At a recent class reunion the biggest gripe from my friends was that I did not change one bit from my high school days. While I was flattered, as a Physician I am hyper aware of the ticking time bomb of hypertension and cardiac disease spreading among the youth of the country.
Young office goers and students live on oversized burgers, large packs of fries on the side and pizzas, downed with generous portions of icy cold fizzy drinks. They do not realize the havoc that the power of compounding of such diets play out over a two decade timeframe, nor are they aware that this is now the leading cause of death worldwide.
I have been a fan of home-cooked food. Eat what you want, but cook yourself. I strongly believe in the motto you are what you eat. When you do not have control over your ingredients, and you let others dictate and infect your food with addictive ingredients such as salt, sugars etc, we pay the price. Remember, a restaurant's sole objective is to captivate your taste buds so that you come back as a repeat customer, and keep their cash registers chiming. No wonder you see kids throwing a tantrum for those McDonalds fries.
The most asked question on MedhealthTV, the portal I run for pregnant mothers is about diet. They care. They care for their food, so that their baby is healthy. This is a natural instinct every mom displays and deploys. What they cook for themselves is healthy. If only all of us had access to such healthy food.
This set me thinking, and is what prompted me to team up with likeminded people and start a platform where people can order home cooked food and have it delivered. Customers have been spoilt with instant gratification by restaurant delivery platforms, so it takes time to adjust that a home chef needs some extra lead time to custom prepare fresh food against an order.
On top of changing their food habits, I urge everyone to incorporate a lifestyle sprinkled generously with physical activity. I can guarantee that your life will be as fulfilling and rewarding with these small but regular changes.
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Dr Padma is a Family Practice Physician, mother of two, runs several blogs and sites on maternal health, and involved with healthy food startups.
