Read How Five Essential Food Items Have Been Corrupted

So you think that you are consuming the best and most nutritious thing available in the market by purchasing Californian almonds, Washington apples, Homogenized milk , Pro- heart conscious edible oil etc. etc. and you thank your stars for being able to afford them. Some of us even force our children to finish their plates, whether they want to or not and we ask them to be thankful because many parents cannot afford such costly and nutritious food. Right?

No! Wrong!

Though the food industry definitely wants us to believe this. Let us discuss them…..

Milk

We have read in our science books that milk is a complete food. Doctors too have told us the same ever since we were a child. Our grandma has sung poems on benefits of milk to make us drink it. So much so that in order make milk available to everyone, our scientists worked hard to make milk readily available to every individual in 70s. This resulted in White revolution and even made India world’s largest Milk Producer .

Result: Today every one can have milk but at what cost? It is either adulterated or the cows and buffaloes are given steroids to produce more milk which further throw people into the world of unknown health related issues like early puberty, PCOS, lactose intolerance etc. What we witness today was definitely not foreseen.

Even as per our ayurveda experts cow milk and ghee are no less than medicine and are as good as elixir.

But from cow they meant “pure Indian breed cows” like Red Sindhi, Tharparkar, Gir, Sahiwal, Deoni and not foreign ones like Jersey, Holstein Friesian, Brown Swiss etc. Because they had studied these local breeds and not these exotic ones.

Homogenized milk which looks smoother and stays fresh for a longer time has smaller particles as compared to non-homogenized milk. The tiny particles are actually absorbed by the bloodstream directly thereby causing harm to our health. So consuming homogenized milk regularly is also dangerous. Homogenized milk is also known to have caused cancer and heart diseases.

So what is the solution? Today as most of us have a sitting job instead of manual ones, it is best not to consume milk because our body cannot digest milk. Our forefathers could, because their job was mainly manual. This is the reason many people complain of stomachache and rush to washroom after a glass of milk.

Yet if you cannot imagine life without milk, drink either plant based milk like coconut milk, almond milk, cashew milk etc. or A2 (our desi) cow milk.

Apple

Celebrities are busy promoting Washington apple. No doubt they have the best colour, are juiciest and crunchiest apples available in the market. But are they really the healthiest? Does our body really need them daily? Not actually!

Washington apples have layers of wax coating. It is done to increase their shelf life. Once you wash them thoroughly in warm water and clear the wax. Voila! That beautiful red colour vanishes. So is it really fresh and healthy?

What is the solution?

As ayurveda preaches, ” Eat local and seasonal”. Though local means nearby areas or 50 to 100 km radius at the max. Yet if you want, Indian apples, grown in Himalayas, you can purchase; they are now available through out the year. Apple has been a winter fruit and they are most crispy, juicy and delicious during this period except for Nilgiri ones where the season is from April to July. Indian apples doesn’t carry that wax coating. It won’t be juicy and crispy if you pick the cold storage ones. So don’t purchase if they don’t find them so. In summers relish other fruits like watermelon, musk melon, mango etc. because they will be gone with the onset of monsoon.

So if you think that Washington apples are unaffordable, chill don’t get upset. Enjoy the local seasonal ones ? Industry, social media and celebrities will advertise, what they are paid for and not the truly healthy things.

Almonds

Most of us order Californian almonds and feed the whole family with a pride. But are they really healthy? Have you ever thought how each almond in the packet could be really same size and sweet. They are so perfect and flawless that we don’t bother to understand the other side of the story. Friends, California almonds , have almost 85% stake in Almond market. They are larger in size and are available in neatly packed conditions but please understand they are chemically treated to kill microorganisms and preserved which leads to 10–15 percent loss of nutrients.

Instead go for :

Mamragiri which has more oil and so more calories than the other two. Mamra is cultivated organically without using chemicals and therefore it comes with a price tag. It is very good for growing kids.

You can also opt for Gurbandi which are smaller in appearance but rich in oils and nutrients like omega 3, vitamin E, antioxidants and phytochemicals and provides abundant energy. They have a bittersweet taste and were originally grown in Afghanistan .

Wheat

What white revolution or operation flood did to milk, green revolution did to wheat. Today our very own desi (local) breed of wheat which was rich in nutrients and had the ability to fight diseases is virtually missing. Every farmer is growing the hybrid variety. He wants to produce maximum to sell maximum and earn maximum profits.

There was in fact an article sometime back which went viral due to its revelation of causing belly fat and gastric issues. Result many people stopped consuming wheat.

Solution: Try to procure Indian desi version of wheat like Sona moti, sharbati, Khapli. Sona-moti and Khapli are low in gluten and very good for diabetics. All packed and branded ones are high yielding hybrid varieties.

Or add millets and bran to it. One can also make it nutritious by adding some nutritious veggies to the dough of chapatis like puree of spinach or beetroot or carrot etc.

Oil

With Indonesia ceasing its export of palm oil, we are all terrified, there has been rise in oil prices. Why should we bother about palm oil?

Because it is used in almost all refined oils. It is high time we Indians should stop consuming refined oil. Almost all of them contain palm oil. Palm oil should not be used for two reasons: one, palm farming is destroying the rainforest ecosystem and two it contains trans fat, which is responsible for heart attacks.

Even those who are claiming to he healthy oils and heart friendly are refined oils.

Solution: Go local and purchase cold pressed oils. The best oil available to us, the North Indians, is cold pressed mustard oil, sesame oil, ghee (clarified butter), groundnut or peanut oil and south Indians can use coconut oil. But use cold pressed and not refined.

Do you know the process of making refined oil which makes the oil look better and odour free? It is extracted using high temperature and chemicals in which healthy fatty acid bonds are broken and trans fats are formed. Later neutralization of taste and deodorization is done which results in total loss of nutrients. No wonder, why the rate of heart attacks is increasing in our country.