Five White foes in the Kitchen - Part 4 - Rice

 "Aunt Snigdha, as you had asked, I have read about today's food substance"

“Wow, let's start then with the information you have gathered. Tell me what have you read? ”

Shriya enthusiastically started, “Today I have read about rice. I've been curious about this ever since you first mentioned it. Rice is an important element of our diet because we get carbohydrates from rice/rotis in a wholesome diet of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins. Rice is the staple food in coastal regions. In olden days, they used to eat hand pounded rice. But nowadays the rice is over-polished to make it look whiter. This process removes the * bran and vitamins * too from the rice grain and only the starch remains. This starch due to their high * GI*,  increase blood sugar levels. This increases the risk of developing diabetes. So if not everything, one should avoid eating this polished rice atleast. ”

"Oh wow, well done. You shared a lot of information. Now, I will tell you only a few parts related to Ayurveda. In Ayurveda, rice is called 'Shali' and today's common word 'Sali' is derived from the same. Earlier there were different varieties of rice like Raktashali, Mahashali, Shashtik Shali, Kolam widely available.

शाल्यान्न कफवातघ्न स्वादु पित्तनिवारण ।

रूप शुक्र महातेज सत्त्व बुद्धि बलप्रद ।।

Rice is pacifies vAta. Being sweet in taste it reduces the pitta.Increases kapha. It bestows beauty (rupa), shukra;  bright glow of aura (mahateja) ; mental strength(satva); intellect (buddhi)and bala (power). These days we are familiar with varieties like Ambemohor, Indrayani, Kolam, Sonamsuri. Rice has been such a significant part of Indian diet that the alternative name of rice is * Odan (meaning food) * During convalescence, rice soup, porridge etc. is given as rice it is easy to digest. Even infants are fed rice first when its time for them to have soild food. Rice pacifies vata-pitta dosha and increases kapha as well. Hence one should use aged rice instead of new rice to reduce the problem of phlegm. (Remember the ad commercial where they say their rice is aged for 2 years). Earlier, while cooking, rice was cooked in a large vessel with lot of water the excess water was drained once the grains were cooked. Then the rice was covered so that the grains were steamed well. In this method, the excess starch goes away and the GI of rice comes down as you said and you can eat rice guilt free. But these days we cook rice in pressure cooker. The excess starch is not removed when rice is cooked in pressure cooker making it difficult to digest.

"So if you want to eat rice, what is the solution?"

"You can look for hand-pound or single polished rice which is good for health. We can buy such rice. One should eat rice that is aged for at least 6 months to a year. Such rice grain has less water content. Or one can dry roast the rice well before cooking it. Another very important aspect i must tell you, that all across India traditional meals comprising rice  are Varan-Bhat, Amti-Bhat, Rajma-chawal, Sambar-Bhat, Dal-Khichdi, Fish curry-rice and Biryani. If you give this a thought, you will notice that in all these dishes, rice is paired with proteins, i.e. pulses, cereals, meat. Additionally we have salads, leafy vegetables, fruits in our diet. Therefore, we don't end up eating a rice only meal. "Okay aunty, I mean when you eat rice this way, you should take care that other fibrous foods too are consumed instead of just carbohydrates. Otherwise, the habit of eating a heap of rice with pickles avoiding veggies and salads will only get starch in your tummy, right? ”

"That's right, I'm deviating a bit from our topic bit let me mention that pickle-rice, sauce-chapati, bread-jam, jam-chapati should also be avoided as much as possible. Alright, now let's decide what to discuss tomorrow?"

"Oh I'm going to keep that a suspense for you, auntie," said Shriya and ran away.

(To be continued)

Dr. Snigdha Churi-Vartak.

9870690689

Translated by Mrs Madhura Poduval.

(This article was first published by Vaidya Snigdha Churi-Vartak on 19th August 2020 on her blog *https://samanwayayurved.blogspot.com/2020/08/five-white-foes-in-kitchen-part-4-rice.html*. All rights are reserved by the author. If you want to share elsewhere, please make any changes.) And share with the original author's name.)

Five White foes in Kitchen, Part 2 - Refined Flour

 #Samanwaya_Ayurveda

# Five_white_foess_part_2

#healthy_diet_series_ Swasthyaveda

                “So Shriya, shall we start? The first food foe is Maida. ”

 * Maida i.e. Refined Wheat Flour * means the finest white flour processed of wheat by removing all bran. The wheat that is available in the market is in different forms daliya(broken wheat), rawa(semolina) or flour. In all these varieties, wheat bran i.e. the outer husk is present in small amounts. This wheat bran is, I would say, is more important than flour. This is because bran contains a large amount of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Flour without this bran which we call maida is almost 98% of non-nutrient white powder containing carbohydrates only. Everyone prefers this flour because it is used to make popular bakery products like bread, biscuits, cookies, rusks, pizza base, ladi pav, puffs, cakes, samosas, pasta, naan, kulcha, rumali roti and the list will go on”

"Yes, Auntie, I love pav bhaji and pizza."

“We love all these foods because of their soft touch and sweet taste. ,but  there was no maida in olden days. All the delicacies were made with fine whole wheat flour only. Maida and Bread was introduced in India after british raj. Even earlier in Europe , bread and other bakery products were prepared from different types of freshly ground whole wheat or other grains as per requirement. Refined flour was invented somewhere between the 18th - 19th century . It gained popularity as it yielded softer baked good.This happens because of the presence of gluten in wheat. Gluten is a protein found in most of the grains. Among these, wheat has the highest concentration of gluten. And it is this gluten that makes wheat flour sticky and stretchy, which is important while making all these bakery products.

Here is a Fun Fact. The word Gluten is derived from the Latin word 'Glue'.

 “Other grains also contain gluten, so we can make bread out of those flour too. But wheat comparatively has a higher content. So refined flour, in absence of fibrous bran, has even higher percentage of gluten. Therefore, this refined flour forms a thin sticky layer on the inner wall of our intestines. This layer staggers the digestion food and absorption of nutrients in the intestines. This leads to indigestion, acidity, constipation, bloating etc. Moreover, the refined flour does not contain any minerals or vitamins. Therefore, the nutritional value of flour is as good as zero. Frequent consumption of refined flour causes disorders like * mouth ulcers, dermatitis, diabetes, obesity, indigestion, heart disease *. ”

"Oh my God! Aunty, this refined flour is pretty nasty, but then what to snack on in the evening ??"

“Ayurveda has never endorsed refined flour , and There are so many different items that can be made from whole wheat flour i.e. aata, such as chapati, tandoor roti and even puranpoli. Cakes, breads can also be made from wheat flour. Anyways these foods should be eaten once in a while and in smaller portions. Instead, choose to eat home-made snacks like laddus, chiwda, dried fruits and nuts. ”

"Hmm, I can give up eating all these products but birthday cake on mine and Dada's birthday is okay to have right?"

(This article was first published by Vaidya Snigdha Churi-Vartak on 17 August 2020 on her bloghttps://samanwayayurved.blogspot.com/2020/08/samanwayaayurveda-fivewhitefoesspart2.html . All rights reserved. If you want to share, please share without making any changes and with the name of the original author.)

* Five White foes in Kitchen - Introduction *.

#Samanwaya_Ayurveda

# Five_white_poisons_part_1

#healthy_diet_series_ Swasthyaveda

               Even during the lockdown, Anaya, Shriya and their group was busy with daily online classes from school, art and crafts activities and various projects were keeping them occupied. One such afternoon, my phone rang and it was Shriya at the other end.

"Auntie, I wish to make a presentation at the science conference on 'Your diet - Your health '. How shall I prepare? ”

Me: "Wow, that's a good thing. Have you thought of something? ”

Shriya: “I think our health depends on what we eat. That means we'll be healthier if we eat a home-cooked balanced meal every day. "

Me: "Good to start with, anything else?"

Shriya: "Yes, as you always say, we should eat seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables. We should also eat all the vegetables without any fuss or not being picky about them”

Me: "Wow, what's more?"

“More??? What else? Oh yes, stay away from junk food.”

Me: "That's right, you made some very good points, Shriya. Along with this, there are 5 foods that are always present in all of our kitchens and have become part of staples of our daily diet, they are * sugar, salt, flour, milk and rice *. Currently these are called White Poisons.

“What ??? Aunty milk and rice too ?? Mom keeps telling me to eat less sweets. Scolds if I ask for extra salt. Grandpa has also been advised to consume less salt and sugar due to blood pressure and diabetes. But milk and rice too?? What should one eat then? ”

"Alright, take it easy. See, I shall explain everything to you in detail, so then you prepare your presentation, is this okay? ”

(Continued)

Note - The next five parts of this series will be published one every day from today.

Dr. Snigdha Vartak.

* 9870690689 *

English Translation

Mrs. Madhura Poduval.

(This article was first published by Vaidya Snigdha Churi-Vartak on 16th August 2020 on her blog *https://samanwayayurved.blogspot.com/2020/08/samanwayaayurveda-five-white-foes-in.html *. All rights reserved. If you wish to share elsewhere, please do so without making any changes and with the original author's name.)