Take a casual stroll along Bangalore’s Brigade Road, Mumbai’s Linking Road, or Delhi’s Vasant Vihar. You’ll see more than a fair share of shapely midriffs and bulging biceps.

In the seventies and eighties an overweight Sangjeev Kumar might have been accepted as a hero, but today it’s more likely that Salman Khan or Hritik rules. Although a fleshy Hema Malini and Sridevi generated much excitement in their time, it now takes the lissome charms of Priyanka Chopra and Aish to thrill.

It seems there is a rising trend among urban Indians to look after their bodies, and maybe a trend to eat healthy as well.

The fitness wave swept India in the nineties. Gyms, health clubs, and fitness centers have mushroomed all over the country, and more joggers and walkers are pounding the pathways of parks than ever before. However, although more markets are launching products for consumers who keep an eye on their waistline, there is still a tendency to eat arbitrarily.

So, the question is, even if Indians take this fitness trend into consideration, how many of them are also eating healthy?

Fitness is not as alien a concept as it was decade ago. The health clubs and aerobic centers, which have been around for some time, are now emphasizing not just fewer calories but high nutrition. For example, Talwalkar’s of Mumbai that started off as a gym has evolved into a fitness center providing a whole range of services, including that of a nutritionist.

Statistics show that the sale of health drinks, skimmed milk and fruit juices is growing. And city people in India are readily buying not only juices, but also whole wheat breads and biscuits. Five years ago you had to go to special bakeries to buy whole wheat bread, but today everyone is selling it. Whole wheat bread seems to have become a mass selling item. Companies known for their junk food are trying hard to launch health products, and health snacks such as sesame cookies or roasted namkeens are now available, although mostly in specialty shops. All these are visible sings that the process has started. Even the way the Indians eat breakfast has started to change. Kelloggs, which had a shaky start, is now doing fairly well in India. It has in fact created a new market and even the Indian markers of ready-made-cereals are cashing in on this trend. Some typically Indian good-for-health cereals such as Dalia (broken whole wheat) is now easily available in “easy to cook” packets. All these cereals sell on a health platform: Extra fiber, extra vitamins, and extra minerals… A big change from some of the traditional Indian breakfasts, which consisted of saturated in ghee or oil and other fried goodies.

At this rate, products such as sugar free cakes and jams, fat free mayonnaise and cheese are likely to make inroads into the Indian market in a big way, too. Already, we see some Indian foods being customized for the diet conscious. In some exotic bakeries you get fat free samosas, baked namkeen, and maybe one day soon they shall get sugar free jalebis and fat-less gulab jamuns.

However, skepticism exists in spite of all these signs. Nita Kulkarni, a writer based in India, argued that it’s been only superficially entrenched into their lifestyle, even when just talking urban.

In an article he wrote for A&M magazine, Kulkarni questioned the Indian’s motives to eat healthy—is it health they are looking for or is it a sexy figure? According to that article, the figure conscious, upper class teenagers insisting on low cal food and drink, and what drives them is not health.

No matter the main objective of today’s Indian is to be healthy or look good, the importance of healthy eating is creeping in. Maybe it’s going to be a while before the health consciousness levels in India rise to western standards, but it is rising—slowly, and, steadily.