Don't blame it on the food

I constantly keep hearing from people how Indian food is unhealthy and how it makes you fat and sick. You should have this food and not have that food etc.

 Little do they know that it’s not the food, but the way they have it that makes them fat and sick.

As suggested by Rujuta , think of how food was eaten by our dadi, nani and follow those rules. Why is it when we are eating the same food as they ate and they were fine and we getting fat and sick?  

Below are few points that have affects us when it comes to food.

1)     The environment conditions. This is something we cannot control until and unless you shift to a clean place with pure air

2)     The way food is grown including pesticides and chemicals in our food. We can choose to have organic food and that is the reason organic is the new fashion.

3)     The quality of food or say prana value has changed and you can measure that based on the criteria mentioned in another article here.

4)     When we have it. Timing of food is important and when I mean timing it means

a.      What time of the day. Certain foods are supposed to be had only certain time of day. For example, sweets, caffeine, sugar, certain fruits etc. should be avoided after sunset.  Similarly, any junk food need to be had for any reason should not be your dinner.

b.      When our body demands. There are times we are less hungry and there are times we are more hungrier and that’s how we have small meals like snacks, drinks etc. or bigger meals like breakfast, lunch or dinner.

c.      Different body conditions. Our body demands light food when we are sick, more and heavy food when work hard physically or even mentally. When we are mentally stressed or working for longer hours in office as well our body demands more food.

d.      Place where we are. Yes, you heard it right. The place where you are also affects us. If you are in North India, have paratha, roti subzi etc. When in south india have their rice, daal, dosa, idli etc. The environment and the place where it if grown is good to be eaten there itself.

5)     How we have it.

a.      Combination of foods: It is important to see what combinations of food we have and how we have it. If you have plain rice, you need to combine it with daal . If you have fried rice , have it with dahi or raita. If you have khichdi, do relish it with some desi ghee. If you have bajra or make ki roti, you definitely need desi ghee on it. These combinations of foods are made as such so its balanced and is also digested by body.

b.      How many items : How may items we have also affects our body digestion. Having too many items interferes our body’s ability to digest and which turns to extra fat

6)   How much we have it : I am sure you must have been hearing of portion control. Well, this means controlling how much you eat. This should not be based on what people tell you, this should base on how much your body needs and how you feel. There are times you are less hungry and should eat less and there are times you are more hungry and you should eat more. For example, 1 week before period I have a feeling that I need something sweet after lunch or after an hour or 2 of lunch done. This is a signal that my body needs more in lunch and hence I include 1 spoon ghee in my lunch which makes me full and no sweet craving. However, usually what I have noticed is we eat the same amount everyday irrespective of how much we need. For example, I have 2 chapattis everyday while I can have only 1 some days because I had a heavy fast or I was less active or I had some snack in between which was heavy. It looks tricky initially, you just need to start listening to your body. It will give you instructions. In fact, it already does, its just that we do not recognise or hear to it. 

     
7) State of mind. Yes, you read that right. How our food affects our body also depends on our state of mind.

a.      When we are sad, angry, stressed , in hurry or even in guilt, it adversely affects our body’s ability to digest the food.

b.      When we are mentally prepared on what we are going to have for our next meal, our mind sends signal to our body and the digestive juices in our mouth get active and are ready to digest the food properly. This means that not only is the food digested properly but also better assimilation of nutrients. So, next time you want to have a pizza, be prepared mentally and have only 2 slices and chew it and enjoy it nicely guilt free.

In a nutshell, have local food made at home with a relaxed mind listening to your body’s need.