Article first published as India: Eating Under Threat! on Technorati.
If you have
already given up the smoking and drinking habits you have hardly done enough.
You find yourself in a greater and debilitating dilemma about what to eat or
drink or what not to from the fast diminishing options. If you thought only
plain simple fats had been making you fatter all the years, now you had to
worry about trans fat too.
If you have
loved the fast foods now is the time to go slow. Fast foods are also called
junk food. You must be aware what junk food is. Well, it means foods without
having enough nutritional value, but scoring high on fats, salt, sugar and
calories. You must never fall prey to the mouth-watering smell and taste these
foods have.
The Centre for
Science and Environment (CSE), a public interest organization of India, had only
the other day come out with its devastating report on junk or fast foods. All
of such foods or soft drinks marketed in India by the multinational
companies contain much more trans fat, the worst kind of fat, than is advisable
as per the international standards of around 2 per cent per person per day, the
report says. Just one serving of any such foods like a burger or a plate of noodles
or a packet of chips finishes off your quota of fats for the day and as far as
sugar intake is concerned it robs you of your sugar quota for two days. Your
dream of doodling with your noodles has just about turned into a nightmare.
Now, you must look to other options.
Switch over to
the traditional foods? Well, what are they? Maybe your glass of steaming hot milk!
No! It contains or may contain pesticides thanks to the CSE again and to make
matters worse other studies had reported that more than seventy percent of
total milk supply in India
was adulterated too. You come up with the next viable option—fruits and
vegetables. No again! The CSE says all these contain untenable proportions of
pesticides due to the increasing use of fertilizers by the farmers. You have to
undertake a fresh start to find fresh fruits and vegetables.
Inevitably you
turn now to the meaty options. While the red meat has always been a red signal
for you in recent years the options of fish and chicken appeal more to you now.
But the problem here is that you cannot devour them raw. That is to say, you
need some amounts of oil to make it cooked fit for you. The CSE had already
made it difficult for you by pointing out high amounts of trans fat or
unsaturated fat in all brands of edible oil. Now you must launch yourself on an
exhaustively original and creative search for your food options.
There are many
pointing fingers towards a utter lack of regulatory laws or enactment of only
weak and ineffectual laws in India regarding showing and labeling of fat
ingredients on branded foods. Due to this lacuna the multinational brands
allegedly put up labels showing zero trans fat content in their products just
to derive the marketing advantage. To make things more complicated no one is
asking the street vendors and country eating joints as to what are being used
and in what quantities in their hot selling dishes.
And what about
the Indian society standards with a high hospitality quotient and a seemingly
unending stream of parties, get-together and congregations. You can control
your own kitchen to some extent no doubt, but you just cannot walk up to the
hosts or organizers and demand to know the trans fat content in the food
served—that too free.
Cynics would
tell you to choose or reject as per your judgment hardly knowing the fact that
you are fast running out of options. For the time being it seems a free mind, a
daily routine of strenuous physical activity and moderation is the ideal menu
for you. Maybe your favorite or compulsive rice-plate at your favorite canteen is also okay!
