In the last of the three-part series on nutritious eating, Dr Achyuthan Eswar helps you understand the role of junk, processed and real food and how to detoxify your kitchen
Can you say that no one among your friends or family suffers from at least one of these: diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, depression, gout or cancer? No? But I'm sure you know at least 10 people facing one of these ailments.
As our food, which once gave us nutrition and cured diseases, is increasingly making us sick, the world is waking up to the impact of instant Ramen noodles, canned soup, habits like eating with the TV on, etc. The good news is that the power to reverse this lies with you.
You've already started the process with mindful eating, followed by transforming how you cook. Now it's time to choose the right ingredients to prepare delicious and healthy food. But first let us understand:
Why 'refined' became a mass reality
As the old adage goes, 'Necessity is the mother of all invention,' during the World Wars, soldiers needed food that was easy to store and transport, so it had to be light, long-lasting, edible without cooking and fairly nutritious.
Their food wasn't as good as fresh food, but then, it was food for survival.
Unfortunately, even after the wars, processing didn't stop. It only increased. Packaged foods were now marketed as 'easy to cook and carry', 'added protein and vitamins', and '2-minute' meals. Where earlier healthy plants meant good food, now, chemical additives began to determine the look, smell and taste of food.
Nature's plans vs man's creations
Nature has perfectly packaged every food for us — everything that is high in carbs and fat is also high in fibre and antioxidants. Every natural food is medicinal. Our interference is what causes problems like:
Diabetes: Sugarcane prevents it, sugar causes it. Hypertension: Vegetable salts prevent it, table salt causes it.
Heart Disease: Nuts prevent and reverse it, refined oils cause it.
Cancer: Unpolished rice prevents it, polished rice causes it. Did you know, white sugar is highly addictive? Sugar, white rice and even wheat grown the world-over, post the green revolution, are addictive and cause the above ailments! So let's make processed foods a thing of the past. Let's not allow them to rule our future. For this, be mindful about what you buy, how you cook and how you eat! Remember, eating mindfully is the key to health and living mindfully is the key to life.
Activity #1: What's in that packet
Now that you've already taken the first step towards avoiding junk by eating mindfully, and have realised it doesn't taste great, move to next one. Understand what junk is by doing the following:
Take a packet of your favourite packaged food.Read the ingredients at the back of the packet. Find 3 you don't recognise.Go online and look up what their side effects are
Activity #2: Rid your kitchen of poisons
The table below enlists ingredients that cause lifestyle disorders and suitable replacements. Take it to your kitchen, tick off everything you need to replace and head to your nearest organic shop.
Dr Achyuthan Eswar is the co-founder of PHC Lifestyle Clinic, Bangalore
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