Eat right & watch that waistline

?EAT THESE? soundbites! This scientist knows how important it is to have a ?proper? waistline. So, he maintains one. But instead of flaunting it, Dr Vladimir Vusksan explains the importance of a small waistline, diet, weight et al. He says fat is going to take over from tobacco as the biggest killer soon.

‘EAT THESE’ soundbites! This scientist knows how important it is to have a ‘proper’ waistline. So, he maintains one. But instead of flaunting it, Dr Vladimir Vusksan explains the importance of a small waistline, diet, weight et al. He says fat is going to take over from tobacco as the biggest killer soon.

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On the National Science Day, on Tuesday, Vusksan delivered a lecture at the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI). The lecture, of course, was very scientific—replete with jargon. Yet, it targeted people aiming at fitness. Vusksan is Associate Professor at the Department of Endocrinology and Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, and also the director of Risk Factor Modification Centre, University of Toronto.

So here are some ‘healthy’ soundbites from him:

In the US you get very healthy food for pets. People are very conscious about their pets’ health and feed them a proper and balanced diet. However, they themselves, eat all kinds of rubbish. (Audience laughs)

South Asian people should be more careful about body fat. In a South Asian and a Caucasian man with the same Body Mass Index (BMI), the fat percentage is very high in the South Asian man.

Five per cent reduction in weight reduces abdominal fat by 30 per cent.

Vusksan also drove home a point by first scribbling the word ‘painkillers’ on a board and then, crossing out ‘pain’ implying that painkillers ARE killers! He added that people, nowadays, were eating more than their appetite and a vegetarian diet was definitely healthier.

Using a slide display, Vusksan summed up the general lifestyle of people. He said, “People lead a sedentary life and eat large portions. They consume takeaways, restaurant food and have the buffet mentality. After all this they go to get slim at ultra modern gyms—the gyms that have escalators to take them in. Needless to add, this brought on another burst of laughter from the audience.

Finally, he gave a thumb rule for perfect diet. Eat ‘slow food’. ‘Slow food’ is one that stays longer in the body. People generally eat the food that is already half processed or overcooked.

Such food just gets digested quickly in the upper abdomen and glucose level shoots up. While food should be rich in fibre so that it takes long to absorb using a major part of the small intestine. Eat fibre, rich food, fruits, vegetables and herbs, he finally summarised.