Due to economy being affected by Covid 19 Modi govt took the decision of reducing the salaries of all Members of Parliament by 30%, a move which was welcome by all the MPs . Even President, Vice President and Governors also willingly agreed to take a cut down in their salary by same percentage, although they were not covered by govt’s ordinance. Govt even announced that the MPLAD (MP’s Local Area Development Fund) is being suspended for next 2 financial years, this move was not liked by many MPs, as per them this will hamper the developments in their constituency, if I am not mistaken each MP gets Rs 5 Cr as MPLAD every year, there are around 785 MPs in the country which means Govt will be having additional fund of Rs 7850 Cr for tackling Corona Virus. I hope all the states should also announce similar salary cuts for their MLAs and MLCs, and also suspend their Local area development funds.
Again today I am writing about the health related topics, and today’s topic on Indian snacks.
Snacking is a very common habit among we Indians, there are so many favourite snack foods like Samosa, Kachori, Chats, Chips, Chaklis, Farsan, Pakoras, Batata Wada, Kababs and many more depending on the various Indian states. No get together is complete with offering of snacks. Indians love having snacks at any time of day.
Many of these are fried snacks, and all of us know that fried foods are not suitable for our health, most of the time we can not help it, specially when it is part of our daily life. You need to have a strong will power to resist this type of stuff for one helping. Most of the people have tendency to go for second helping. Nutritionists always say that it is better to avoid fried food, as they are harmful to our body. Now let us see why they are not good :
Higher Calories : It is known fact that fried foods contain excessive calories and this lead to obesity. It is generally said that obesity leads to many other diseases like diabetes (especially Type 2) and cardiac conditions (failures and attack), apart from causing many other issues. Anything which is fried usually loses water and absorbs a lot of fat, which increases calorie content.
More Transfats : Fried foods also contain more transfats, especially when sold as packed foods. Most of these foodstuffs are put through a process called hydrogenation, wherein the oil is heated to ultra high temperatures. High transfats are a cause of rise in bad cholesterol in the body and as we know this can lead to issues with one’s heart. It has been proved by studies that high transfats increases the chances of developing disease like cancer, diabetes and even those related to hearts.
Digestion Problems : It is proven fact that when you consume more greasy or oily foods, it affects your digestion system. When you are young, you may survive by eating such foods. However when we grow old, digestive power lessens and hence eating fried foods can cause lots of digestive issues. Many find themselves stuck with indigestion issues like irritable bowel syndrome, acid attacks. At time, one may need medical help to overcome these problems.
Lower Nutrition : Fried vegetables lose most of their nutritional value, which is very important for seniors in their regular diet. All can benefit from this nutrition when the vegetables are eaten fresh or cooked in a healthy way. Eating more fried foods can lead to malnutrition.
Increased Carcinogens : Some studies have suggested that fried foods aid in developments of carcinogens in our body. More studies are going on to conclusively prove this in the case of humans. While studies on animals have demonstrated that fried foods contain Acrylamide (it is a chemical that can form in some foods while frying), which increases the risk of developing cancer.
So, it seems that there are many reasons for people to stay away from fried foods. No doubt they are highly appealing to our palate, but they do not contribute anything positive towards our health, in fact it does the opposite. The fried foods can lead to serious health problems, which can be avoided. How the idea should be if you can avoid then limit your intake of your fried food. When frying can not be avoided it is better to use some healthy oil like coconut oil, rice bran oil, flexseed oil etc. Think before you reach out for fried food, instead reach out for bowl of fruit, which is healthier option.
Friends, I do hope you will find above information very useful.
Awaiting views/feed backs/comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
8th Apr 2020.