{"id":110505,"date":"2026-08-26T09:36:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T09:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/26\/understand-food-dont-fear-it-dr-ridhima-khamesra-launches-new-book-in-delhi\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T09:36:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T09:36:01","slug":"understand-food-dont-fear-it-dr-ridhima-khamesra-launches-new-book-in-delhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/26\/understand-food-dont-fear-it-dr-ridhima-khamesra-launches-new-book-in-delhi\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cUnderstand Food, Don\u2019t Fear It\u201d: Dr. Ridhima Khamesra launches new book in Delhi"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The event also featured a panel discussion with<\/em><em>\u00a0Food historian and Padma Shri awardee Pushpesh Pant; Millet Chef of India Vikas Chawla; Dr. Anshuman Kaushal, Director of Robotic, GI, Minimal Access and Bariatric Surgery at CK Birla Hospital; and Commonwealth and Asian Games Gold medallist Nupur Sheoran<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>New Delhi [India], August 26:<\/strong>\u00a0Clinical dietitian, wellness coach and nutritionist Dr. Ridhima Khamesra launched her new book,\u00a0<em><strong>Food Is Not the Enemy<\/strong><\/em><strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The event was presented by the\u00a0<strong>Prabha Khaitan Foundation in association with Kitaab Books. The book carries a foreword by Dr. Mickey Mehta,\u00a0<\/strong>a leading global holistic health guru, life coach, and fitness icon from India.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Food Is Not the Enemy<\/em>\u00a0draws on Dr. Ridhima\u2019s years in clinical practice. It offers a science-backed, myth-busting approach to nutrition, rooted in Indian food culture. The book spans 30 chapters. It begins with the basics of nutrition, moves through everyday eating and lifestyle habits, and covers condition-specific guidance on weight management, diabetes, heart health, gut health, PCOS, and perimenopause. It closes with a look at diet trends, supplements, and social media misinformation. The book includes patient stories from Dr. Ridhima\u2019s own clinic, along with expert input from doctors across cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and gynaecology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The evening featured a\u00a0<strong>panel discussion with food historian and Padma Shri awardee Shri Pushpesh Pant; Millet Chef of India Vikas Chawla (Ambassador of\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Millets, NITI Aayog and Nutrihub, Government of India); Dr. Anshuman Kaushal, Director of Robotic, GI, Minimal Access and Bariatric Surgery at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram; and Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallist Nupur Sheoran; alongside the author.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In her opening remarks, Dr. Ridhima said her clinical practice has changed over the years. Fewer patients ask what to eat. More ask for reassurance that ordinary foods are safe to eat at all. \u201cThe problem was never the dal, rice, roti, potato or mango,\u201d she said. \u201cThe problem is fear, misinformation and extremes.\u201d This idea, that food itself is not the issue, framed the evening\u2019s discussion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The panel explored the subject from different angles.\u00a0<strong>Shri Pushpesh Pant said India\u2019s relationship\u00a0<\/strong><strong>with food has changed more in the last three decades than in the previous three centuries. He pointed to fermentation, seasonal eating, and the use of spices as practices that existed in Indian kitchens long before modern nutrition science gave them names.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chef Vik<\/strong><strong>as Chawla spoke about how imported grains like quinoa and kale became aspirational, while Indian staples like ragi, jowar, bajra, kangni, and kodo quietly disappeared from urban kitchens. He made the case for bringing these grains back into everyday meals.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Dr. Anshuman Kaushal addressed the flood of nutrition advice online. He raised a simple question: how much of it is backed by science, and how much is just confident storytelling?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Nupur Sheoran shared an athlete\u2019s view on nutrition and performance. She described discipline not as never breaking routine, but as knowing how to return to it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lighter segment of the evening, called the \u2018Khalnayak\u2019 round, asked panelists to give quick verdicts on foods often blamed for poor health, including rice, ghee, potato, milk, fruit, and dal. The round sparked a lively, and at times disagreeing, exchange on which foods deserved their bad reputation.\u00a0<strong>Closing the discussion, Dr. Ridhima returned to her opening question and asked whether views in the room had shifted. She restated what she called the core message of her book: \u201cDon\u2019t just count calories. Count nourishment.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>She added that health depends as much on\u00a0sleep, movement, and stress as it does on food. She closed with the line, \u201cHealth does not come from fearing food. It comes from understanding it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About Dr. Ridhima Khamesra<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Ridhima Khamesra is an award-winning clinical dietitian, wellness coach and nutritionist. She is the founder of Ridhima Khamesra\u2019s\u00a0Diet Clinic. Her honours include the Atal Bihari Achievement Samman (2022), the title of North India\u2019s Most Trusted Dietitian (2023), and recognition from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries and NITI Aayog for her national contribution to nutrition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>If you object to the content of this press release, please notify us at pr.error.rectification@gmail.com. We will respond and rectify the situation within 24 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The event also featured a panel discussion with\u00a0Food historian and Padma Shri awardee Pushpesh Pant; Millet Chef of India Vikas Chawla; Dr. Anshuman Kaushal, Director of Robotic, GI, Minimal Access and Bariatric Surgery at CK Birla Hospital; and Commonwealth and Asian Games Gold medallist Nupur Sheoran New Delhi [India], August 26:\u00a0Clinical dietitian, wellness coach and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-110505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}