important. Also, themoment one feels half-full,stop eating.”

Others like Ranjani Raman,dietician and nutrition consult-ant, says that it is that part ofthe year, when there is a box ofsweets or junk food aroundone always and people aretempted easily.

“It is a big challenge to steeraway from sweets during thistime, but one can choose theones they eat. Instead of hav-ing completely fried food orextremely sugar-high sweets,it is better to indulge in milkand jaggery-based sweets,which are nutritious too,though they are high in calo-

ries,”she says. She adds thateven dryfruit-based sweets area good option.

“When consuming a sweet,always chew and enjoy eachbite thoroughly, so that youfeel satisfied. One could haveone laddoo or 10 laddoos atone go, but it’s all about howyou feel.”

She adds that it’s always bestto have a sweet during the firstpart of the day — mornings orafternoons than during theevenings. “We end up notusing calories during the laterpart of the day, which ends upin depositing as fat,”she says.

Others like Shankar SB,who works as a fitness consult-ant with corporate and well-ness clubs in the City says thatone needs to understand theamount of calories incurredduring consumption, ratherthan trying to deal with theholiday weight later.

“There are two types of peo-ple — the ones who are awareof the amount of calories theyare consuming and the otherswho have a lot of junk food,without understanding the af-ter-effects,”he says.

He adds that the latter arethe ones “who often settle withthe idea of holiday weight andcrib or struggle with it afterthe season”.

The safest way, he says is“to be conscious about what-ever is going into your body”.“If you have a few extra sweetson a particular day, cardio-ex-ercises that will burn the calo-ries is the best way out. Often,many feel that walking is allthat is required to burn calo-ries but exercising should beas intensive as consumption,”he says.Tini SaraAnien

A slice toomany

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Festivefitness§Keep yourself hydrated

through the binging

season.

§Have a lightmeal before

attending a party.

§Understand the number

of calories in each dish

or dessert.

§Go for cardio-exercises

to burn calories

consumed.

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«Holiday indulgence

HEALTHYCHOICESThis festiveseason,

consumefood that ishigh inprotein.

«Styling cuisines

« ‘Ruhaniyat’

The fooddoes the talkingM

ost people todayhave travelled theworld. Even if they

haven’t physically been tosome places, thanks to tech-nology, they are abreast ofthe culture and lifestylethere. This has brought theinternational experiencecloser home, especially whenit comes to food, and moreimportantly, the way it is pre-sented.

The popular saying ‘Don’tjudge a book by its cover’ isalmost never true in terms offood. If it looks good, wejump to tasting it. So foodstylists from around the Cityare experimenting with vari-ous lightings, props andcomposition to present thefood as beautifully as theycan so that it almost feels

like you can taste the food byjust looking at the pictures.Faseeulla, a food stylist andthe co-founder of Slurrp Stu-dio says, “People have lotmore demands these days. Ifthey don’t think the dish looksgood, they don’t even want totry it. So as stylists, we useeverything in ourpower tomake themlook their bestso that thefirst test of thelook is passedand then moveon to the tastepart of it.” Heprefers to pho-tograph his sub-ject in such away that the finaloutcome gives arustic feel or a na-ture-imbibedlook.

One of the mostimportant aspectsabout food stylingare the props. Fewof them even havetheir favourites.Farrukh, a full-timefood stylist, lovesworking with herwooden bowls that pro-vide a rustic look and oth-er crockeries that she pur-chased from Australia. “I’msomeone who believes thatyou eat with your eyes first,and once the food comes infront of you, the smell willtouch your palate before yourtongue does. So it’s very im-portant that one presents thedish in such a way that you’llwant to grab it from thescreen itself,” she explains.

But is the trend moving in

such a way that the presen-tation is more importantthan the final taste? Tothis, Ambica Selvam, an-other food stylist says,“There have been in-stances where clients askme to add a particular el-ement to the final pic-ture through photo-shop. They would ask insuch a way that theyknow the food is bad,but in order to sell, youmake it look good. ButI don’t take up suchwork because it’s notfair on my part to de-ceive the customers.However, if every-thing is done right,the food will alsotaste as good as itlooks,” She also

says that Indian curries areone of the hardest to shoot asthey are not as colourful asthe other dishes.

“As tasty as the curriesmight be, it’s very challeng-ing to make them look good.So I try and play aroundwith the props I have, usesome of the ingredientsaround the subject, drizzlesome oil on top of it andmake sure the lighting isjust right,” she adds. Thereare a few basic things onemust keep in mind whenstyling the food, says Am-

bika. “Firstly, the stylist mustunderstand what exactly the

client is trying to communi-cate with the food presenta-tion — show their personalitythrough food. Secondly, theyneed to decide the frame inwhich it will be shot in —which plate, bowl or surface itwill look best in. Then, find el-ements that will complimentthe subject — use props like acloth or the ingredients. Andfinally, make sure that thelight, colour and compositionis on par with the final prod-uct,” she adds. And if the styl-ist is not the one photograph-ing the picture, he or sheneeds to make sure that they

are in sync with eachother.

So imagineyou are a foodstylist and whilebaking a cakeduring the shoot,you break an eggon the counter.

Do you clean itup or does it addvalue to the shot?To this, food stylistAshwin Iyer says, “Ilet the food do thetalk. Every little ele-ment you find whenyou are messingaround with the sub-ject adds value to theshot. The whole ideais to present some-thing magical withouttrying too hard.”Anila Kurian

Ambica Selvam

Farrukh

Ashwin Iyer

ATTRACTIVE ‘Blue lagoon-purple cabbage consome’ byAshwin.

(Above) ‘Sulaimani chai’ b

y

Ambica and(below right)

‘Chicken curry’ by Farruk

h.

Connecting differentworlds

MamadouDiabate

Ranjani Raman

Priyanka