GIVE ME MY DAILY PLATE OF HAPPINESS

To each his own way towards health and happiness!

For Nishat Fatima, it’s a plate of muffins (maybe not the whole plate). The Paris-trained photographer, the former editor of Harper’s Bazaar, author & home chef, shares how she learnt to have her dessert and eat it too, guilt-free!

The first time I moved to Delhi in 2005, I put on 5kgs in a month. This was shocking as my weight had hardly ever varied. But more so because I’d just bought a pair of jeans and didn’t fit into them any longer! It took me some time to figure out the culprits: no breakfast, eating out, a love for buttery lachha paranthas and food insecurity — the need to eat large quantities of whatever was placed in front of me, because I wasn’t sure where my next meal would come from, and whether it would be edible.

I’ve never forgotten these lessons and have worked over time to ensure that I don’t repeat these mistakes, because I enjoy food (especially buttery lachha paranthas) and I don’t want to worry about it or how it effects my body. By the time I was in Delhi again (Nishat hails from Hyderabad) in 2012 as editor of Harper’s Bazaar India, I had some rules in place. Hire a cook because it’s no joy to prepare three meals a day. Have a satisfying breakfast and a home-cooked lunch to be eaten communally. Bring snacks from home (I brought muffins), so there’s something at hand when hunger strikes at 5pm, and you don’t end up ravenous at dinner, vacuuming up everything in sight.

I learnt to cook and serve meals at the table, even if I was the only one eating. I packed what I couldn’t eat at restaurants. I gave myself free rein with desserts — I’ve found I don’t need much if I’m not denying myself. Eating good food makes me happy, but it doesn’t have to be gourmet. Even a good dal can make a meal. The main thing is to know yourself and figure out the menu that ticks all the right boxes.

Go ahead, make the promise to eat right (not sad) and follow through with the list of things-to-do to keep the promise to yourself.

Good food makes me happy but I’ve realised it doesn’t have to be gourmet. A good dal does it too...