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| Eating Right. Living Right! |
Rujuta
Diwekar, India’s leading nutrition expert was the guest speaker today at
SVPNPA, Hyderabad for IPS Officer Trainees. Now there are many myths and
misconceptions about what you should eat, how you should eat, when you should
eat, how much you should eat, and stuffs like that. At the same time, there is
plethora of tips over the mighty web written by many so-called “dietician”
and/or “nutritionist”—avoid this and that, have this and not that, blah, blah,
blah…
Ms.Diwekar
is the nutritionist to celebrities like Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Varun
Dhaban. It was a great pleasure having her here at the NPA.
Ms.Diwekar’s
lecture today was very enlightening. She busted some of the greatest myths
about food and nutrition we held till date. What was significant about her was
that she placed greater importance and value on the local and seasonal food
items, rather than the “elite” food items.
It
was a wonderful opportunity to hear Ms. Diwekar on Food and Nutrition. So, I am
just sharing some of the wisdoms she shared and myths she busted with us today.
Don’t
start your day with Tea or Coffee.
Chinese invented the tea. But let’s not go behind
the history of Tea and Coffee. We prefer to have tea early in the morning. In
fact some of us are addicted to tea. And what more do you need when you have
your buddy over… Let’s have a tea.
People complain about having digestion issues
frequently in today’s modern lifestyle. Thanks to tea. Ms. Diwekar instead
suggested us to have fruits or nuts in the morning. Banana is the best option.
The rule of thumb is: Fruits for Summer. Nuts for Winter.
Green
tea isn’t healthier.
Okay… the conventional tea isn’t healthy, so we
shifted to the Green Tea, Organic Tea… You may argue. Well, Green tea isn’t any
healthier than its conventional counterpart. Green Tea is marketed to be
considered as the “Elite” drink… That’s just marketing.
Instead, it is beneficial to
have juice. But beware, we are not referring to the Tetra-packaged and
processed Fruit Drinks. Such artificial fruit drinks make you prone to high
blood sugar. In fact, the only fruit juice that is considered healthy is the “Sugarcane
Juice”. The rule of thumb is: It’s better to eat the fruit as a whole rather
than getting it juiced.
What
about Lunch?
Lunch is one of the most important parts of our
meal. It helps to keep us energetic during the day. Many ask, what is the good time for lunch?
Generally, try to have it by 1330 hours. If you are a busy person, have some filler
at that time before you have the time to actually go for lunch.
Ms. Diwekar suggested us to
have at least one-two teaspoons of ghee in lunch every day. Ghee helps to lower
glycaemic index of the food. Ghee also helps to assimilate the Vitamin D in the
body. Above all, GHEE is very important for getting a Good Sleep.
Hungry
in the evening?
We tend to get hungry at about the evening around
1800 hours. Okay, I know you can tolerate the hunger for few hours before you
can go for dinner, but is it healthy to do so?
Ms. Diwekar suggests us to have
something wholesome like breakfast at around 1800. When you get hungry at that
time, the cortisol (stress hormone) level falls. Adrenal fatigue may occur. It
may get chronic.
What’s
for Dinner?
Generally, people suggest us to avoid rice in the
dinner. In fact, the truth is having wholesome dinner with rice is very
essential. Rice is an excellent meal for the dinner. With the Amino acids, it
helps in fat loss, muscle reservation and lower the stress level. The general
misconception is that rice is rich in glycaemic index and is bad for diabetics.
In fact, the rice when traditionally eaten with pulse, vegetables, meals,
curry,etc., aling with ghee lowers the glycaemic index of meals and is totally
safe for diabetics.
Rice is a great dinner option.
It has a calming effect in our body, so it helps in a good night’s sleep.
Alcohol
is good for heart. Says who?
Okay, this “good for heart” myth has been deep
rooted in the South Asian mindset by the Western world. The economies of the
Western countries are mostly dependent on the alcohol industry. Just imagine
what would happen if they found out that alcohol is no health benefactor. In fact,
alcohol is just as bad as tobacco. If you need to have alcohol, at least have
some meal before it.
Exercise!
Even though you may not have enough time to
exercise, try to manage at least 30 minutes a day and/or 150-300 minutes per
day of exercise. Go running, swimming, yoga, strength training, cycling…
whatever you like.
Regulate
the use of mobile phone
We live in the digital age. And it is getting
dangerous. We just don’t know when to stop. The unregulated use of mobile
phones has resulted in the phenomenon known as “technology posture”. China even
has the separate lane for the pedestrian texting and walking. Even when you have
to use, keep the mobile phone to your eyelevel.
And don’t sit on the same
position for more than 30 minutes. Get up for at least three minutes in
between.
No
species on the earth eat alien food, except for human. We prefer to consume
unnatural food items. Not even the shark devours on human being. Few cases
where it did were when the shark mistook human for a seal.
And
one more thing… Eat the full egg with yolk. It’s no cholesterol.
Parting
words: Sign of the Higher Intelligence is knowing when to stop eating food.
©Linkinmyth 2018:
Busting the Nutrition Myths
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