Daanish Khan, who is a Dubai-based event planner and husband of Umarah Naushad Ali, the granddaughter of the legendary music composer Naushad Ali and daughter of Rehman Naushad Ali, says being slim doesn’t mean the person is healthy. He said, “I don’t understand how health is connected to being slim. Your healthy body could be anything. Undoubtedly, as long as you are fit and you have a good metabolism, you have a good energy level, and you’re able to perform your day-to-day duties without getting tired.”
“And all this means you are on the right track. But the idea that slim is the new healthy is not true at all, and it cannot be true. Undoubtedly, obesity is also not healthy, and being too slim is also not healthy. Being in the right shape and being moderate would be the healthiest thing to do,” he added.
For Daanish, health takes the utmost priority. He feels that if the body is healthy, then you can work and you will be able to make wealth. He added, “If you don’t have a healthy body, how would you be making wealth? So, health is indeed wealth, and it’s very much connected to your overall mindset of the body.”
Of late, a lot of videos by health and fitness influencers are being shared on social media platforms. But Daanish doesn’t follow any. He said, “I do have a personal trainer, Tejas, and Sandeep. One is in India for me, and the other one is here in Dubai for me. So whatever my physique and my weight loss have been, it has been all because of them, because they have guided me, and trained me over the years, so I follow their regime and their diet. And they always say, ‘Eat organic food, don’t go too far on these things. You can eat whatever you want. You eat in proportion,’ I think the most important thing is to eat in proportion so that you stay healthy. I don’t accept that being slim is healthy, which is not true at all.”
He also mentioned that sugar should be avoided as much as possible. He emphasised that a lot of processed food is being advertised as healthy, but people should be careful while getting it.
“Advertisements have played a very important role. For example, I really don’t understand how certain things can be healthy when they are processed foods. They’re calling it completely healthy food, and it is actually processed food. So it’s all about advertising and how you do it. For example, if you take a simple example of juice, juice is sugar.”
“Sugar is the worst thing, which is good. Sugar is a multi-billion-dollar industry, but it’s still a drug. You can’t avoid sugar. They say fresh fruit juices, but it’s still sugar. So it’s all about the advertisement that natural juices are there and all, but still, it is. At the end of the day, sugar is a drug, and you can’t have sugar in your body. Undoubtedly, advertising always plays an important part. Honestly, no, we don’t,” he added.
So, do you read the ingredients before buying any food item? “I don’t think so. We are going into so much depth by reading the ingredients that are there once in a blue moon. Yes, on certain items, I would definitely have to look at them, but on 90% of the items, I won’t look at the ingredients that are there. But I think we should start looking at that. There should be some app or something that could just tell you, you scan it, and you can just give it. It could also be an idea to have a business model. But honestly, no, we don’t look into so many details when we are buying stuff. Yes, there are many items that would actually. That is not healthy for the body, but we still consume it on a day-to-day basis, as I said before. Fresh fruit juices are also examples. You take sugar, but at the end of the day, it is fresh fruit juice, it is fructose. You’re still taking sugar into your body. So sugar is not good for the body.”
