Healthy diet and proper diet

Our ancestors in ancient times gave divinity to many things that appeared around them and then in the same course, they also referred to the food that nourished their bodies as Purna Brahma (one amongst three major Gods of Classical Hinduism). A verse has also been composed in that sense by A Saint Samartha Ramadas Swami, who says "Chant the name of Sri Hari", to Chant the following mantra before eating food:-

"Jeevan Kari jeevitva (Food sustains Life) anna (Food) he Purna Brahma, udar bharan nohe janije yadnya (fire ritual to worship Lord) karma."

It simply means “Our Hunger activates digestive fire in our stomach, and food consists of ghee, milk, herbs, cooked rice etc., which we offer in a Yadnya (As a Worship to God). Chant this mantra before eating food, turns eating into worship of Lord Brahma.

We perform any kind of sacrifice keeping our body and mind extremely sacred.  The food should be eaten with the same Holy Spirit and the housewife who cooks the food should also be respected. While doing anything or cooking, if the housewife cooks food in a good mood and in a happy atmosphere, without getting irritated, the food receives the sweetness of nectar and she will be the real owner of the post of Lakshmi Annapurna (A Goddess of Food and Nourishment) of Grihaswamini (The Master of the House).

The nutrients we get from the meals include proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals, fiber, water and fats. It contains asafoetida and garlic which are not only delicious, but also antibacterial. That is why these ingredients should be included in the diet. As these spices heat up in the pot while cooking, a substance called tannin is formed in them. As the tannin from green leafy vegetables, affects iron, vitamins, minerals, so they cannot be found in the body in a natural state. If the vegetables are cooked or fried separately in spices or added to the cooked gravy, their natural properties will remain intact and the food will be palatable. For example e.g. Cauliflower tastes good if eaten immediately after cooking, but it tastes bad if eaten cold. Many people have a problem that, when spinach and paneer (Indian Cottage cheese) is cooked, it doesn’t get the same color as served in a restaurant. There are different reasons for it. It depends on how you cook, store and use the spinach. First, the spinach needs to be washed in a clean water without boiling it in water, then fry the spinach in an iron pan or in a nonstick pan and cover this spinach paste in a bowl with a lid.

Even if the spinach paste stays open for a while, it tastes bitter. This means that the same process takes place here as the orange juice or citrus juice becomes bitter when it comes in contact with air.

Foods that improve your physical development and increase your body's vitality and happiness make your body healthy and strong, so your intellect is stimulated and new good thoughts come to your mind. This means that what we eat affects our behavior. You may also notice that eating fast food makes you irritable. When we eat to fulfill our hunger of the body it’s a natural process, the culture of eating when we are not hungry is a disorder and when we give food to others when they are hungry is our culture. Well mannered is the foundation of culture or a belief. A Culture develops a society and we are proud of our Indian culture. The best diet is considered to be the Indian diet in the world. In Dr. Abhay Bang's book, he writes, that according to a famous American surgeon Dr. Vimiyam or William “The best diet in the world is A Sattvik (A pure vegetarian diet, which includes seasonal fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, whole grains, pulses, sprouts, dried nuts, seeds, Honey, fresh herbs, dairy products, which are free from animal rennet and which increases our Satva i.e. our consciousness level) food in India.

The Sattvik diet includes a variety of salad, chutneys with no onion and no garlic added in it. These types of meals are found in Maharashtra in India, and they can be called as a perfect diet. In Indian cuisine, neatness is evident from the way dishes are served. There is also a rule of how to serve a meal. First place salt in the center on the side of the plate or on a banana leaf, then fill the plate with lemon, panchamrit ( made by mixing  holy five ingredients i.e. Cow Milk, Ghee, Honey, Curd and Jaggery), then serve a yellow colored methkoot (A Maharashtrian spiced powder made from dry roasted rice, wheat and lentils along with spices, which is very easy to digest and can be consumed daily)

with curd mixed in it, green chutney (A sweet and sour ingredients both together, having fruits and herbs, with spices and other seasoning) , two companion crunchy and tasty yogurt based salads, made up of cucumber, tomato and curd, on the right side, a gravy vegetable, fruit vegetable, third mode sprouted cereal,  or Sattvik vegetable without garlic & onion. The middle part of a serving plate is filled with white rice with sweet ghee and pure ghee on it. Then comes a type of poli (a thin pancake of unleavened whole grain bread, cooked on a griddle) a wada (savory fried snacks, described as fritters, cutlet, doughnuts or dumplings) rice or masala rice (a flavored and spicy rice with vegetables) etc. The war of colors is kept alive while doing all this. All these substances appear pleasant on the green banana leaves. Finally a meal is complete after we fill the plate with sweets (deserts), which includes Shrikhand-Puri, Basundi-Puri. Puran-Poli, Jalebi (Indian Funnel cake filled with sweet syrup) etc.

I remember one thing from Jalebi. Jalebi is not an Indian dish. This substance was famous as Jalebi from the Muslim country. It used to be a type of Jalebi that would fit in a large plate. In the past, there used to be a feast of panchpakwan (different varieties of food) and while eating these different panchpakwan, a leaf bowl made up of Patraval filled with water is served, to wash hands while eating separate panchapakwan. The purpose of this leaf bowl is to enjoy the taste of these different varieties of food separately by washing hand before eating different panchapakwan. This helped to retain the taste of each food separately, which are served in one plate, and also protect the smell of one sweet mixing with another.

We have a method of making different types of salad with meals. By doing so, some raw vegetables are consumed by us and the purpose of making such salads is to diversify the meal. Here, I would like to highlight one point, that salads or lettuce should be made fresh. It is not advisable to prepare it two hours prior to consumption and stored in the fridge. One thing I remember from lettuce is that, it is written in medicine science, that consumption of crude oil in our meals, along with raw vegetables is wholesome for our body. That is why we add seed paste in our traditional method of tomato or cucumber salad. This helps consumption of oil which goes into our stomach in the form of grains along with those vegetables.

We throw away a lot of vegetable leaves while cooking, but these vegetable leaves or skin contains a lot of vitamins.

Drinks, chutney, salad, vegetables, those are made using such vegetable leaves can be seen in South and also in Maharashtra in India. This is how the Drumsticks leaf vegetable or soup, tastes amazing. Radish leaf Vegetable, Cauliflower Leaf Vegetable, Cauliflower Stem Vegetable or Soup, Green Peas Pod or shell Soup, Paratha (layers of cooked dough) made of Chandan-Batva (A Herb with scientific name “Atriplex hortensis”), Chickpeas Leaf Vegetable, Ajinomoto (MSG monosodium glutamate) also known as Monosodium Glutamate are known to all. This Monosodium Glutamate substance is basically extracted from the stalks of Drumsticks, the stalk of cabbage leaves, the peel of green peas, strings of green beans. It is now recognized as the sixth flavor. This means that the taste of sour, chili, astringent, salt, can be distinguished by our tongue. In the same way, Ajinomoto taste will also be required. This type of substance is generally used in Chinese dishes. This enhances the taste of the food. In Chinese it is called as “Umami” (a paste known as  a strong fifth taste, that is intensely savor imparted by Glutamates,  and which occurs naturally in various foods like meat, fish and vegetables). High consumption of Ajinomoto is not recommended by Doctors, because Ajinomoto is now artificially made in many places, and therefore the same can be harmful.

Also a few days ago I used Banana skin to make a type of crispy snack. This really tasted much better than Kurkure (rice flour and corn flour based snack) and is highly nutritious. When we make potato vegetable, Bottle gourd vegetable, Dangar vegetable (An Ayurvedic medicinal plant in India) or  when we use carrots, cucumbers, etc. for salads, its highly recommended to wash all the vegetables nicely, peel them without removing their skins and then use them to cook vegetables. Skins of vegetables carry a lot of nutrients. It should be noted that fruits or vegetables often spoil within sometime, after peeling their skins. That obviously implies that the skin of these fruits or vegetables contains so much strength, due to which they last for three or four days.

Let us take an example of a potato. In order to verify, boil two potatoes at a time. Peel the skin of one potato and leave the second potato overnight without peeling. You will find that the second peeled potato gets spoiled soon.

Everyone have their own perception for different types of food that they eat. Some food might suit them or might have an adverse impact on their body. We need to understand what type of food bother us, when eaten at what time during the day. In particularly, I found out for myself, that if I munch on any food item made up of semolina in the morning, I would have a burning sensation in my stomach all day long. It is written in the scriptures that curd should not be used with fish products. In a sense, hey, that's right. But at the same time, it is traditionally found out, that some fish products are being marinated with curd along with spices. The same method continues even today. However, it is true that you should not eat dairy products like milk, curd, butter, ice cream etc. with fishery products. I like Rasamlai, Basundi, Rabadi, and when I eat these types of food, I am aware of the fact that, the same is going to bother me for a while. However still I eat it, because of my craze for that food. Also fruit salads are considered forbidden in scripture. Basically, a good diet says that milk should not be consumed or used with fruits. And they are right too. But it is equally true to say that some people suffer from eating fruit salads, while others do not. It is up to every person to decide individually, what food suits his body and what doesn't.

In the case of vegetables too, I would say that the vegetables should be washed clean before chopping them. So that it’s nutritional value lasts long and is preserved. Therefore it's always better to eat vegetables, as soon as possible immediately after they are cooked. So you get the right taste of the meal and the color of the vegetable when cooked gives a different flavor to the meal. Generally we carry three types of approach while eating food; the first thing that matters is how good the food looks. The second is based on the taste and the third is based on how hungry we are. I would like to mention one thing here that, the less quantity of food you cook, the more delicious it will be. Also, when you invite someone over your house for a meal, welcome them with a happy smile. The atmosphere where you are going to eat should be Sattvik (Pure, true, ethical, clean, strong, energetic, wise and vital).A Sattvik environment promotes happiness in the mind. It is therefore said that, food eaten with a happy mind, definitely tastes good. Right now during these busy days, we often see that many people eat food hastily, and they do not pay attention to their food. They are continuously busy on Mobile, or reading some paper on one hand and they consume food as a task or a duty. I would like to advise these people, that it is very hard for a woman to cook food. She takes care of the tastes, likes, dislikes of all the family members. Therefore, it is truly distressing and unpleasant, when these family members have their meal without any reaction or attention to the taste of the food.

There is so much truth in how many people speak out against junk food these days. I'm not the one to say no to junk food. Nevertheless, along with the junk food, you also need such food, that maintains a good balance of diet in our body.

I just gathered up a little bit of it from here and a bit from there. I was pondering in between my thoughts. That was the moment, when they asked me about my actions, along with the name of the dish, suddenly I felt dizzy, and on what should I name it! I smiled and replied, "The name of this food is a little bit of this and a little bit of that."

Based on a poem written by Dhiruben Patel:-

He walks her to the terrace to stride on a rainbow...

Dry thin crispy discs go inclining in her mind flow…

His eyes letch on a glittering canopy…

And she's busy planning piquancy