The dietician responsible for Kareena's size zero is out with a book that waxes eloquent on women and the tamasha that surrounds weight loss. Really?

Her first book, Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight, is still on bestseller lists over a year after it took credit for Kareena Kapoor's figure in Tashan. This month's launch of nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar's second book, Women and the Weight Loss Tamasha, therefore, was highly anticipated. Complete with a handwritten note by Bebo, this one focusses on women and how they should nourish themselves at each point in life. Does it live up? Mostly, yes.



The division of the stages in a woman's life are pertinent -- Diwekar covers teens, marriage, pregnancy and menopause, and gives you sensible advice to keep your body fit through each phase. She tells teenagers to not fall prey to peer pressure, apart from busting myths. A lot of the advice is not new, but one look at today's skinny schoolgirls forever obsessing about their weight, and you can't fault her for drilling in the message.

Then there is the chapter on marriage. Easily our pick, despite the digressions into rants against misogyny, this one tells every married Indian woman what she desperately needs to hear -- putting her nutritional needs first will not make her a vamp. Meaning, you need to eat either with or before the husband and kids instead of starving yourself in your quest to be the perfect wife.

Diwekar may be a nutritionist, but her progressive stance makes her much more. Throughout the book runs a constant vein of humanism -- your happiness cannot hinge upon your marriage, relationship, work or children, if you do not first invest in yourself. And did you know that the most accurate fitness measure is not the tape or the scale, but your waist-to-hip ratio? Divide your waist size by your hip size, and if the figure is 0.7, you're fit to survive, procreate and carry the human race forward.

Our main grouse is the language. A vast improvement over the 'sh*t yas' of the first one, it still assaults you with a sprinkling of "chabaoing the doctor's brain" and "dishing out corp lingo to corp types". This may appeal to a certain section, but clear and correct English wouldn't kill.u00a0

We also missed the lack of dope on the much-envied people who eat all they want while never gaining weight. Why that happens and why thin doesn't equal fit would have made this a more complete offering.

All in all, though, if you're unsure of what to eat, can't bear the sight of those love handles, and are depressed because you have polycystic ovaries (she devotes chapters to such common lifestyle diseases), pick up this book. And then put up your feet, give yourself a break, and eat, woman.