Mishel Akbar, who is ‘@eatmostlygreens‘ on Instagram takes the spotlight at FUCHSIA this week for making healthy eating and weight loss as easy as it can get for desi people! (All while having your favourite desi foods)
We’re sure you have heard countless times by now that the best way to lose weight the “right” way is to keep a caloric deficit. This means eating less than your maintenance calories every day, which in turn causes you to lose weight. But how do we calculate our maintenance calories, or perhaps the important question is, how do we calculate the calories in our desi foods? If you’re facing the same dilemma, Mishel Akbar who is @eatmostlygreens on Instagram is the best person to turn to!
From teaching us simple formulas to calculate our maintenance calories to introducing us to the ‘plate method.’ Her content is super engaging and helpful.
Mishel is a dietician who, apart from the many laudable things she does, also creates content that focuses on weight loss and a balanced diet eating desi food. Yeah, pretty cool right? Especially because we have grown up thinking desi food is ‘unhealthy’ or too ‘oily’, and the only way to lose weight is by eating salads and bland foods.
While scrolling through her content, we were intrigued to inquire more about her journey, the inspiration behind her content, the reason behind her focus on desi food and so much more. Keeping scrolling to read our conversation with Mishel Akbar.
What Is The Inspiration Behind Your Content? And Why The Focus On Desi Food?
My inspiration has always been my parents. One of my parents takes care of themselves a lot through food and nutrition and exercise and the other person, unfortunately, does not and I have clearly seen a huge difference in the quality of life and their longevity.
Mishel Akbar
Mishel’s parents have been an inspiration for her on how nutrition and dietetics and preventative medicine can play a big role in someone’s life and how they operate.
The focus on desi content comes from her love for desi food and how much she enjoys having it. Not only that, but desi people have shown a lot of love and appreciation for her desi content, so for her, the feedback motivates her more and reinforces the idea.
What Has Been Your Biggest Setback & How Did You Overcome It?
I would definitely say that my biggest setback has been myself. There aren’t many desi people who have invested their lives in the preventative side of medicine and who have really studied nutrition and dietetics the way it needs to be studied and the way it needs to be taught the evidence-based way.
Mishel Akbar
“It was a fight in myself to be on this side of medicine rather than on the prescriptive side of being an MD or a DEO or anything like that, so it has really been myself,” she added.
But the amount of love I have received from everybody and the amount of appreciation that everybody has shown to the content and to what I share has reinforced the idea that I am on the right track.
Mishel Akbar
What Is The Biggest Misconception People Have When It Comes To Weight Loss?
The biggest misconception that a lot of people have is that they cannot consume desi food when they are trying to lose weight or when they are trying to eat clean. People have this misconception that desi food is not healthy, which Mishel states is not true.
According to her, you can be eating desi food and desi desserts and still drop weight and lead a very healthy life. Shocker, isn’t it?
You can be eating salans and rotis and biryanis and things like that and still lead a very very healthy life.
Mishel Akbar
What’s The Goal Behind Your Content?
Through her content, she wants people to feel inspired and motivated to lead a healthy and nutritious life. She also wants her followers to focus on their long-term goals instead of just dropping weight.
The goal behind my content is to make someone who comes to my page feel inspired and motivated to lead a very healthy and nutritious, active life. And if perhaps they are not on that stage, then to promote that kind of mindset in them that helps them think about long-term goals and long-term longevity and disease prevention rather than the current goal of looking nice or dropping those 5 pounds.
Mishel Akbar
What drew us towards Mishel’s content is that she is making healthy eating as easy as it can get. She is shifting the narrative. Healthy eating is not as dreadful as we have grown up thinking, you do not have to starve yourself to lose weight, in fact, you can even include your favourite foods in your diet every day and not gain weight!
Her content is a testament to the fact that losing weight is not synonymous with making drastic changes to your diet. You can eat your favourite desi foods and still lead a healthy balanced life. To check out her content, click here.
Mishel Akbar is a Pakistani-American based in the US. She has a degree in Biology from the University of Illinois, Chicago and she has a second degree in bachelor in Dietetics from North Carolina Central University. She is currently enrolled in a master’s program in clinical nutrition from Rogers State University. She also offers her services in different hospitals in New Jersey. Apart from being a student, she has her private practice ‘Eat Mostly Greens LLC.’ To read more about her, click here.
