Daily Times

Salt is a magical ingredient for food manufacturers. It helps preserve food at a low cost. Salt is well tolerated by the body in small quantities but packaged foods often have much larger quantities of it than the body requires.

The convenience foods revolution has caused a lot of confusion regarding the optimum fuel for the machine that is human body. Every now and then new trends are started in food and nutrition. Many of them consist of various short cuts. After an average life of about five years, they are demolished by research showing the harm they do and often give way to some more fads of a similar kind. Diets and food products hailed today as a panacea come with no guarantee that tomorrow they will not be condemned as virtual poison.

Little do we realize how the food and pharmaceuticals industries publicize new products and diets in pursuit of a larger market share. Today it might seem unbelievable that peanut butter companies influenced research on the importance of a spoon a day of their product, sold as a health miracle. Even dieters around the world were persuaded to start consuming it. More recntly, rival companies have worked hard to discredit nutella. To this end a rumor was started some time ago that it was carsogenic.

Too often, consumers are not told about the ingredients in lay-man terms. Take the example of ordinary table salt salt. It may appear on the ingredient list under any of the following forms: Na (which is the chemical symbol for sodium); MSG; brine; soy sauce or baking powder. Salt is a magical ingredient for food manufacturers. It helps preserve food at a low cost. Salt is well tolerated by the body in small quantities but packaged foods often have much larger quantities of it than the body requires. An excessive salt intake is associated with oedema, high blood pressure, thickening of blood, skin issues and hyper acidity.

Supermarkets are now bombarded with foods packaged for ease of use. Many such products contain large amounts of refined flours and sugars, which are fast becoming the underlying cause of the new age plagues: obesity and lethargy. Vedic science called them slowing agents. It has been shown in clinical trials that they do make the metabolism sluggish.

Replacing the whole wheat chapati for boxed cereals and breads, a banana or apple with a bag of chips and daal chawal with pizza, are some of th new trends that open doors for a diseased body. Some of the brown breads are simply white breads baked with colouring to give them a darker hue.

Katherine Tallmade, the author of Diet Simple, suggests that multi-grain products might not always be a healthy choice. Not all grains, she says, have the same nutritional value. Also, grains are heavily processed for some of the products to strip them of the nutrition in order to keep the pests away and increase the shelf life. They are then fortified with synthetic vitamins. So if rats don’t eat through the boxes to get to the cereals, are they really good for human consumption?

Most food manufacturers are selling us fast food by associating it with a hip and cool lifestyle. Thus social patterns determine our food intake. Many children feel embarrassed if they are denied pop corn and soda at movie theatres. The processed food industry has been a success story mostly at the cost of the health of a new generation which is being held hostage to false taste and prestige. Dr Mohsin, a heart specialist, warns that more and more younger people are reporting heart problems and undergoing surgical procedures as a result. According to heart specialists, an increased intake of junk food and decreased physical activity are to blame for it.

The convenience foods revolution has caused a lot of confusion regarding the optimum fuel for the machine that is human body. Every now and then new trends are started in food and nutrition. Many of them consist of various short cuts

So how can we set things right? Asia in general, and South Asian nations in particular, have rich cultures with immense knowledge of how to preserve one’s health by consuming the right foods. Ayurveda and Yunani medicine made great contributions to alleviating and curing many diseases using natural foods. What took 5,000 years to build, should not be given up readily. Here are a few practical tips:

First, commit to fresh meals. Our mothers and grandmothers always cooked with the portion size in mind, so that there were no leftovers. Refrigeration was not encouraged. This requires better time management and organization skills to plan menus and shop accordingly. The entire household should be involved in this exercise.

Second, eat only seasonal and local vegetables and fruits. Importing watermelon in the middle of winter undermines the efficacy of its nutrition, (“taseer” in Urdu). The globalized economy has brought about some strange trends in diets and nutrition.

Avocado is now being sold to Asians and chia seeds to the West. Did we really need avocado? Its high oil content works well for dry skin which Asians don’t have. Did the West really need chia seeds, (tukhm malangan in Urdu). The conventional wisdom about trusting local foods for all your health needs is spot on.

Third, choose the right oil to go with your recipe. Ghee, coconut oil and mustard oil suit South Asian cooking textures and tastes. As Mediterranean diet gains popularity, there is a growing trend towards cooking in olive oil. But often we cannot be sure of the quality of olive oil available in our market. Good olive oil has a life of one year from the time of press. Most olive oil packings in our markets do not mention the manufacturing or expiry date. Moreover, olive oil should not be exposed to sunlight. Thus olive oil in a dark green bottle or tin is an informed choice.

One should always try to learn about the foods that give one the energy and leave one in a good mood. Aristotle had said, “knowing yourself is the greatest wisdom”.

The writer is a wellness and yoga expert