Hello friends! After a break of two months I’m back with my guestpost series. Going ahead with my inclusion of food and health posts on the blog, I’m introducing a fellow blogger, Venkat Ramakrishnan. His writings are interesting and he speaks about important issues concerned with India. Do read his post and share your feedback with me.
What should India eat?
India has gone through roller-coaster rides in terms of food. There have been huge famines, but of late, there’s sufficient availability of food in terms of rice and wheat. We should be pretty happy, but that is going to change because of the water scarcity! We also got to be very cautious on what we consume, as the rice and wheat food has led to chronic health conditions because of the unhealthy life style that we usually adopt.
Last week, I saw an article on how rice and wheat are consuming too much of water to grow and how it is not sustainable. No, this is not the propaganda of the Genetically Modified crops lobby. I also read another article on how heart diseases in India has increased in the past 26 years.
Reading these has led me to believe that we should cut down on rice and wheat cultivation and grow more millets, which are healthy as well as consume less water. A healthy lifestyle is of course necessary, but not every one of us get the opportunity (sometimes it is even a luxury) to exercise, work out and stay fit. Diet is an important component in the equation (by the way, the whole equation is Diet + Exercise + Less Stress) for a healthy lifestyle.
As we already know, because of our sedentary life style, India has been declared as the diabetic capital of the world. So we should only help ourselves with less rice!
Here are some stuff that I have in my list to improve the situation:
- Cut down on the rice and wheat consumption myself, and let my family and friends know
- Talk to the land-owners and agriculturists that I know about this and make them grow more millets
- Talk to the healthy food restaurants chains about this and make them deliver more millets-based food rather than rice and wheat based
- Oh, and yes, share a lot of millets-based menus and recipes!
So, what is your plan of action? A small step in the right direction makes a lot of difference!
Thank you for your attention and time!
Venkat Ramakrishnan is a concerned citizen of India who writes on various topics like India Population, Water and Environment.
You can read other guestposts in this series here.
Thats a food for thought and equally challenging…replacing rice and wheat with millets. But if its for own good, then we must find ways.
Thanks Anagha! There are indeed ways to change – mouth-watering recipes of millets are available in the Internet. Slowly, one can incorporate them into the diet!
Healthy eating can change people and consequently the nation too. This is a nice article to make people aware of the importance of healthy eating.
Thank you, Nisha! You are absolutely right – healthy citizens lead to a healthy nation!
Very valid point. We should incorporate more of millets in our diet. This will not only keep us healthy but also energetic
Thank you for your comment, Nidhi!
This is so informative post really wish I can also cut down on rice
Thank you for your feedback. You can cut down on rice slowly, by cutting it to half, and adding more of raw vegetables and fruits, as well as millets!
I have already shifted to oatmeal but that was for another reason… Didn’t know india is the diabetic capital of the world… Will share this with others
Thanks Mrinal! It’s good to know that you have shifted to oatmeal! Yes, please do share this article with all you know. Thank you!
It has been almost 8 months that I have changed my diet patterns which include more of raw sprouts , salads , and less of chapati..
Great to know, Jhilmil! Thanks for your comment!
This is quite an insightful post focusing on the genuine problem our country is facing. And how we as a responsible citizen can work towards making the situation a little better. I really loved reading this post.
Thank you for your valuable feedback!
Lovely post. Yes we Indian has roller coaster ride diet plan. I also have to control on my diet from now wards.
This is a thought provoking post, we (read millennials have gradually shifted to sustainable eating. However, with previous generation our elders, its still a huge matter. Awareness is something we need in this field.
Agreed with many of your points and these tips have always helped me in rducing weight. I would say we Indians require definatly some amount of time to excersise as that is one way we can enjoy all kindof food.
Absolutely valid post. Millets should definitely be introduced in our lives!
This article is very insightful. It is really important to stay healthy snd choose better eating habits like millets.
Thanks for your feedback!
Healthy eating options always makes life more healthier.. Very informative post
Millets, makki, bajra and more all have been staple food for years for Indians and is a good thing to return to it
Some really good advise.. I am trying some of these myself but some of the long formed patterns are really difficult to change and that’s my struggle currently
Thanks for your feedback. Patterns can be changed by partially incorporating first, and moving to full stream later!
Totally agree with you.it is very insightful post.
I shifted to organic food long back as my family started feeling unhealthy
True said dear.. We Indian thinks we eat good but its not actually now a days.. So its better to opt good eating habit like eating organic and raw items in the form of salads as much as possible.
Very informative post , cutting rice from diet is definitely good for health .
Quite interesting!! I didn’t knew India is the diabetic capital of the world. I guess now it is high time we take this issue very seriously.
Your suggestion of using millets instead of rice or wheat makes sense however, it will be a daunting task to replace them as a staple diet of India.
Thank you for sharing this post. Have a good day. 🙂
healthful informative post thanks to sharing
very much logical write up.
Amazing and informative post. Healthy eating is very necessary to stay fit and healthy. Great thoughts.
I think staying healthy is not about what you eat!! it about in which quantity you eat. Sometimes over eating of healthy food can also cause problems.