We sat down with one of the most successful nutritionists and dietitians in the country and got to know about her passion and profession.
Grazia: Tell us about yourself.
Tehreem: My name is Tehreem Khan Sargani and I am a Clinical Nutritionist and Dietitian. It has been more than 3 years since I joined the practice and Alhamdulillah now I am considered amongst Pakistan’s leading nutritionists. I have my own Health and Nutrition Company know as TSK Diet Pvt. Ltd. which is Pakistan’s first therapeutic diet clinic that offers online. This is specific kind of service which covers clinical side of nutrition for management of different diseases. I have a hand-picked and well-trained team of nutritionists working under my supervision. Currently I am working with few celebrities and different organisations for awareness purpose.
Grazia: Tell us about yourself.
Tehreem: My name is Tehreem Khan Sargani and I am a Clinical Nutritionist and Dietitian. It has been more than 3 years since I joined the practice and Alhamdulillah now I am considered amongst Pakistan’s leading nutritionists. I have my own Health and Nutrition Company know as TSK Diet Pvt. Ltd. which is Pakistan’s first therapeutic diet clinic that offers online. This is specific kind of service which covers clinical side of nutrition for management of different diseases. I have a hand-picked and well-trained team of nutritionists working under my supervision. Currently I am working with few celebrities and different organisations for awareness purpose.
Grazia: Tell us how you get into this field?
Tehreen: Well in my earliest days I was a free soul who lived life to the fullest and I still am that way. I never had one specific field of interest. Life is all about going with the flow for me. At one time I wanted to become a designer. After I finished my intermediate, I got admission in Kinnaird College Lahore where I spent 4 semesters studying Zoology and I had no clue what I was doing. I was least interested in the subject so I realised after those 4 semesters that I should be studying a field that is at least health related. I did my bachelors and majored in Food and Nutrition. I realised that is where my heart had always been. I was an enthusiastic person from the beginning, always on the hunt of doing something different. I thought this was not enough so I started working as a freelance nutritionist and alongside continued doing my Mphil in Human Nutrition and Dietetics. By the time I completed my masters in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, I had made my name in the field by constantly working online. Instagram gave me a huge edge in this regard.
While I was doing my masters I realised that there were a lot of misconceptions and misinterpretations related to the word “dieting”. This word should not give stress to people after all the word has Tehreem Khan Sargani We sat down with one of the most successful nutritionists and dietitians in the country and got to know about her passion and profession. roots in something related to food and food means pleasure and satisfaction. That is when I realised to make my work unique, and to be honest now I spend more time convincing people to eat more than to eat less.
Grazia: What aspects of nutrition do you feel are most important to address when consulting clients?
Tehreen: Trends come and go and unfortunately we are living in an era where every new thing in the market is to be tested. This takes the most effort because we need to properly counsel our clients in detail. There are a lot of myths associated with ‘diet culture’ in our society, from totkas to crash diets and starving the body out of nutrition.
Grazia: What kind of meal plans have you put together for your clients in the past.
Tehreen: I believe in agnostic dietary approaches for each client. I have clients all over the globe with different ethnic backgrounds so it is very important that we respect their culture and make their cultural foods a part of their diet plan, to make it easier for them and in order for them to follow the diet without any hesitations. So for most of my clients it is a mix and match of both their native and continental dishes.
Grazia: Can you tell us some dos and don’ts of dieting?
Tehreen: Never trust your body with someone who is not qualified and trained. I always believe that you cannot be trained at something you are not passionate about and it works on both sides. If a person doesn’t have skills to perform different diets, at the end he is going to wreck his metabolism and a lot of subclinical disorders will be caused. Hence, first investigate and do proper research before you choose a healthcare professional because there are a lot of quacks in the market now.
What you should not do is never go for a thing that works on some other person and believe that it will work the same way for you too. One size doesn’t fit all. Unfortunately here in Pakistan there is a major lack of nutritional knowledge but thanks to social media and hard working well-qualified nutritionists, things are changing now.
Grazia: Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Tehreen: Well as I said earlier, life is all about going with the flow for me. I never plan things for the next day. I just get the work done which is already on my table in front of me. But I do have a strong belief in hard work and consistency of doing hard work. So for now I just get my work done and enjoy my favourite series with a hot cup of tea.
Grazia: What do you have to say to people about nutrition/meal plans and why customised diet planning is important?
Tehreen: Our bodies are different from each other, even our fingerprints never match each so how can we expect our entire body to react the same way it did for the other person? Of course the idea of getting a customised meal plan is heart wrenching for some people because they always want to fit in someone else’s pants. So get over it and start buying your own pants 😉
Grazia: Share something for our readers that may be important in terms of nutrition/ diet and meal planning?
Tehreen: Like I mentioned earlier, I can not emphasize enough on this point. You must do your part of research before choosing your healthcare professional because you are about to trust that person with your body and metabolism. After that the first step into this should be that you must enjoy your food because food means nurture and health. If you are deprived of energy and constantly trying hard to stay on the track then definitely you’re not on the right path that is meant to be for you. So always think about your health first and whatever your ultimate goal is, it’s going to follow you.