Chapter 3: Mindful Eating: A Path to a Healthy Body (Food and Health)

(i) Chana. Jowar, bajra and ragi are millets (cereals), rich in carbohydrates; chana (gram) is a pulse, rich in protein.

(ii) Rice. Kidney beans, green gram and soya bean are pulses (legumes), rich in protein; rice is a cereal, rich in carbohydrates.

(i) Chana: it is a pulse, the others are millets. (ii) Rice: it is a cereal, the others are pulses.

Modern practices save time and offer variety, and modern knowledge helps with hygiene and food safety. But the traditional practices are often healthier. A good approach is to keep the healthy traditional habits (fresh, seasonal, balanced food) while using modern conveniences wisely.

Traditional cooking uses fresh, local, seasonal food, millets and healthy methods like steaming and fermenting; modern habits rely more on packaged, refined, fried food. Combining healthy traditions with modern convenience is best.

• How can food act like a medicine? Which foods help to prevent or cure diseases?
• Which foods should I eat to stay away from diseases like night blindness, scurvy or anaemia?
• Can eating the right food make medicines unnecessary, or do we still need medicines sometimes?
• Why do our grandparents give us turmeric milk, ginger or honey when we have a cold?

For example: "Which foods prevent or cure which diseases?" and "Can the right food replace medicines, or do we still need them?"

Many foods that taste very good contain a lot of sugar, salt and fat but few nutrients, for example chips, burgers, pastries, sweets, cold drinks and fried snacks. Eating them often can cause obesity, tooth decay and other health problems.

Some nutritious foods are not liked by everyone, for example bitter gourd (karela), spinach and other green leafy vegetables, sprouts or millets, although they are rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre.

We should choose food for its nutrition and not only its taste. Healthy food can also be made tasty, for example sprouts chaat, vegetable paratha, ragi laddoo or a fruit salad; and less healthy treats can be eaten only occasionally.

Tasty foods like chips, cold drinks and sweets may be unhealthy (too much sugar, salt, fat), while nutritious foods like bitter gourd or greens may not be liked; we should eat for nutrition and make healthy food tasty.

Biscuits, noodles and white bread are made of refined flour (maida) and have almost no dietary fibre (roughage). Without roughage, food does not move smoothly through the intestines, which causes constipation and stomach ache.

Medu should:

• eat plenty of vegetables, fruits (with peel where possible), whole grains (whole-wheat roti, brown rice, millets) and pulses, which are rich in roughage;
• drink enough water;
• reduce biscuits, noodles and white bread.

Roughage adds bulk to the food and helps the body get rid of undigested food easily.

He should eat roughage-rich food (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, pulses), drink plenty of water and cut down on refined-flour foods.

(i) Night blindness.

(ii) Vitamin A.

(iii) Carrots, papaya, mango, green leafy vegetables (spinach), pumpkin, milk, eggs, fish.

(i) Night blindness (ii) Vitamin A (iii) e.g. carrots, papaya, mango, spinach (also milk, eggs).

Fresh fruit is the best choice. It contains all its fibre (roughage) along with vitamins and minerals, and no added sugar or preservatives. Fresh fruit juice is the next best, but juicing removes much of the fibre. Canned fruit juice usually has added sugar and preservatives and loses some vitamins during processing, so it is the least healthy.

Fresh fruit: it keeps its fibre, vitamins and minerals, with no added sugar or preservatives.

(i) Calcium is the mineral that makes bones and teeth strong; extra calcium helps the broken bone to heal and become strong again.

(ii) The body needs Vitamin D to absorb calcium from food; without Vitamin D, much of the calcium would not be used by the body. So Vitamin D helps the calcium tablets work properly.

(iii) For example: "Why did the doctor not give Vitamin D on the first visit itself?" or "Could Gourav get enough Vitamin D just by sitting in the sunlight and eating foods like milk and eggs?"

(i) Calcium builds strong bones and helps the fracture heal. (ii) Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. (iii) e.g. Why not Vitamin D on the first visit? Can sunlight provide it?

The iodine test is a test for starch, not for all carbohydrates. Iodine turns blue-black only with starch. Sugar is a carbohydrate, but it is not starch, so it does not give the blue-black colour.

The iodine test detects starch only; sugar is a carbohydrate but not starch.

Raman is right. Starch is one kind of carbohydrate; sugars (glucose, cane sugar) are also carbohydrates but are not starch.

Activity:

1. Take small amounts of potato (or rice, or wheat flour), sugar, and a crushed ripe grape or a little glucose, on separate plates.
2. Make a little solution of each in water.
3. Add 2–3 drops of dilute iodine solution to each.
4. Observation: the potato, rice or flour turns blue-black (it contains starch); the sugar and glucose solutions do not change colour (they have no starch).

Since both sugar and starch are carbohydrates (both give energy) but only the starchy foods turn blue-black, this shows that not all carbohydrates are starches.

He is right: starch is one type of carbohydrate, while sugars are carbohydrates without starch. Iodine turns potato or rice blue-black but not sugar or glucose.

The teacher's cotton saree had been starched (stiffened with starch, as is often done with cotton sarees), so the iodine reacted with the starch and turned blue-black. Mishti's socks had no starch in them (socks are not starched, and are usually made of other fibres), so the colour did not change.

The saree had starch on it (starched cotton), which turns blue-black with iodine; the socks had no starch.

Millets are healthy (jowar, bajra, ragi, kodo, kutki): they are rich in dietary fibre, minerals like iron and calcium (ragi is very rich in calcium), proteins and vitamins. They release energy slowly, keep us full for longer and help digestion. They also grow with little water and fertiliser.

Eating only millets is not enough. Millets mainly give carbohydrates (energy) with some other nutrients, but our body needs all components of food in the right amounts: proteins (pulses, milk, eggs), fats, vitamins and minerals (fruits, vegetables), roughage and water. So millets should be one part of a balanced diet, along with pulses, vegetables, fruits and milk products.

Millets are rich in fibre, minerals (iron, calcium) and nutrients and easy to grow, but alone they cannot give all nutrients; they should be part of a balanced diet.

Put a few drops of the solution on a starchy food, such as a slice of potato, a little cooked rice, or a pinch of wheat flour or cornflour in water. If the food turns blue-black, the solution is likely to be an iodine solution (iodine gives this colour with starch). If there is no colour change, it is not iodine. (Iodine solution is also brownish-yellow in colour.)

Add a few drops to a starchy food like a potato slice; if it turns blue-black, the solution is likely iodine.