Living here in the UAE we are all spoilt for choice when it comes to curries.

If 7DAYS Towers is anything to go by, we all tuck into delicious Indian meals at least a couple of times a week - and that’s only for lunch.

That type of diet may be frowned upon in certain quarters - but not by food writer and celebrity chef Anjum Anand.

The London-born cookery connoisseur specialises in Indian fare. It’s her passion, and she believes people have the wrong perception about the specialities of the subcontinent.

The mother of one should know, having already written a number of books on the topic.

The author of tantalisingly titled ‘Indian Every Day’ says: “I hear people saying things about heavy curries and I realised people had the wrong impression of Indian food - it can be very light.

That got me to write about Indian food.

“I guess I came to the food world looking to write a healthy Indian cookbook because there was nothing out there at the time.”
Anjum’s latest book, which came out in January, is called ‘Eat Right for Your Body Type’.

In it, the ancient science of Ayurveda is applied to our diets. She explains: “It’s all about different body types.

Everyone is talking about how we should eat - is protein good, are carbohydrates good, are eggs bad for us?

“There’s a lot of confusion for your average person and we are all told to follow guidelines. And those apply to everyone but if you look around then we all have different body types - some have fast metabolism and some have slow,” she adds.

“Some do well on meat and others naturally prefer salad - we are not all exactly equal.”

According to Ayurveda, we are all made up of the same five great elements, but always in different proportions.

Regardless of where we were brought up in the world, there are three body types we fall into - fire, earth/water and air.

Fire people have quicker metabolisms and recover really quickly.

The second body type, earth and water combined, tend to be bulkier people because they have that earth element.

Air people, meanwhile, think, move and also forget very fast - they are generally quite changeable people. And because we are all different, so diet and food should be specific to the body types.

Anjum continues: “This ancient science explains the ‘why’ of bodies. We all know people are different but we never know the why and what to do about it.

“I’ve been a big follower for years, and it’s nice to write something relevant to all our lives.

“For example, fire people really need to avoid chillies, earth and water may be a bit bulkier in general, while air people need grounding with foods like bread and butter and rice pudding.

“I wanted to write a book that would explain things simply and create an Ayurvedic diet for the modern lifestyle.”

Non-believers may scoff, pardon the pun.

But they should all have at least a quick flick through the book as Anjum says: “In the book there is a questionnaire and everyone who has done it so far, has said how clear things become.

All the issues related to a body type are explained and you will soon know which type you are if you didn’t before.”