Health-9 ways to eat healthier right now
Food marketers and fitness proponents, both are cashing in on the consumer anxiety and fetish with health. Yet, junk foods and several other foods with no nutrition are hogging shelve space
Health-9 ways to eat healthier right now
Food marketers and fitness proponents, both are cashing in on the consumer anxiety and fetish with health. Yet, junk foods and several other foods with no nutrition are hogging shelve space in markets. From the health and environmental perspectives, there are foods that one should certainly eat, and others that one should definitely avoid. Little points of caution, like not having meals in a hurry, reading the label to look for and avoid "fruit flavours", and even giving in to your craving for a full scoop of ice-cream sometimes can bring a quality difference in your food habits
Remember when you were a kid and eating was as simple as "Open, chew, enjoy"? You didn't count the grams of fibre and fat. You munched when you were hungry, stopped when you were full. But choosing a meal as a health-minded adult can be complicated and joyless. Here are some common-sense rules that make eating right as easy as pie.
1. If you can't grow it, don't eat it.
A potato comes from the ground, an egg from a hen. But where did packaged food come from? It is unprocessed and whole foods that give you most benefits and processing takes out nutrients such as antioxidants and fibre.
2. Read the back of the box first.
The front of packaged food is all advertising. Flip it around for the real story. The more the number of ingredients, the more likely it has visited a few processing plants where something artificial was mixed in, so give it a miss.
3. The crunchier, the better.
Snacks that offer a big, satisfying crunch when you bite into them—apples, raw salad and nuts, not chips—keep your mouth busy longer than the liquids you drink. The more you chew, the slower you eat and the more time your body has to register fullness, so you stay healthy.
4. A frozen berry beats a fresh burger
Purchasing organic local produce is better for both the environment and your health, but when fresh produce is not available, don't default to packaged food. Frozen, canned and fresh fruit all have comparable amounts of nutrients. In India, fresh, seasonal and local food is always available.
5. There's no fruit in "fruit flavour".
Seeing flavour on a label is a sign the food was stripped of its real taste and a fabricated one swapped in. Natural only means the additive came from a plant or an animal, which may not be as healthy as it sounds. Scientists create flavours using bacteria and call them "natural".
6. You can't replace real ice cream.
When you're craving real ice cream, no amount of fat-free ice treat will make up for it. Diet foods leave you feeling hungry and cheated. Splurge on one scoop of the real deal and savour it. You'll be satisfied physically and psychologically.
7. Judge food by its cover.
When you have to hack through layers of packaging and plastic to get to the food, it is likely to be unhealthy.
8. Table your meals.
As much sitting as we do, we rarely stay put during dinner. Fifty-nine percent of young people eat on the run, a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association finds, and on-the-go eaters consume more total fat, as well as more soda and fast food. The less distracted and stressed you are when you dine, the more efficiently your body absorbs nutrients.
9. Fuel up in the morning, not at night.
A car needs gas when it's hitting the road, not when it's sitting in the garage—so why do we have our biggest meal when the only energy burner on the agenda is working the TV remote? Instead, aim for a 550-calorie breakfast, a 500-calorie lunch, a 450-calorie dinner and a 100-calorie snack. If you overeat at night, you're less likely to burn off the calories.
Tackle food poisoning the right way
We get food poisoning from eating food that contains harmful bacteria, viruses or poisonous substances known as toxins.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of food poisoning can vary, depending on what has caused it.
Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea, and sometimes fever.
The symptoms usually last for just a couple of days but, occasionally, food poisoning can be very serious and can even cause death. So make sure you avoid food poisoning with good food hygiene.
Find out how to avoid food poisoning
There are three main things to consider when you have food poisoning:
• Rehydration – drink plenty of fluids and use rehydration powders, which you can get from any pharmacy
• Stop the spread – wash your hands regularly, especially after going to the toilet and before preparing food. This will help stop the infection from spreading to other people. If possible, it's best to avoid preparing food for anyone else. If you work with a food business, you must tell your manager if you have diarrhoea or vomiting.
• Medical assistance – if you are concerned about your health or the health of someone else, contact your General Physician for advice (especially in the case of pregnant women, elderly people, children and people who are already ill)
• Reporting – if you think that your illness was caused by food prepared outside the home, report the incident to your local health service. This is important so that the food-preparing conditions of the restaurant can be investigated by authorities responsible for maintaining safe food-dispensing conditions.
in markets. From the health and environmental perspectives, there are foods that one should certainly eat, and others that one should definitely avoid. Little points of caution, like not having meals in a hurry, reading the label to look for and avoid "fruit flavours", and even giving in to your craving for a full scoop of ice-cream sometimes can bring a quality difference in your food habits
Remember when you were a kid and eating was as simple as "Open, chew, enjoy"? You didn't count the grams of fibre and fat. You munched when you were hungry, stopped when you were full. But choosing a meal as a health-minded adult can be complicated and joyless. Here are some common-sense rules that make eating right as easy as pie.
1. If you can't grow it, don't eat it.
A potato comes from the ground, an egg from a hen. But where did packaged food come from? It is unprocessed and whole foods that give you most benefits and processing takes out nutrients such as antioxidants and fibre.
2. Read the back of the box first.
The front of packaged food is all advertising. Flip it around for the real story. The more the number of ingredients, the more likely it has visited a few processing plants where something artificial was mixed in, so give it a miss.
3. The crunchier, the better.
Snacks that offer a big, satisfying crunch when you bite into them—apples, raw salad and nuts, not chips—keep your mouth busy longer than the liquids you drink. The more you chew, the slower you eat and the more time your body has to register fullness, so you stay healthy.
4. A frozen berry beats a fresh burger
Purchasing organic local produce is better for both the environment and your health, but when fresh produce is not available, don't default to packaged food. Frozen, canned and fresh fruit all have comparable amounts of nutrients. In India, fresh, seasonal and local food is always available.
5. There's no fruit in "fruit flavour".
Seeing flavour on a label is a sign the food was stripped of its real taste and a fabricated one swapped in. Natural only means the additive came from a plant or an animal, which may not be as healthy as it sounds. Scientists create flavours using bacteria and call them "natural".
6. You can't replace real ice cream.
When you're craving real ice cream, no amount of fat-free ice treat will make up for it. Diet foods leave you feeling hungry and cheated. Splurge on one scoop of the real deal and savour it. You'll be satisfied physically and psychologically.
7. Judge food by its cover.
When you have to hack through layers of packaging and plastic to get to the food, it is likely to be unhealthy.
8. Table your meals.
As much sitting as we do, we rarely stay put during dinner. Fifty-nine percent of young people eat on the run, a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association finds, and on-the-go eaters consume more total fat, as well as more soda and fast food. The less distracted and stressed you are when you dine, the more efficiently your body absorbs nutrients.
9. Fuel up in the morning, not at night.
A car needs gas when it's hitting the road, not when it's sitting in the garage—so why do we have our biggest meal when the only energy burner on the agenda is working the TV remote? Instead, aim for a 550-calorie breakfast, a 500-calorie lunch, a 450-calorie dinner and a 100-calorie snack. If you overeat at night, you're less likely to burn off the calories.
Tackle food poisoning the right way
We get food poisoning from eating food that contains harmful bacteria, viruses or poisonous substances known as toxins.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of food poisoning can vary, depending on what has caused it.
Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea, and sometimes fever.
The symptoms usually last for just a couple of days but, occasionally, food poisoning can be very serious and can even cause death. So make sure you avoid food poisoning with good food hygiene.
Find out how to avoid food poisoning
There are three main things to consider when you have food poisoning:
• Rehydration – drink plenty of fluids and use rehydration powders, which you can get from any pharmacy
• Stop the spread – wash your hands regularly, especially after going to the toilet and before preparing food. This will help stop the infection from spreading to other people. If possible, it's best to avoid preparing food for anyone else. If you work with a food business, you must tell your manager if you have diarrhoea or vomiting.
• Medical assistance – if you are concerned about your health or the health of someone else, contact your General Physician for advice (especially in the case of pregnant women, elderly people, children and people who are already ill)
• Reporting – if you think that your illness was caused by food prepared outside the home, report the incident to your local health service. This is important so that the food-preparing conditions of the restaurant can be investigated by authorities responsible for maintaining safe food-dispensing conditions.
To read more log on to www.consumer-voice.org
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About the Author:
Consumer VOICE was founded by teachers and students at the University of Delhi in the beginning of the academic year 1983-84. Till mid 1986, Consumer VOICE functioned as an unregistered voluntary consumer association. On 28 June 1986, it was registered as a Public Charitable Trust with noted jurist, Justice (retd.) V.M. Tarkunde and Prof. P.K. Ghosh of the Delhi School of Economics as founder donors and Dr. Sri Ram Khanna and Mr Rajan Karanjawala as Trustees. In 1988 the Dept of Company Affairs Govt. of India accorded recognition to Consumer VOICE under the MRTP Act. The trust has since been granted exemption under section 80-G of the Income Tax Act and, donations made to the Trust are exempt from Tax. However the organization does not accept donations from private enterprise in order to ensure objectivity, or from individuals except when the donor is genuinely committed to espouse the cause of consumer protection. As one of its first consumer-rights initiative, VOICE filed a suit against the ‘Wills Made for Each Other' tobacco campaign, as it was monopolistic and discriminated against consumers who did not smoke. VOICE also challenged television manufacturers which were selling colour television sets at a premium to consumers during the Asiad Games. In 1997, VOICE started to publish Consumer VOICE, a bi-monthly magazine that focused on bringing consumers information on product performance. ‘Voltage Stabilisers' were one of the first product tests to be published in Consumer VOICE magazine. The publisher of Consumer VOICE magazine since 1999 it is currently working in close co-ordination with the Dept of Consumer Affairs, Govt of India, on a comparative product testing project. The project aims to test a wide range of products most commonly used by Indian consumers in NABL-accredited laboratories. The test results are then published in Consumer VOICE magazine.
To know more log on to www.consumer-voice.org
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