Now that you've had a look at the ingradients that go into our diet, here's how to make your programme work.

• Change your lifestyle
• Diet components
• Effects of salt and how it should be used
• Your mantra to success
• Diet plan
• DOs and DON'Ts of a successful diet plan

Change your lifestyle

High energy sources like fats and carbohydrates formed an important component in Human evolution, as it provided the concentrated energy our ancestors needed to survive. In a way, it is believed that concentrated fat sources helped speed up our evolution. But that was then, 65,000 years ago, when there were no buses, trains, rickshaws, lifts, offices, chairs, comfy beds, refrigerators... the list is inexhaustible. Additionally, the sources of the concentrated energy were totally natural, and hence crude - not refined and purified (refining and purification gives more concentration to existing concentrated fat souces). Besides, our ancestor's energy sources were certainly not derived from your local Mc Donald's outlet or a Cadbury's chocolate bar (most processed foods are bad unless you process them yourself).

Diet components

Include at least one of the components from each veggie group in your diet. This is most essential, as the body, under any circumstances, should not be deprived of essential nutrients. Totally cancel oil. It is the most obvious source of saturated and unsaturated fats in our daily diet, which we take so much for granted that we almost miss this component completely.

Effects of salt and how it should be used

Control salt. Control salt very carefully. Do not, under any circumstances, consume more than ONE LEVEL TEASPOON of salt a day. Half level teaspoon for lunch and half level tea spoon for dinner. DO NOT exceed this amount. Though salt is very important for control of water metabolism and some other very critical body functions, it's indiscriminate use leads to artery contraction, which increases blood pressure, resulting into lesser space for blood flow and more chances of heart attacks. During human evolution, salt used to be in short supply (no salt pans, remember?). So our bodies learned to stock up salt as far as possible - in whatever micro quantities it was then available from food supplies (eg. Animal blood, flesh, herbs and fruits containing trace amounts of salt and probably rock salt.)

Fortunately or unfortunately, we evolved and have full control over what we want to eat. And most of what we eat is insanely rich in ingredients which can harm (lethally, over a period of time in some cases) us in the long run. We weren't supposed to concentrate our foods. Our bodies are adapted to stock these foods (Fat and Salt) that were a prize in the days when food used to be hard to come by.

Your mantra to success

A universal mantra that works with both salt & fats: Totally Avoid all processed and packaged food or food containing ingredients sourced from pre-processed food. Personally process what you eat.

Out of above, foods like ketchup, chutneys & pickles have salt concentration of sea water or even higher. Try to completely eliminate all such sources of excessive salt. Other than what you personally add to your veggies, take no more salt at all. You do not need it, it is unnecessary indulgence and it can damage your system far more than you could ever imagine.

Diet plan

Your Motto: Eat well, Eat right, Eat at the right time.
When hungry, eat fresh fruit (excluding high sugar fruits like bananas, mangoes, green grapes and currents).
The key is not deprivation. It's Moderation. Substitute your daily quota of food with low calorie, low salt food - Natural food.

Eat frequently: Have up to 5 meals a day instead of the standard 3.
This is important so that you do not experience those surges of hunger, which force you to open the refrigerator and start stuffing yourself with all the wrong things that man made.

A diet programme using food cooked with method given in previous sections:

• As soon as you wake up: 1 Fruit
• Breakfast: 1 Sandwich (two slices of bread with vegetables like cucumber, tomato, lettuce, spinach, lemon, raw mango, coriander etc. stuffed between them. CAUTION: No adding salt - use lemon juice or curd, No Cheese/butter/sugar or any high-calorie stuff)
• Lunch: 2-3 Chapattis (depending on size of chapatti) / 4-5 slices of bread with adlib proportion of our specially prepared bhaji, a bowl of salad, some curd would do (do not exceed 1 katora). If required, treat yourself to upto maximum 1 katora (do not exceed) rice (since rice gives us the necessary carbohydrates that we are so desperately trying to substitute fats with)
• Afternoon snack (around 3 - 3:30 pm): 1 fruit (very important, as this breaks your hunger cycle at the right time)
• Breakfast (Evening, around 6 - 6:30 pm): 1 Sandwich (two slices of bread with vegetables like cucumber, tomato, lettuce, spinach, lemon, raw mango, coriander etc. stuffed between them. CAUTION: No adding salt - use lemon juice or curd, No Cheese/butter/sugar or any high-calorie stuff)
• Dinner: 2-3 Chapattis (depending on size of chapatti) / 4-5 slices of bread with adlib proportion of our specially prepared bhaji, a bowl of salad, some curd would do (do not exceed ½ - 1 katora).

DOs and DON'Ts of a successful diet plan

For a diet plan to produce results, it is very important that one adheres to these points based on common sense and experience.
Points to remember:

• DO NOT, repeat DO NOT eat rice, desserts or any high calorie food at night. You burn most of what you eat for lunch (since most of the working day lies in front of you), but at night, most of what you eat deposits.
• Do not eat in between (you won't feel the need to), do not eat wrong type of food (no matter what happens), if very hungry indulge in fruits & low calorie low salt snacks like puffed rice (kurmura).
• Most Important: Try to walk at least 15 minutes after lunch and dinner (especially after dinner). It's very important to trigger the burning process. If you do not walk after the meals, there's a good chance that you'll end up having what you eat deposit around you - the very thing you will work so hard to avoid.
• Exercise regularly. Even the best diet is no good without a proper exercise schedule.