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Do you eat to live or live to eat? It doesn’t matter.

What you should know is this. You and most people spend at least two hours every day buying, preparing and eating food. But this does not always convert to better nutrition (otherwise we wouldn’t have to depend so much on vitamins and supplements, would we?). Here’s one long, hard look at what’s going wrong and how we can fix it.

1. What we do: Insurance agent Indu Mittal rustles up aloo bhaji quite often. She first peels and chops the potatoes and onion into tiny little bits. Then she washes them thoroughly in running water. The 37-year-old from Gurgaon follows this regime to clean them of all the surface dirt. 

What it means: She’s throwing the baby out with the bath water. Why? Excessive washing rids vegetables of a lot of goodness. Lucknow nutritionist Dr Sunita Srivastava says: “If you first peel, chop and then rinse vegetables you stand the risk of losing the nutrients that are water soluble and get washed away.” Vitamins B, C, sodium and potassium are prone to leaching if peeled vegetables are steeped in water or washed for too long.

Get it right: Dunk the veggies in a vessel of water for a second, lay out the pieces on a clean kitchen towel and gently wipe them dry. Ideally, peeling should be done very gently by hand using a sharp knife. Veggies lose valuable nutrients when they are peeled too deeply or roughly.  This is how: the more finely they are peeled, the more they are exposed to air. This is when they respire, releasing stored organic materials such as carbohydrates and proteins as a by-product. Result: Lower food value, loss of flavour, loss of moisture and rapid deterioration in freshness.  It would be best to keep the pieces large. Chopping vegetables too finely, offers nutrients a larger surface area to escape from.

2. What we do: Housewife Ratna Sharma, 53, always fries and cooks vegetables till they are nearly charred and indistinguishable. That’s the only way she knows how to make them tender.

What it means: Some Vitamins, for example Vitamin A, are not heat-resistant. At temperatures over 48˚C, the enzymes get destroyed. When the veggies are overdone, it just leaves carbohydrates and fats in the prepared dish. Dr Srivastava says: “What you thought was a balanced meal unfortunately isn’t.” Overcooking foods with proteins is not a good idea either. Why? Proteins get leathery and tough when cooked at very high temperatures. They also become difficult to digest. And as such they remain unabsorbed by the body. Too much cooking and frying also ruins the natural flavour of the vegetables.

Get it right: Steaming is the best method of cooking vegetables. No oil is used, resulting in lower fat content. Steaming ensures that the nutrients do not get leached and the moisture remains intact. When boiling greens, for instance, reuse the leftover water as stock for soups and curries. Also remove vegetables from the boiling water a little before they have reached the desired tenderness. They will continue to cook slightly in the residual heat contained in them.
But nothing beats the good old pressure cooker. When it comes to making vegetables tender, use it. That’s a suggestion offered by Dr Vijaya Venkat, nutritionist and director of the Health Awareness Centre, Mumbai. Baking is also a recommended method of cooking. There is not much loss of nutrients in this process. An added advantage is that you can bake large quantities of food at the same time.

3. What we do:  In many nuclear households, particularly those without a retinue of domestic help, cooking is no longer a daily routine. Many working women allocate a day or two each week to make food that can be stored and dished out at mealtime.

What it means: Food not stored properly can be harmful. It can become a breeding house for bacteria, virus or fungi—the food spoilers! Studies at The Food-borne Diseases Active Surveillance Network of the FDA warn you about cooked foods that sit out at room temperature for more than two hours.
Many strains of bacteria—for instance, staphylococcus bacteria—produce a toxin that contaminates food. This results in possible gastrointestinal problems including constipation, nausea, abdominal gas and vomiting. Food-spoilage bacteria are usually produced because the food has not been kept hot enough (60°C or above) or cold enough (7.2°C or below). “It does not need food to smell funny or taste odd to go ‘bad’. Sometimes the harm is subtle but equally potent,” warns Dr L Vijayalekshmi, head of the department of Applied Nutrition, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.

Get it right: Dr Vijayalekshmi says: “It is essential to budget vegetables and food properly” and suggests a food-rationing system. How? Foods cooked in bulk to last over a number of meals are best divided at the outset. For instance, sambhar made for three dinners should be divided into three airtight containers after cooling. Except for the portion to be used within 24 hours, the other two should put in the freezer. This way only one container gets opened, which avoids contaminating the whole lot.

You need to keep in mind a particular food’s shelf- life. For instance, coconut, once desiccated or made into chutney, decomposes quickly. It should be stored in the freezer rather than the fridge racks.  Fungi like smut, rust, mold and mildew are potential allergens, causing illness. They contaminate raw foods like onion, wheat or preserved foods like jams and jellies. Potatoes must be kept in a cool, dark cupboard, but once cooked they are best put in the fridge rather than the freezer where they tend to become woolly. You can store your fruits and vegetables outside for a day or two. Leafy greens should be stored in the fridge. The rule of thumb: once cooked, food should be put in the refrigerator if it has to be eaten the following day. The Food Standard Agency, UK, suggests always placing cooked meat and poultry in the refrigerator to avoid potential food-poisoning. Bacteria will not grow and multiply if you do that immediately.

4. What we do: We are liberal with the salt shaker. The National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, recommends only 10 gm of salt per day for adults but we end up consuming around 15 gm per day!

What it means: High salt content in food is asking for trouble. Over-consumption can lead to high blood pressure, stroke or kidney malfunction. Listen to Dr Srivastava: “Too much of salt disturbs the body equilibrium. High BP is caused because the nutrients from food lie outside the blood capillaries from where they have to be absorbed by the blood. When the salt content in food is high, the capillaries try to balance that to absorb the nutrients successfully.” But my blood pressure is normal, you’re thinking. Good for you, but excess salt can cause other problems. In a 2-year study of postmenopausal women, researchers found that the higher a woman’s sodium intake, the greater her bone loss at the hip (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition).

Get it right: Remove the temptation by skipping the salt cellar completely. Have you considered replacing salt with herbs or spices? Garlic, onion, lemon and other citrus juices, and parsley can act as a substitute for salt in salads. Instead of adding salt to your bowl of curd, try enhancing the flavour with fresh coriander, or perhaps dry mint powder. Eating lots of mineral-rich vegetables and fruits, such as banana with its high-potassium content, also helps to balance the effect of salt on the body.

5. What we do:  Delhi housewife Vandana Jethwani, 45, is worried about the amount of water her daughter, Poonam, drinks during meals. The 13-year-old’s thirst is probably created by the oily, spicy food her mother serves. While Jethwani should know better than to be generous with oil, Poonam needs to be encouraged to go easy on the water.

What it means: As Rashmi Bhatia, senior dietician at VIMHANS, Delhi, explains: “Drinking water with food dilutes the pH (the acidity—alkalinity ratio) of the digestive juices in the body and hinders the absorption of the nutrients.” Consuming water during meals can also cause acid-reflux. What’s that? The acid from the stomach slides back into the oesophagus and this causes discomfort and heartburn.

Get it right: Try soothers like salted lassi, buttermilk or fruit juices. “These drinks themselves require acid to get digested and do not disturb the balance of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, the way water does,” explains Bhatia.  If you tend to get thirsty, try sipping warm water with the meal, as Ayurveda suggests. Take your time eating and chew well. It helps digest better. The saliva generated helps to push food down the oesophagus and provides enough lubrication, which quenches the pseudo-thirst created in the body.

6. What we do: You’re tired and hungry. You pick up samosas or pakoras, chips or pastries or chocolate from the corner shop.

What it means: It will perk up your dipping blood sugar levels. But as soon as their effect wears off, you will start feeling sluggish again. Deep-fried or sweet and refined foods will, in the long term, make you susceptible to heart diseases and kidney ailments. Findings from the landmark Nurses’ Health Study confirm that filling up on refined carbohydrates can be harmful, especially in postmenopausal women. The triglyceride levels are raised by nearly 76%, which increases the risk of heart disease significantly (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March, 2001). Most snacks are simple carbohydrates full of empty calories which are absorbed quickly by the body and can lure you into a vicious cycle of hunger and satiation.

Get it right: Snack on fruits and nuts. They are broken down by the body at a slower rate and will keep you full longer. Besides, high magnesium foods such as almonds and peanuts cut your risk of cancers, particularly of the colon, shows a recent study by the University of Minnesota, US. For a quick pick-me-up, Dr Venkat suggests a lime shot—the juice of half a lemon and an equal amount of water will give you an instant energy boost.

7. What we do: In Delhi it is officially 8 to 11 pm, in Thiruvananthapuram it may be 6.30 to 8.30 pm. The timing may be different but the uninvited guest to your dinner table is the same. Television. Come late evening and most households get glued to their sets to catch up with their favourite soaps.

What it means: Clinicians say an average school-age child in urban India spends over four hours a day in front of the TV screen. That’s 28 hours a week! The impact? Check out the rising rates of obesity amongst urban children. TV dinners are not a good idea. Neither for your mind, nor your body. When we eat while watching TV, we lose track of how much and what we are eating as our mind is occupied elsewhere. “Dinner gets reduced to unconscious eating,” remarks Dr Vijayalekshmi. TV interferes with the natural cues that our bodies send out to our minds about whether they are full. This leads to under or overeating. TV dinners break up health routines. You might have just eaten, but while watching TV you will compulsively pick up a snack to munch on.

Get it right: Concentrate on your plate. Keep track of how much and exactly what you have eaten. Define your portion and do not get up for a second helping. Start your TV dinner (if you must) with a salad. You can take your time with the salad while you watch the show and have your main course later. Do not keep snacks by your side while watching TV.  If you do want something to nibble on, go for cut fruits and nuts. This will save you many health-worries later on.

What We Do Right!
1. The variety of food we eat
2. A spread of dal, roti, subzi brings the benefits of all food groups
3. Curd is great: - It’s fabulous for your digestion
4. We fuss about fresh food that makes for great taste and even better health
5. Home food adds a personal touch to the meal making them more palatable and healthy
6. Sharing and caring. Don’t we love it when the neighbours send over a dabba of gajar ka halwa? Brings us closer to people and the food
7. Family meals Makes food a great source of bonding.

Article by Ankita agarwal