Dieting in the city.

My mom lived in a nice world. She remained healthy and slim all her life and she had no restrictions on her diet. She would eat whatever she wished and there were no issues to discuss. My aunt lived in a nice world. She remained healthy and big all her life and she had no restrictions on her diet. She would eat whatever she wished and there were no issues to discuss. Nowadays, every second person you meet, you find her slimmer. And looking thin/big is a big issue, thing to discuss, thing to ponder. Whatever is happening to this world? Is there a food shortage or have people just stopped eating? Why is everyone dieting? Every body is aping each other and there is some sort of competition on getting thinner and thinner. Do they seriously mean to become so slim? But why? Why do people want to become so slim that they need to hold on to the lamp post every time there is a gush of strong wind? I think I know the answer. There has been advent of malls in our city. And there are fabulous clothes in every designer’s rack but they don’t seem to suit our big-sized sisters, so they have decided that they need to get into those small-sized pretty clothes. Or maybe, there are too many gyms in our city (one in every lane) and its is a in-thing to belong to some gym or other (‘Oh, what gym do you go?’, ‘I go this gym and we have this film star visiting too’. . ‘oh really, how lucky, I will join too’), It is the deep rooted desire to be the part of and belong to some group or other. Or is it that non-tasty, non-oily food/ snacks that is a craze nowadays? We are having great number of dietician who are trying out range of healthy foods and are seriously looking for big-bodied girls to experiment their stuff and miraculously, it works! The hot topic at the kitty parties is what you can and cannot eat. And the list is endless. And I am very much confused! Everybody says: Don’t eat anything white. That means bread, rice, milk and milk products, salt and sugar should be eradicated from our super-marketing list Don’t eat tin or preserved food. That means all the fragmented food like tin food, packed food, cold-stored food, chopped food should be avoided No drinks. So no coke, Fanta, soft drinks, aerated drinks, tea, coffee. No biscuits, skip the lane in a super market which has biscuits on display No chocolates, skip this row too. No fried stuff. So no samosas, batatawadas, bhajias, puris etc No Mithais or any other sweets. Bad for health. So what do I eat? Only fruits and vegetables, sprouts and nuts? Okay! So when can I eat my normal food again?