Let’s celebrate this Mother’s Day with a new beginning: Food Wellness
Updated: Sep 9, 2019
On this ceremonial occasion of Mother’s Day, I as a mother thought of bringing light on this important and significant topic of food wellness. What is food wellness? Food wellness is the healthy food program designed and aimed to build a healthy mind and body, keeping in mind the nutritional value, the good health factor and the proper food quotient. A mother’s task is not just to bring a child into this world but to groom a person into a healthy mind and soul. That can be done only with a healthy lifestyle with right eating habits followed by a right dietary regimen.
Food poisoning and Foodborne diseases caused by harmful pathogens are becoming the gross reality of the day and great source of worry for each and every mother. Increasing food choices, rising tendency to eat food outside, and growing pattern of eating ready to eat food have all together made a mother’s task more uphill. Unhealthy dietary patterns, with an alarming increase in junk food consumption, physical inactivity and a sedentary lifestyle in general, use of drugs and medication, and stress all are on the rise. Irresponsible media propagation of packaged food high in sugar and sodium and containing preservatives and trans fat and a general view of “tasty food” being different from “healthy food” has a marked influence on the diets of children.
She is now faced with new food challenges and has to meet new food parameters every day. It’s no longer a mother’s job just to cook only delicious and finger licking food for her family, but it is her sacred duty as an educated woman now to provide nutritious meals, educating adults and children to adopt healthy lifestyles, advocating for better food policies, and expanding this holistic model across communities. Wholesome lifestyles are essential to achieve academic and social success because they support the healthy physical and intellectual development of children and adults.
Many diseases and health related issues can be cured with a simple, nutritious and wholesome diet.
Practically applying the principle “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” on preparing and storing food is the only Food Mantra. Preventing the growth of dangerous microorganisms in food is the key to reducing the millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths each year. Here are some Key steps which each mother must follow to ensure the ‘Food Wellness’ essential for the well being for her family:
Checking your steps for food safety by following four basic rules — Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill.
Educating & Guiding children about the importance of eating healthy food, rich in vitamins and minerals.
Helping them and educating them about the right food choices, starting the day with a hearty breakfast and ending it with a light, early dinner ensures that most of the damage has been controlled.
Aiming to create a long lasting impact with working towards understanding how food works in your body and mind and also on transforming and redefining your relationship with food and well being.
Preparing homemade food may be less risky than purchasing them from a retailer.
Enjoying pasteurized dairy and juices which can be safer alternatives to those that are unpasteurized.
Selecting right kind of cooking oil, making a healthier choice of monounsaturated fats over saturated fatty acids in terms of keeping cholesterol levels in control.
Reducing the intake of refined carbs like refined flour, white sugar, etc. and include more complex carbs like whole grains in your diet that take longer to digest, releasing slow but continuous energy for a long duration.
Advocating enough physical exercise in a day, either in the form of walking or running for a short while or playing a sport or a recreational activity involving physical movement.
Keeping stress completely out of life and imbibing children with the value of stress-free life.
This little effort from each mother will definitely help in nurturing and nourishing a healthy family, with a healthy body and mentally sound mind. And incorporating this theory of Food Wellness in our life, one can definitely usher a new food era aimed at providing complete health and mind wellness.
Hare Krishna!!!
About Dr. Gazal Goyal Bansal
Founder and CEO, Life Coach and Speaker, Dr. Gazal Bansal is a
Doctorate in Political Science, UGC (JRF), a Gold Medalist, Certified ISO 22000 Lead Auditor, a Licensed Practitioner of NLP from The Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (TM) & a Pranic Healer.
As a spiritual evangelist and a practical thinker, she is a radical enthusiast and a firm believer in the philosophy of conceptual pragmatism, logical reasoning, and the spiritual energy matrix. She is a staunch believer of the fact that before you speak, your energy speaks.