Consumerism has brought a lot on our plate! I mean literally!!! Look at the innumerable varieties we get to choose from everyday. Cuisine category management has become a greater task and a one which confuses the best in the industry. Look at the deluge of dedicated channels to food. The food instinct of human being hasn't ever been so pleased. The basic principal of consumerism is that it allows options, good or bad, an equal standing and leave the judgement to buyer. In this new context, to choose wisely has become a skill!
How many of you do remember to be taught in schools or in colleges to make smart and skillful selection of food for which we all work hard and earn? While if we think calmly we shall realize that food is our foremost priority and today; given all these choices, selection of what we eat is becoming a no less than a skill. Its sad and amusing altogether, that we were never given any orientation to select wisely or even think in this direction. Result, either we are obese or underweight, checking our BP and Sugar at teen ages, weak eyesight and low immunity doesn't seem uncommon and getting by new list of diseases every year (Dengue, Ebola, Avian Influenza, Chikungunya being the latest). The list itself qualifies to be one full length write up.
Ever wondered why is that at our young age, are we so physically vulnerable?! One answer of course is low physical movement, irregular or absence of exercises. But the greater answer is hidden somewhere in bad or mindless selection of what we bring to our plate.
Let's take an example. How important milk is to our health? Imperative. And I will not be wrong if I say that in our growing periods, it is milk on which our diet relies upon most. Simply because it is considered wholesome food. Remember the expressions of contentment on your mother's face when you would finish your glass of milk!!
It's all good except somewhere in between we ignored one thing.
Which milk??
Now this may perturb you and you may say, milk is milk. And it is exactly where lies the fallacy.
We need to select the right milk from milks as we select our perfect fit of clothing.
A great deal has been said about the quality difference between the milk of Cow and Buffalo and Goats etc. Now science has enables us to even go deeper. There is now a common consensus being shoring up about the benefits of A2 Type of Milk and some serious issues of A1 type of Milk which are Diabetes, Heart trouble, Autism etc. Ever wondered why suddenly in India these above mentioned problems have become endemic?! Its only after the White revolution that we have started populating genes among our cattle stock which only breeds A1 type of milk. And the post 1970 generation which is young now is facing all the symptoms at an endemic level.
Had we been aware enough about milk varieties we would have asked our milkman not just the price of the milk but also its type. Might as well have saved our family of life changing diseases and the embarrassment on the faces of our mothers who would now judge their ever strong emphasis on finishing of the glass of milk in new light!
Now the take home is; that we need to choose wisely as to what we select for our dinner, it can not be an automatic routine thinking process. Sadly if we compare our buying attention behavior of food viz a viz clothes we shall be amazed to realize that it enjoys a much less active and intelligent thought sincerity. Choice of palate and pocket has been ruling the decisions. And details like the origin, ingredients, preparation methodology, locality effects, impact on environment have never been the variable in the function of food choice.
Look at what irreversible damage this inorganic realm of agriculture has done to our life. The wiser, intellectual, advanced and progressed society has been happy in eating chemical crap all their life. Isn't this the biggest of all the travesties, which screams at us saying that we do not even know what to eat!
It is time we start making research into our plates and packets. Let's pledge to be mindful and give our kids the best food.
How many of you do remember to be taught in schools or in colleges to make smart and skillful selection of food for which we all work hard and earn? While if we think calmly we shall realize that food is our foremost priority and today; given all these choices, selection of what we eat is becoming a no less than a skill. Its sad and amusing altogether, that we were never given any orientation to select wisely or even think in this direction. Result, either we are obese or underweight, checking our BP and Sugar at teen ages, weak eyesight and low immunity doesn't seem uncommon and getting by new list of diseases every year (Dengue, Ebola, Avian Influenza, Chikungunya being the latest). The list itself qualifies to be one full length write up.
Ever wondered why is that at our young age, are we so physically vulnerable?! One answer of course is low physical movement, irregular or absence of exercises. But the greater answer is hidden somewhere in bad or mindless selection of what we bring to our plate.
Let's take an example. How important milk is to our health? Imperative. And I will not be wrong if I say that in our growing periods, it is milk on which our diet relies upon most. Simply because it is considered wholesome food. Remember the expressions of contentment on your mother's face when you would finish your glass of milk!!
It's all good except somewhere in between we ignored one thing.
Which milk??
Now this may perturb you and you may say, milk is milk. And it is exactly where lies the fallacy.
We need to select the right milk from milks as we select our perfect fit of clothing.
A great deal has been said about the quality difference between the milk of Cow and Buffalo and Goats etc. Now science has enables us to even go deeper. There is now a common consensus being shoring up about the benefits of A2 Type of Milk and some serious issues of A1 type of Milk which are Diabetes, Heart trouble, Autism etc. Ever wondered why suddenly in India these above mentioned problems have become endemic?! Its only after the White revolution that we have started populating genes among our cattle stock which only breeds A1 type of milk. And the post 1970 generation which is young now is facing all the symptoms at an endemic level.
Had we been aware enough about milk varieties we would have asked our milkman not just the price of the milk but also its type. Might as well have saved our family of life changing diseases and the embarrassment on the faces of our mothers who would now judge their ever strong emphasis on finishing of the glass of milk in new light!
Now the take home is; that we need to choose wisely as to what we select for our dinner, it can not be an automatic routine thinking process. Sadly if we compare our buying attention behavior of food viz a viz clothes we shall be amazed to realize that it enjoys a much less active and intelligent thought sincerity. Choice of palate and pocket has been ruling the decisions. And details like the origin, ingredients, preparation methodology, locality effects, impact on environment have never been the variable in the function of food choice.
Look at what irreversible damage this inorganic realm of agriculture has done to our life. The wiser, intellectual, advanced and progressed society has been happy in eating chemical crap all their life. Isn't this the biggest of all the travesties, which screams at us saying that we do not even know what to eat!
It is time we start making research into our plates and packets. Let's pledge to be mindful and give our kids the best food.
