DASH: Edible and Healthy!
Dexterous DASH
I had paid
little attention to my surname till that important job interview where the very
first salvo fired was: The ‘h’ at the end of your name is an unnecessary
appendix, and totally expendable. Justify its rationale and relevance.
But this piece
is not about your blogger.
DASH is more
versatile and dexterous than you guess. It is more than a mere punctuation mark,
a word, or a surname.
DASH: Top DP
DASH is a
Diet Plan (DP), the Best Healthy DP in 2021, and the 2nd Best in 2022
and 2023.
DASH
(Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) is a flexible and balanced eating
plan that helps create a heart-healthy eating style for life. NHLBI (National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute), one of the National Institutes of Health of
the US Govt. recommends this diet and provides details of DASH Eating Plan,
Following DASH, and Living with DASH. Feel free to check their
portal for further details.
But why am I
blogging about health and nutrition advisory by US Govt? Why discuss DPs? Because
we live in a strange world. More food is produced than can be stored, yet many
people go hungry. Some eat more than is good for them and get sick; some are
deprived of a basic diet and suffer malnutrition. Some are addicted to junk
food even when they have plentiful healthy food.
As per a
report, 3 billion people, i.e., 42 per cent of the global population cannot
afford a healthy diet. Diet is considered unaffordable if it costs more than
52% of household income.[i]
While the
processed food lobbies spend big bucks to peddle junk food overloaded with
sugar (a 300ml coke bottle has 28 gm sugar and 100 calories. WHO recommends no
more than 30gm intake a day!), starch, salt, and fat; the healthcare industry provides
expensive drugs, nutrition supplements, and diet plans to tackle the deleterious
impact of junk food on the system. Everyone wins except the consumers!
Diet Plans
are the new hobbies of the overfed, and social media is overflowing with tips
and tricks and ancient remedies.
Should you
have the time and inclination to read more, check the following links: the most
popular diet trends over the last 100 years[ii],
and ‘Top 10 Diet Plans of 2023’[iii].
Keto
You haven’t
even touched your favourite dish. Ma made that specially for you,’ I said to my
daughter on a brief visit home. She’s on Keto, said her spouse. What’s Keto,
please? A Diet Plan.
On a ketogenic
diet, you cut way back on carbohydrates, also known as carbs, to burn fat for
fuel.
GM Diet
A friend
took to tennis in middle age with great passion yet continued to gain weight.
During a lunch meet, he ate no food and merely sipped water.
Skipping
lunch, I asked?
‘I’m on GM
Diet Plan,’ he whispered. A strict, curated diet regime for a week devised by
General Motors. It guarantees to knock off 15 pounds which is 6.8kg, he
provided the helpful conversion.
How are you
coping, I asked?
Today is the
third day. I’m struggling, but yet to succumb to temptation. Do you think I’ve
shed some weight?
I wasn’t
monitoring his weight on a daily basis, so I nodded politely to encourage him
on his mission.
When we met
after a few months, I asked: did the plan work?
Sure, it
did. Lost more than 3 kg in a week, but put on weight with a vengeance
thereafter, he said sheepishly.
Alphabet DP
Easy to
follow, Eat A to Z, just eat one alphabet a day beginning with A: almond, apple, avocado,
aubergine, asparagus, etc. Next day, you eat only B: bread, beef, bacon, beans,
broccoli, etc. How about X? That is a trump letter, like the Joker in card
games. X permits you to eat anything you please including a dozen doughnuts!
But why follow
the Roman alphabet, and not Devnagari, Arabic, or Mandarin? Since eat ‘local’
is a new fad, why not eat as per the local script?
Devnagari
has 50 (or 52), Thai has 64, and Khmer has 74 alphabets making it the script
with the biggest alphabet as per Guinness Book of World Records. Much greater
flexibility and variety than the Roman script!
MIND: Your Diet
The
Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, or MIND diet,
targets the health of the aging brain. Dementia is the sixth leading cause of
death in the United States, driving many people to search for ways to prevent
cognitive decline.
Global Obesity Observatory
Our
contrarian world is evident in the coexistence of Global Hunger Index and
Global Obesity Observatory. Obesity is an affliction no less than hunger.
Those who
reject India’s poor rank in the GHI as a sinister anti-India conspiracy may
find comfort that our country is among the least obese of 200 countries with
Rank 187 for adult males and Rank 194 for adult females[iv].
Why is India
not yet obese? While every religion considers gluttony a sin, and prescribes fasts
for its members; Hindus may hold the world record for maximum days of fasting. Many
people keep a fast on Navratri, Shivaratri, Janmashtami, Ram Navami, Ekadashi, and
weekly fasts on Monday (Shiva), Tuesday (Hanuman), Thursday (Lakshmi), Friday (Ma
Santoshi), Sunday (Surya), and eat only vegetarian diet for the entire month of
Kartika.
AAA Diet Plan
The western
world is obsessed with DPs since the last 100 years or so, and have turned diet
into a fad. Nutritionists charge top bucks to provide counsel customised for
your body-type, age, gender, calory need, activity level, and health issues, if
any.
People who
are in a perpetual rush, and invented fast food (Big Mac, Coke, French Fries, sinfully
rich pizzas) to be consumed in a hurry while standing or on the go; what do
they know about healthy and mindful eating?
In India,
free counsel is available since ancient times, and Ayurveda, the Science of
Life, provides detailed guidance on what to eat, when, and how; and what food
to avoid on which day, tithi, month, season, and time of day.
Food is
sacred, anna is sakshat Lakshmi. At home, meals were and still are cooked hygienically.
Fire which cooked food was revered as a god, and the first morsel of food was
offered to agni. Alas, the custom vanished with the advent of electric and gas
cooking stoves! Prior to eating, a token portion was offered to the gods. Eating
food is a sacred activity for which one must be seated and in a peaceful,
prayerful state. For mindful eating, you must not talk while eating.
Since some American
cafes now include in their curated menu Turmeric Latte - a brazen, unacknowledged copy of our very own ‘Healthy Haldi Doodh’ handed down since ancient times as Dadi Ma Ke Nuskhe; it is high time
for India to file for a patent on AAA: Ayrurvedic Aahara of Aryavarta. Why Aryavarta?
To accommodate the variegated cuisine of South Asia and South East Asia including
Bharata Varsha, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand,
Burma, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo.
Patent could
be for a generic, pan-Indian AAA, and sub-categories like AAA: Odia, AAA:
Gujarati, AAA: Northern/Southern/Eastern/Western/Coastal/Central India. Endless
possibilities.
Ayurvedic Dietary Regime
It is
amazingly detailed. Rishis have recommended specific days, months and seasons
when partaking suitable fruits, flowers, leaves, roots, and even barks would be
most beneficial. The list of prohibited food is equally detailed.
Prohibited
List:
Milk with
fish, meat, salt, and sour food; banana with curd and bael; fish with sugar and
honey; no fish, meat, or liquor on Sunday; no curd at night; no rice on
Ekadashi, Purnima, Amavasya, Mahashtami, Ram Navami, Shiva Chaturdashi,
Janmashtami.
In Kartika,
agni (digestive fire) is weak; hence habisha anna - a specially cooked light
meal – to be partaken once a day.
Chanakya was
not merely a political and economic adviser, he was also a nutrition
counsellor. Once he told Chandragupta Maurya:
O King, may
your enemies starve in Pousha (when the digestive fire is the strongest), gorge
in Kartika (when rich food would make one sick), and feast on jaggery in
Chaitra (bound to spawn worms in the intestine).
A Sanskrit shloka says:
Merely by practising ‘right eating’ as prescribed by Ayurveda, you will be cured of all diseases without any medication; without proper diet, all the medicines you try will be of no help.[v]
You’ve lost weight!
At a dinner
party, a friend said, ‘You’ve lost much weight. Hope all okay with you?’
Something I dread to hear when my spouse is around since for weeks thereafter, she
nags me to eat more, better, and put on weight.
Upon
returning home, I calculated my BMI (weight in kg divided by height in metre
squared), and found it in normal range for my age, and showed the result to
spouse which she trashed, unwilling to budge from her conviction that I am
underweight.
I must now
look for DPs to gain weight!
Disclaimer
Your Blogger
is not a nutritionist. No Diet Plan fits all. Consult your doctor/nutritionist
for the diet that is right for you and suits your goal (weight-reduction,
BP/Diabetes/Lipids management.)
***
Postscript
Comments
By Madan Upadhyay, Author & Friend
हम सब खाने के बारे में सोचते हैं और कई व्यक्तियों का जीवन
का बड़ा हिस्सा खाने से
जुड़ी उनकी प्रिय वस्तुओं के बारे में सोचते और करते गुजर जाता है ।
भारतीय दर्शन में कहा गया है कि ""जैसा खाओ अन्य
वैसा होवे मन""।
लेकिन वर्तमान जेनरेशन इस बात को बिल्कुल तवज्जो नहीं देती
क्योंकि आज का दौरा जंक फूड का है । इस दौर में पिज़्ज़ा, पास्ता ,मैकरोनी ,चीनी और न जाने क्या-क्या दुनिया भर के आइटम समाहित हो चुके
हैं ।
अपने अपने रोचक प्रसंग में अनेक प्रकार के खाने बताए हैं ।
हमारी दादी कहा करती थी ""भूख ना देखे सुखा भात
"",
कहा भी जाता है
""भूखे भजन ना होऐ
गोपाला।
यह लो अपनी कंठी माला।।""
भूख ही वह वस्तु है जो हमें एक स्थान से दूसरे स्थान पर
दौड़ए रहती है। जिस दिन हमने भूख
पर विजय पा लिया फिर हम सन्यासी
हो जाएंगे ।।
और जैन संन्यासियों को ही देख लो उनके लिए तो आहार और स्वाद
का कोई संबंध ही नहीं है ।उनको उतना ही खाना है जितना की भिक्षा पात्र में आ जाए
और कुछ पहुंचे हुए सन्यासियों के लिए तो भिक्षा पात्र उनके हथेली है।
आप सोच सकते हैं की साधना और भोजन का कितना अहम संबंध है
।कोई भी भोजन हो वह उसे स्थान की भौगोलिक स्थिति और जलवायु पर आधारित होता है ।
जैसे समुद्री क्षेत्र के रहवासी मछली ध अन्य ने आहार पसंद करते हैं और टुंद्रा
जैसे बर्फीले क्षेत्र में मांसाहारी भोजन ज्यादा पसंद किया जाता है ।
भोजन जो भी हो वह उतना होना चाहिए कि आपकी पेट की अग्नि को
शांत कर सके ।।
फारसी की एक कविता है
""अगर शाहे आलम
नहीं तंदुरुस्त
तो फिर उससे बेहतर है दहकाने चुस्त।
तू रह चुस्त चल फिर के सुस्ती को छोड़।
तू जूते को घिस चारपाई ना तोड़।
जो खाना ना चाहे दवा तोलकर
वह डाले शिकम में गिजा तोलकर ।।
तबीबो के नुस्खे में रखा है क्या
की परहेज है सबसे बेहतर दवा।
इन सब बातों के बावजूद भोजन का जीवन में एक अहम महत्व है और
बचपन से लेकर उम्र के हर पड़ाव पर हमें इसका आनंद उठाना चाहिए हां इसके मोह माया
में इसके गुलाम न बन जाए।।
My Note: To understand the Persian poem, I took a
coaching lesson from Madan. Word meanings: dahaka – farmer, shikam – stomach,
giza – food, Tabib – doctor.
Many thanks, Dear Madan, for your comments, and
for helping me learn a few Persian words.
