FOOD FOR THOuGHT

We live in a country where Ayurved (natural medicine) forms the core of the field of medicine. After speaking to numerous naturopaths, as well as attaining secondary information from the net and reference books, I was able to put together a document of common diseases along with their symptoms and ayurvedic cures.

Poor Eating Habits : I realized that a major cause formed the crux of most diseases : poor eating habits. If one fills a car engine with junk, when it needs fuel, the engine will fail. In this case, the fuel is starch (carbs). Traditionally, every organism has a particular diet. The human diet is essentially supposed to be dominated by starch, along with additional fruits and vegetables. And that’s what it used to be many years ago. However, humans across the globe have strayed from this diet.

Every region of the world has over generations, formed a culture that greatly manifests itself through the food of that region. Thus, people from very young ages, are exposed to those particular eating habits, resulting in development of corresponding diseases. We can say that culture forms food habits, which lead to serious ailments. For example, fast food originated in America. Slowly, burgers and fries started taking the market and became the staple diet of an average American. Soon, the overdose of cholesterol started to be disclosed in the form of a dangerous consequence: obesity.

Diabetes Capital : India is known for its sweet dishes. Who would eat an entire meal, and not leave space for a gulab jamun or ras malai? It’s a tradition, a part of our culture. And slowly, we see, that India has become one of the Diabetes capitals of the world. Historically, people only ate sweets because they had nutritious value. But over the centuries, people have commercialized sweets and now they have positive associations with sweets. People have stopped eating for nutritional value, and started eating for gustatory pleasure. They get addicted to it. Another example of psychological conditioning here would be that people believe milk is very good for health, because they have grown up believing so due to the reinforcement of this belief by people around them. However, according to many doctors, it doesn’t have all good qualities. Milk contains fat and can be detrimental to health, if taken in excess.

Market Gimmick : The media and multinational companies are rapidly changing the culture of food globally, selling us things that they know might be harmful. And now, due to such variety of addictive, people are straying from the body’s core requirements and as a result, are developing diseases. So instead of letting our cultures and MNCs determine what kind of food we eat, we should decide for ourselves.

We need to keep in mind the importance of a healthy diet, as it is the sole prevention and cure of any disease. So next time we are offered a kulfi after a meal, we need to think: “Does my body really require this sweet? Or is it just my social conditioning, addiction, and commercialization of kulfi over the years that’s making me want it?”

Haripriya Dalmia