Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar has an answer to your diet dilemmas: Common sense

Rujuta Diwekar debuts The Commonsense Diet, focussing on the joy of home-cooked food

Fifteen years ago Rujuta Diwekar hit the headlines for her best selling diet book Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight. The fitness and nutrition expert famously put actor Kareena Kapoor on a diet that included rice, ghee, and parathas, proving that you can get into skinny jeans without giving up dal-chawal, or the occasional ladoo. Over the years, defiantly refusing to do any paid campaigns, collaborations or brand endorsements, Rujuta has created a loyal following. This includes 1.7 million people on Instagram and plenty of celebrity clients, enamoured by her practical advice and forgiving diet charts.

Now, she is back with her latest book, The Commonsense Diet, (published by Juggernaut) and she is not mincing words as she takes on some of today’s most popular fads, influencers, and ingredients. In a world noisy with wellness trends and weight loss advice, we ask her how to get fitter without giving up on the joy of food.

Diets are getting nastier, and the people on them are getting angrier

Hanger is a real word and hangry a real phenomenon. Diets and dieters have become cultish and therefore I say, angrier than earlier. The reason why my messaging hasn’t changed is because eating right isn’t rocket science, it’s common sense.

Right from the beginning my diet advice has been rooted in science and has always been on the same page as our grandmothers. You have to see your diet in the context of climate and culture.

I think the shortfall is in health professionals not making diets local enough for their clientele — the people who come to us for diet advice are vulnerable, they are scared, no matter what they have achieved, and often fear that they are messing up with food or lack the discipline to eat correctly, hence must be whipped into shape.

Then you have the influencers weighing in, you have the doctors weighing in. Opinions are misconstrued as facts when reels go viral. On social media, especially now when you can buy reach, everything including following or even trolling is just business as usual. It is becoming more confusing than ever as everyone comes across as an expert.