The recent appearance of
certain ‘health food routines’, of
consuming only a very specific type of food to get into shape is all the rage
for many people. Needless to say, this is a very direct effect of our highly
urbanized lifestyle. No longer do people have time to cook and eat full meals
calmly at home, with the amount of daily living pressures on the rise, the ratio
of health has become highly imbalanced. People have now fallen prey to the
attractive goals that are projected by the so called ‘healthy dieting’ routines, the irony being that, anything that
makes a person diet or half starve themselves to be healthy is not the best way to get into shape
A very popular way of ‘healthy dieting’ that is followed
blindly by many people is that of the liquids and greens diet. Just as it says,
the person is allowed to consume only water and meager quantities of green, leafy vegetables, like that of kelp, lettuce, spinach or broccoli. What the
dieter’s fail to realize, is that, if they are not physically able enough to
sustain themselves on the afore mention items, there is a high chance of them
falling prey to stomach infections. We tend to forget that our diet must
consist of a variety of nutritious items, which can have a larger ratio towards
one type of nutrient in accordance with the need of the body.
The eating habits of
Indian’s is said to be by far, one of the best balanced for keeping healthy.
It’s no wonder our ancestor’s stayed so fit and active even in their ripe old
ages. Unlike our generation, who just gobble whatever we like or whatever is
available, as and when we please, our ancestors made it a point to eat foods
that are rich in nutrients, at a certain time with a certain pace of chewing.
According to the Upanishads, the proper way of consuming any eatable was to
chew it thoroughly 32 times, before swallowing. We might gasp at this bit of
information, but it underlines the way in which, we can keep our digestive
system healthy. Nowadays, in our haste to finish our food, we tend to not chew
it properly and end up swallowing it whole, thus causing complications to the
digestive process, which might end up negatively affecting our other bodily
systems as well.
Our biological setup also
differ, in accordance to the geographic condition that we come from. Italians
would find our amount of flavoring of food, highly overpowering and our
servings enormous, just as we may find theirs to be slightly bland with
servings too small. We should always keep in mind that, when in doubt, of what
to consume to stay healthy, our native food is the best for our inner
biological workings, provided we consume sufficient portions of it at a proper
time. Trying out international styles of eating food should be done within
sensible limits, we should have a clarity of what is proper for our body type
in order to avoid causing ourselves easily avoidable unease.
So, be sensible when you think of trying anything like this, cause in the end only you truly know what your limits are...........Meghs! :)
