To eat or not to eat

By - Mridula Chaudhari

“You should not eat fruits after dinner”, said Uma. Uma is the most calorie conscious and a ‘know all lady’ in the kitty party. If Uma has said this, it certainly holds lot of ‘weight’. Other ladies would listen to her health tips with rapt attention. Her tips would be the highlight of the party. Each one would crave to sit next to Uma, lest she missed the tip. Such weighty issues are very sensitive these days.

If you google health tips, you will find tips for losing weight, tips for heart, mind and body, natural health tips, Ayurvedic health tips, health tips for healthy skin and many more. I am talking about only the first page and there are pages after pages. Given the fact that health tips are literally available on tip of our fingers, are we really healthy human beings? “Wish reading these tips could make me healthy”, retorted a friend. But alas, that doesn’t happen.

 Uma, in one of our meetings, told me to have turmeric powder with hot water first thing in the morning. I have been following the ritual since the last one month now, in the hope of losing some extra pounds. In her next meeting she recommended a green smoothie, first thing in the morning to detoxify and lose weight. Now this is confusing, isn’t it? The next time she may recommend hot water with lemon and honey, only to add in the next meeting that consuming honey with hot water is not at all healthy way of living. 

Just when I decided to have protein rich food, she came along and said, “No no, have salads, too much protein will ruin your weight loss program”. When I started salads, again she changed her mind after few months, saying, “Too much raw ruins your digestive system. You should cook veggies and eat”.

Just when I was getting used to the slimy taste of oats I was told, “Whatever our granny ate was the best – upma poha included”. The canned food or the ready to use flakes fall in the fast food category, is the new mantra. While a glass of fruit juice was considered healthy way of consuming fruits, along came the diktat, eat fruits as it is no juices or shakes please.

While cow milk was supposed to be the best drink for children, the new fashion statement is soya milk - just as paneer is replaced by tofu. What are the health experts eating? Somebody said ‘words’.