Dear Friends,

Health is wealth, an old age saying that we have been hearing quite too often but still it fails to attract attention as most of us are still believing in the new age saying “Wealth is health”.

We seldom give attention to our health and eating habits which is so important to manage the several organs of our body and their various functions which constitute the general well being of a person.

Gone are the days when we had set times for eating our breakfast, lunch and dinner that had wholesome meals. It had a proper assortments of cereals, pulses, vegetables, fish and fruit. All of these were cooked at home by our mothers, sisters or grandmothers or aunties especially when it was a joint family.

Now work pressures and times, studies and preparation, sports and other extra curricular activities that also include using our cell phones have eaten into and taken a major chunk out of our eating times and also the preparation time. So all the 3 eating times put together have been reduced to under an hour.

So we have situations wherein once in a week at home or daily lunches at work we might be using food prepared at hotels by people who are rarely connected to us like our relations. It seems everywhere, the mantra is to make money at the expense of others and in this case their health too. Food prepared in hotels seems tasty with a lot of spices and what nots added and unhealthy oils that are re-used many times over to cut down costs at the hotel side but that only leads to major costs that we need to bear at the hospital end later as time progresses and such unhealthy food practices continue.

Every week we hear of hotels being raided and health officials closing down such hotels that do not adhere to standards by the health authority. But still we persist in eating from outside just to save an hour at home cooking and spend countless hours in hospitals thinking we will be always immune from all of this.

A lot of hotel and junk food brings on various diseases that are both water borne and from the putrefied food prepared in unhealthy environments. How many of us care to visit the restaurant kitchen or at least peek into them as we wait for our food. That could have been time well spent as we waited for the so called delicacies that they served. A variety of diseases like food poisoning, jaundice, acidity, stomach ulcers, liver, heart  and kidney diseases spring out of the potions that we considered harmless as we ate them from such poorly prepared food.

Corruption has seeped into all types of food that we cook and that includes high pesticide farmed vegetables and fruits. Sometimes we wonder whether the consumer is also considered as a pest by such farmers who are least bothered about who ate their produce. So care should be exercised in consuming these.

So let us summarize what can be habits that we can follow to improve our food habits.

1. Eat regularly. Do not skip a meal especially your breakfast.
2. Drink sufficient water that your body needs to remain hydrated.
3. Have a mix of cereals, pulses, vegetables and common fruits in your diet.
4. While having food, do not be distracted by other things, chew properly and enjoy it.
5. Have home cooked food as possible or search for good restaurants in your locality if you cannot have food from home.
6. Do not eat at unearthly hours and that too junk food prepared by junkies.
7. Drink hot water at hotels and clean water at home. There is no point in having the best food had with unpalatable water.
8. Exercise properly or walk at least for half an hour daily whenever you get the chance.
9. Always maintain a proper posture while eating, that is eat at the table and not on the sofa.
10. Remain at peace with yourself and others so that the digested food is put to good use.