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Have you ever noticed that one of the trends of packaged food is running in everyone’s home nowadays? That our kitchen is filled with ready-to-eat food, instant noodles, and a protein bar on your kitchen cupboard.
Cake packets and biscuits have become a part of our lives in office bags and in kids’ lunchboxes, and ready-to-eat microwave popcorn is an evening snack.
SOLD A LIE.
Do you know you’ve been fooled and sold a lie that these packaged food items are safe and you can have them whenever, especially when you are in a hurry, and you even prefer this packed food instead of homemade, and they claim it’s the same, but it’s not.
You may have seen the advertisement showing that a bowl full of cornflakes has the same quality your homemade chapati has, and they don’t feel shame comparing a protein bar with our Indian thali health-wise. Which is not true; it’s a big lie to sell the product to the consumer.
See the image below: plate of Indian homemade food. It’s full of vegetables, carbohydrates, dairy, lentils, and pickles. These pickles are probiotic, and they have the same qualities that your probiotic drinks do. And can this protein bar replace this home-cooked cuisine?
We have been led to believe, because of these ads on TV and banners, that these protein bars are full of micronutrients, natural sweeteners, healthy fats, high fiber, and all this jazz. Protein bars are healthy. Think before you take because they are not.
BLUE ZONE
Any item that is packed, preserved, and processed cannot be healthy for you. Do you know who lives in the BLUE ZONE ? They are the healthiest people in the world, and these people live the longest. They live more than 100 years. People are from
- Okinawa in Japan
- Ikaria in Greece
- Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica.
- Loma Linda in California
- Ogliastra in Sardinia
The average lifespan of these people is 73.4. So what do you think the people living in these blue zones are eating? Do they eat packed oatmeal, store yogurt, or ready-to-make food?
Well, none of this. People living in these blue zones eat home-cooked food, which is locally sourced vegetables and fruits. They stick to time-honored recipes that have been passed on to them by their forefathers.
If we take the example of India, it is dal chawal, idli sambar, roti sabzi, and fish, and it is a tradition, and locally sourced ingredients are all grown and complement the local weather conditions, and these foods are healthy foods.
There’s no need to purchase packaged food that contains healthy fats. Ghee and coconut oil provide healthy fats, and it doesn’t mean you need to require a multi-grain cereal when homemade rotis are high in fiber.
Traditional Indian Ingredients
You may be familiar with these ingredients, like turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin (jeera), and coriander seeds; they are commonly used in Indian households. I have listed the benefits of these ingredients below.
- Turmeric :- It is an antioxidant
- Cardamom: It has antioxidants and cancer-fighting properties.
- Cinnamon: It reduces the cholesterol level and lowers the risk of heart disease.
- Cumin (jeera): Which helps lower blood sugar level.
- Coriander :- These Seed have anti-fungal properties
Disadvantage of Packaged Food.
Do you think that we can get all these benefits from packaged food? The answer is no, and these processed foods cannot replace them.
Here I have only mentioned 6 examples of why these packaged foods are not good for our health.
- The ingredients are questionable.
- The hygiene is questionable.
- The packaging itself is often harmful.
- Preservatives.
- Excess Salt.
- Artifical Colour
Now let me tell you about all these, especially these three: preservatives , excess salt and artificial color. These are bad for your health.
Preservatives kill the good bacteria on your body, and you suffer with breathing problems; children get hyperactive, and not only that, they weaken your heart tissues and, in extreme cases, cause cancer.
And we all know every packed food item is mixed with preservatives. Like biscuits , cereals, bread , cheese , yogurt , meat sauces, and soups.
Eat Like Your Grandparents
Just imagine how long homemade cookies last—for how many days? Two to three weeks if we keep them outside the fridge. So how is it possible the biscuit packet, which we brought from the store, stays intact for months or even years because of the chemicals that extend the life of the biscuits but reduce yours.
I am sure that we cannot throw out completely all processed food from our kitchen, but we can try our best to limit the consumption if we want to stay healthy and try to intake homemade food like the people in blue zones do and eat like our forefathers did.
Some of the most unhealthy food that is hampering our day-to-day life: click to read.
