Modern food habits and health issues essay | Wrong with modern diet

In the modern world, certain things have taken priority over others when it comes to shopping for, cooking and eating food. At the top of this list are convince and speed. Living in nuclear families, working long hours and batting packed schedules, most of us want to find shortcuts when it comes to preparing meals for ourselves and our families, enter the pre-packaged drive-through fast food meal and even the ready to eat upma or rajma chawal that just requires adding boiling water to a cup of course these meals are usually inexpensive and save us huge amounts of time (let alone effort and washing up) but what have we lost in the process? Perhaps asking this questions can help us answer another what is wrong with our modern diets?

Nutritional Food

Before getting into nutritional Specifics, perhaps it’s important to pause and think of what food means to us beyond nutrition. Food has always been an integral part of identify and culture. Culinary traditions are unique to every region and have been passed down through generation. Learning how to cook used to involve under-standing seasonal ingredients, local produce, varied flavours, and balancing the health effects of each ingredient. Food ties families together, defines communities, and is a great source of comfort, think about your favourite meal that your parents or grandparents cooked for you, perhaps on a birthday or a special occasion. You’ll probably be flooded with memories-the fragrances of spices wafting out of the kitchen, the delicious flavours, and the laughter that accompanied them at the dining table. This is what food can be a rich, social and deeply fulfilling experience.

Now fast forward to the meal you most often ear in the middle of a workday or on a weekend. Do you usually grab a sandwich to eat at your desk for lunch? Perhaps you pick up a roll or make some instant noodles for dinner, and order in biriyani when there’s birthday in the family. There’s absolutely no judgement if you do any of these, you aren’t to blame for choosing convenience over everything else. We live in a time of high stress and busy schedules. Add to that the industrialisation of the food industry and the easy access to a vast array of instant foods, sugary drinks and snacks, and the story unfolds completely. Pause and think for a second about what’s the most frequently ordered dish on swiggy and Zomato! Who have thought that biryani will top all charts all over the country as the most frequent indulgence!

Modern Foods in Urban Area

Given that many of us living in urban areas seem to have lost the deep connections with food that were forged growing up, or that faded away in our parents’ generation, we’re all familiar with the modern diet, also called the western diet. The western diet is characterised by refined sugars and grains, highly processed or industrialised foods, genetically modified vegetables, antibiotic injected meat, deep fried snacks, sweetened beverages, and a whole lot of things that don’t even remotely reassembly naturally occurring foods but have long shelf lives and are accessible and quick to prepare, a lot of these are simply not nutritious and do not fuel a healthy lifestyle, the they leave us craving more sugar or fat, while we feel unsatisfied, heavy and low on energy. There is now sufficient evidence that that the modern diet has powerful adverse effects on almost every aspect of our bodies, from immunity to heart health. it has led to what’s been termed the pandemic of obesity, as well as a sharp rise in lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases such and more.

Now that it’s clear what’s wrong with the modern diet, how can we fix the and create a new modern diet that is holistic and healthy in the long term? It’s important not just to change the food we eat, but also to change the way we eat it. Try and create simple rituals around food in your home. Perhaps you and your partner, child or friend can start cooking a meal together once a week. Lay the table, play some music, and eat mindfully paying attention to the flavours and textures of the food. You could also try and recreate recipes from your childhood or find you’re favourite on youtube, reviving memories and nostalgia as you make your favourite meals. It’s important to make eating an enjoyable experience, rather than one that brings feelings of guilt or shame. And hopefully the rest of this chapter will help you with better food choice to redefine the modern diet.