1. Home
2. 
3. Wellness
4. 
5. Nutrition
6. 
7. Demystifying Nutrition with Jinal Shah

Live with Senior Nutritionist Jinal Shah, GlobalSpa turns to demystify nutrition, how to choose the right evening snacks and much more regarding food.

Invest in good nutrition, and health is the result you get. We’re no strangers to the miracles of simply switching up your nutrition to what’s healthy, and what suits you best. Conversing on the same, Jinal Shah, Senior Nutritionist with Team Rujuta Diwekar and GlobalSpa came together to demystify nutrition and unveil the many positives and negatives of food items.

Starting off with the bottom, Jinal Shah explained what counts as good food and bad food. “I believe we find good food and good nutrition in places where we’re not looking, like our kitchen. The kitchen is like our laboratory, and everything that comes out of there is good for us. Second, anything that you’ve grown up eating as a child, anything that’s seasonal local and traditional, and third, what your grandparents have asked you to eat is always great for you.”

HOW DO WE MAKE THE RIGHT FOOD CHOICE?

A question many of us struggle with, Shah jotted down it to three simple ways - “You put your food to the following three tests,”

1. Grandmother Test: Does your grandmother recognize this as food? Did she grow up eating this? If it’s a yes, then it's good for you.

2. Local Name Test: Take pumpkin for example. We call it by different names in different regions but for items like kiwi we don't have any native names. So that fails the test.

3. Versatility Test: We can make lots of good items just from rice but take oats, and you can't really do much with it and hence it fails the test.

IS HEALTHY ACTUALLY JUST JUNK IN HIDING?

“We have too much junk as it is being sold to us such as the obvious junk foods from fast-food chains, but there are also camouflage junk foods which are much worse because they promote themselves in the name of health,” says Jinal, “Take fiber biscuits and milk powders for example which are fortified with nutrients. These items are sold for the sake of health but when it comes to digestion, they're not good. This is why we need to have awareness of what is really healthy and what is camouflaged.”

WHAT TO EAT FOR YOUR EVENING SNACKS?

“It's important to plan your meals, especially snacks since most of the junk binging happen during this time. Some foods you can eat during this time include mangoes, roti, and jaggery with ghee, vegetable sandwiches, even bananas. Just make sure you have your snacks planned so you avoid eating anything and everything.”

Having studied Sports Nutrition as well, Shah unfurled on whether athletes should be bringing variations in their diet or go light during quarantine and eat heavier when they're able to practice and burn more once outside?

“A suggestion for all athletes and those of us who are not able to work out or go to gyms, what we need to understand is that appetite is a moving entity. It shifts based on what's happening around us. It recognizes how much to eat and it's our job to recognize that shift. So. we shouldn't force ourselves to eat less if we haven't exercised much, you have to listen to your hunger and appetite signals at all times. What you need to ensure is having meals frequently every 2-3 hours and having meals after recognizing your appetite signals.” asserts Jinal.

FOODS FOR BEAUTY: HAIR AND SKIN CARE

One food which works really well for your hair is coconut. “It's rich in fats and perfect for those dealing with damaged hair, dandruff or premature grey hair.” says Jinal, “Ragi is rich in ions needed for strength of your hair. You can have it in the form of a laddoo, kheer, or dosa. Another thing you can do is apply oil to your hair once a week, but soak a few methi seeds for at least half an hour before you apply that oil to your scalp. It'll work wonders.”

“For your skin, soaked raisins and Kesar first thing in the morning is something amazing. Volatile oils from Kesar and nutrients from raisins really work for glowing skin. Another addition could be yogurt which boosts gut health, thus your skin’s glow.”

Further in conversation, Jinal addressed our curious viewers' questions suggesting not to seek validation from outside or a weighing scale, how going off dairy isn't culturally compliant with us since we've grown up a certain way, the best time for eating fruits is in the morning to how curd-based yogurt is good for weight loss, and lastly, what would be the perfect replacement for sugar (“Cane sugar is okay to do with, the problem is with processed sugar which is poor in quality and nutritional value so avoid those!”).

For more interesting #instalives and interactions with the best in wellness, check us out here: https://www.instagram.com/globalspa_mag!