OFF THE TABLE The one thing that you will never find on these city nutritionists’ plates

They never tire of telling you to eat a well-rounded diet involving whole grains, vegetables and fruits, or to keep off your favourite bites — fried foods, colas and pastries. But what foods do nutritionists and dieticians themselves avoid to stay healthy and fit? Mirror asks experts to share their diet secrets. Vinod Channa Celeb diet advisor  AVOIDS MEAT GRAVY      When it comes to chicken or fish dishes, I never eat the gravy because it is soaked in all the fat of the meat that it holds. I separate the meat chunks and eat them as they are. I also never reach for pastries when I get a sweet craving. I snack on dates instead.      Also, as a rule, I stay off white rice because it contains both fat and carbs, and the fat gets stored in your system. Brown rice though is fat-free, packed with pure carbs and a lot of high-quality protein. Kajal S Khaturia Dietician  AVOIDS 'DIET' FOODS      Iam so wary of diet foods that I don't touch any snack with a 'diet' label, because although they are baked instead of fried, they are high on salt content. You are essentially replacing too much fat with too much sodium. Diet khari, for instance, is full of hydrogenated fat, which is the same semi-solid, trans fat you find on the sides of an oil pan in which vadas have been fried for hours. Even wheat kharis are laden with trans fats so that they are soft.      Also, artificial sweeteners an absolute 'no-no' for me. The 'nutritive sweeteners' present in candies and some chocolates, for instance, give 2-3 kilocalories per gram while sugar gives 4 kilocalories per gram. I would rather have a teaspoon of sugar, if at all, as it has no sideeffects unlike nutritive sweeteners which cause diarrhoea if consumed in excess. I also avoid non-nutritive sweeteners found in zero-calorie drinks, because there are studies which claim that they may damage our nerves in the long run. Shonali Sabherwal Macrobiotic diet expert  AVOIDS DAIRY PRODUCTS      Istay off all dairy products because I believe our body doesn't assimilate them well. Unlike the olden days when milk would be pure, dairy is far from healthy now due to pasteurisation and homogenisation. Not only are they very high in saturated fat, dairy foods predispose you to cholesterol deposits and their protein, casein, doesn't augur well for our bodies. We end up with digestive problems and fat deposits in the gut. Also, the pH balance (measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution) of dairy products is very high.      What's also banned for me is sugar. It doesn't give you anything, but strips you of minerals and makes you prone to a lot of melodrama like anxiety and mood swings. Apart from throwing off the pancreas and stomach out of gear, sugar also adversely affects the spleen, which is governed by the emotions of anxiety and worry. Also, it disturbs the body's pH balance. I prefer using grain-based sweeteners, or at times, agave. Samreedhi Goel Nutritionist  AVOIDS 'SUGAR-FREE' PRODUCTS      Ialways make it a point to read the labels of each item I buy. Breakfast cereals and some cookies, for instance, have a lot of added sugars that are buried in fine print under terms like malt extracts and fructose corn syrup. Often, products that scream 'sugar free' are laden with hidden sugar components that I am always keep an eye out for. While we are mindful of adding sugar to our coffee, we are getting cheated by loading unnecessary calories in our system by letting these slip through. I ensure I don't fall prey to that.      I also never eat salads at restaurants in the rainy season, mainly because leafy veggies like lettuce may harbour worms. Also, I never touch sauces and chutneys given as accompaniments with Chinese or Indian cuisine as those bottles, having been used by other patrons, contain a high bacterial count. Besides, to preserve them for long, a lot of oil and salt is added. You can certainly do without them.