Yes! ``Slimming is not starving but enjoying a complete meal,'' is the new revolutionary concept on weight loss being promoted by western health experts, but totally rejected by the doctors here.

``The more we try to reduce our food intake, the greater is the tendency of the human body to build up reserves, which paradoxically gives rise to a situation where the less you eat, the more weight you put,'' says French nutritionist Michel Montignac.

``Calories have nothing to do with the flab that you keep on adding to your frame over the years,'' he says not ruling out chocolates, wine and cheese.

``Eating carbohydrates with high glycaemia levels results in more insulin production in the body than one can take care of. Too much insulin aids storage of fat reserves,'' the `diet guru' and author of best-seller `Eat Yourself Slim' says.

But doctors and dieticians here disagree with this view and prefer to stick to the conventional method of controllingdiet.

``If calorie intake is increased, it will surely result in weight gain, says Priyanka Nair, slimming manager at Curles And Curves.

Linking obesity to change in food habits, she says, ``It is switching over to industrialised food products which has led to the sudden rise in obesity cases.''

``It is not eating but overeating or increased calorie intake which results in gaining weight,'' says Dr Madhu Bhatt, a practising physician.

But Montignac says there is no relation between calorie intake and fat storage. ``Different foods invoke different bio-chemical responses in the body. It is the quality of the carbohydrates you eat that is important and not the quantity,'' he says.

Quoting studies, he says ``only 14 per cent of obese eat more, 25 per cent eat like others while a majority of them eat very little...old dietary control method practised commonly has an unsuccessful history.''

``Americans are most obsessed with the idea of low calorie diet to combat weight gain. But it has not helped onebit,'' he says, quoting studies on American obesity which show that although Americans have constantly reduced their energy intake during past 15 years, obesity cases have risen by more than 30 per cent there.

``All this is despite regular exercises, and perpetual low calorie diets that most Americans live most of their lives,'' he says, adding like Americans, even Indians suffer from the problem of obesity and believe in the age-old dietary control method.

Montignac claims his method is a simple reorganisation of eating by rediscovering the most appropriate way to eat. ``It not only prevents weight gain, but also ensures good health. Montignac method involves changing eating habits by avoiding bad carbohydrates -- foods low in nutrients like potatoes, white flour, white rice, cooked carrots, pumpkin, watermelon, soft drinks, jam, synthetic orange juice and biscuits.

Contrary to this, all natural and non-refined foods including fruits, vegetables, dry vegetables help one remain slim, he says.

Mair,who agrees with Montignac here, says ``even we at out slimming centres advise obese to avoid these industrialised food products.''

Montignac finds India the easiest of countries where people can get quick results with his programme, since all the foods he recommends are available here. He says more and more people are gaining weight across the world because of shift to eating synthetic packaged food.

Michel has created a range of exclusive food products, rich in fibre and devoid of sugar, indispensable for those who want to change their dietary habits and adopt the nutritional balanced approach enshrined in his methods.