World Health Day: Gulshan Devaiah opens up about his unique lifestyle
With people being conscious of their health today, there are several food consumption patterns which have weaved into the daily routine and is now a permanent part of their lifestyle. Actor Gulshan Devaiah too follows a routine of eating a meal a day. He opens up about his eating habits, health benefits and workout routine.
Excerpts from the chat…
Tell us about your unique diet?
Technically it’s called OMAD [One meal a day] where people fast for 22-23 hours and then eat a huge meal over an hour or two depending on how slowly or fast they consume food. But I do have my coffee with milk and sugar so technically I am not doing any kind of fasting because I am consuming calories, albeit restricted to just two cups a day. I don’t have any particular name for this diet, its part of my lifestyle now since 2018. However, it’s a slightly modified version of OMAD.
Since you eat once, what does it comprise?
Sometimes, just about whatever I can think of. That’s the point of eating once a day for me because then I can eat whatever I want. But most of the time it consists of raw food like fruits and salads and cooked vegetables, meat and carbohydrate; towards the end I may or may not consume a sweet dish or a soup. I try and keep the meal quite light in terms of not consuming heavy or watery foods so that it doesn’t fill me up quickly. It takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to consume the meal. I have to eat enough calories in order to maintain my weight for my height.
Do you indulge yourself in cheat days? If yes, what do you eat?
Yes. Sweets, high calorie food, pizzas, Biryani! On my cheat days it’s usually more than one meal a day and that could be a birthday or a holiday or just for no reason. The idea is to be consistent with one meal a day which I achieve about 85-90 per cent of the time so, the other days depending on the mood I eat.
What are the health benefits you noticed after switching to this lifestyle?
My weight is under control and has stopped fluctuating. Water retention has come down. Bowel movements are better. I sleep better. I have more stable energy through the day. My body temperature is more regulated because my digestive system is not constantly working. My energy levels don’t fluctuate. If I don’t eat enough food in that one meal then sometimes my blood sugar may drop but that’s extremely rare. Now I am experienced enough to know how much food I need to eat. On a very sweaty day I’d probably have some ORS just to keep my electrolytes in balance.
Do exercises and workouts complement your diet?
Absolutely! Three or four times a week I exercise with one of the days being pretty intense and the rest moderate. I used to go to the gym and do MMA to functional equipments and all but now I workout at home. It’s a combination of boxing routine, weight lifting and body weight exercises like pull ups and push-ups. The duration is about 30-40 minutes. My goal is to have a neutral body which I feel good about.