Blinding Them With Science

Here’s another weekly report I wrote for Atul. Progress looks so much better when you summarize it on paper, don’t you think?

“I have begun more intensive work on the nutrition aspect of the hostel food service at KLB College. One problem that continuously plagues my progress is the internet connection. John did a fantastic job setting up wi-fi and a strong internet here, but as with any aspect of technology, there are sometimes unavoidable difficulties. As such, I have been unable to complete my research on the nutritive values of the ingredients served in the hostel. I am about three-fourths done, and provided I will have access to the internet in the future, I should finish it next week.

“Here is a summary of my nutritional profile so far. I have broken each day’s menu down into the raw ingredients used in each recipe. That was rather simple, considering that Indian cuisine takes raw vegetables, legumes and grains and cooks them simply. For example, chapattis are made with nothing but whole-wheat flour and water. Since there are no calories in water, all I had to do was make a few chapattis to estimate the amount of whole-wheat flour that goes into each one. Main courses were only a little bit more difficult. The dal dishes served were mostly water and spices, only about one-third dal. This observation was determined after “auditing” several meals and preparations in the kitchen. Of course, no matter how much measuring I do, I can never be exact about the amount of food given to each student, which is why I estimated the maximum and minimum amount of food served to each girl to get a range of values as well as an average. This was determined by both observing their eating habits and interviewing a random sampling of students – between five and ten out of the 37 currently living in the hostel – as well as measuring the plates used to serve the food. Thus, I was able to come up with a summary of all the raw ingredients consumed by the girls and their estimated amounts. What remains is to analyze their nutritional content, and I am in the process of that right now, using the USDA’s extensive database.

“There is, of course, much room for error. The biggest is that the girls most likely obtain food from outside the hostel kitchen each day. Also, the girls range in age, size and physical activity, which are the three principal determinants of energy consumption. In other words, each girl is different and requires different amounts of calories, fat, carbohydrates and protein to meet their specific needs. Plus, they generally tend to be very small for their age, at least compared to American women aged 18-22. Again, all I can do is estimate and come up with ranges that encompass as many girls as possible.

“To that end, I have come up with a plan for how to proceed with my nutritional profile, and I have discussed these methods with Principal Ramdev. First, I will conduct informal interviews with some, but not all, of the hostelites (the word used to describe the girls living in the hostel) to determine their levels of physical activity, as well as what food they eat outside of the mess hall. In these interviews I will also record their weight and age, but I will do so without recording their name. These figures will remain anonymous. Using this information, I can calculate their basal metabolic rate (BMR) and general physical activity level (PAL), which I can then use to determine their total energy expenditure (TEE). These calculations come from a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations University (UNU), written in 2004. By comparing these figures with the figures I will eventually procure from my analysis of the hostel menu, I will be able to draw some conclusions as to whether the food served in the hostel sufficiently contributes to a healthy diet, as well as whether hostel living in itself promotes a healthy lifestyle.

“At this point I must clarify that I am not a trained dietician, nor am I an expert in nutrition or fitness. I will not be making any changes or suggestions to the way things are done here at KLB without running them by Principal Ramdev, Neetu the cook, and Madam Utra the warden. Any conclusions I make and any work I do will be based on well-documented sources and none of it will be my personal opinion.

“In addition to my work on the nutritional profile, this week I also continued my learning about the way business is run at KLB and in India in general. Principal Ramdev is a very accommodating supervisor of my work, and he approves almost every single one of my requests. I have helped financially support some more of my cooking and baking, but he and KLB are still extremely generous in their funding. Honestly, I haven’t used more than 3,000 rupees (about 68 USD) worth of ingredients since I got here, so it’s not that much, and I have purchased about half of that, but it still means a lot that they are willing to support me. This week I made falafel and spicy mustard to go with it. The falafel was a hit, and while the mustard received less praise, it was at least spicy enough for Indian palates. It has become something of a contest, with these people challenging me to making something as spicy as possible for them, and me continuously falling short, no matter how much chili powder I use. I also experimented with another eggless brownie recipe which turned out much better than the first. Not only is it vegetarian, but it only uses four raw ingredients – flour, sugar, butter and chocolate – so it is relatively cheap to make. It needs more fine-tuning, and I need more practice working in the kitchen with that equipment, but it is promising.

“The work ethic here is much different than in the U.S. Things move at a much slower pace, and there is more independence and individual responsibility on the students to complete their work. Chai breaks are common, and most of the teachers and students are done with their work by two in the afternoon. Classes are only 35 minutes long, much shorter than the 50, 120 or 160 minute classes in the states. I am frequently told by Principal Ramdev and the other teachers to just sit down, relax and take it easy (shanti, in Hindi). This is something that will be hard for me to get used to.

“I am also making some friends among the staff here. I eat lunch every day with Ajay, an economics teacher; Anupam, the PE teacher; Jitender, who teaches science; and Pravesh, the computer instructor and the man who helped John install the wi-fi system. On a related note, I think I am getting better at remembering Indian names, at which I was horrible a few weeks ago. I look forward to learning more Hindi as the semester progresses.”

Let me tell you, it was a little bit awkward asking Principal Ramdev and Madam Utra if I could weigh the girls to determine their energy requirements. If I tried that with 18-22 year old Americans, I probably would have been slapped. Yet here, some girls had no problem with volunteering that information, and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because body image is much more secure here and not as big a deal, or maybe they just have less of a problem with surrendering personal information. Anyway, I’m grateful, because it means I can be that much more accurate in my nutritional profile. In life, accuracy is everything.

I must also confess that I’m having a little fun researching all of this nutrition information and making calculations about food. I always hated doing math, but like I mentioned in an earlier post, when it has to do with food, anything is fun for me. Even science.