Healthcare in the 21st Century - First Principles

Food in the 21st century is qualified as carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Instead if we went a step back and reduced it to tastes, after all food is loved on the basis of palatability, eating becomes a joy and whatever is consumed will qualify as nectar. So look at foods as oils and fats that binds with our salivary amylase and the cereals, pulses, meats, sea food, fresh water fishes, vegetables and fruits make our staple diet. Spices and seasoning are the x-factor. Otherwise Indian cuisine is not only nutritive but also healthy. As a matter of abundant caution avoiding packaged foods will be ideal. We all have also come to acknowledge that we are made of 70% water. Daily intake of 2-2.5 liters of this life giving liquid is adequate for ones survival without any health glitches.

 Then what is the quantity?

Before we resurrect the sin of gluttony, can we understand the process of eating. The thought of food during the course of a day, i.e. when you are in an awakened state is appetite. After the thought of food appears, the person starts feeling hungry. If the food on the platter is what appeared in the thought, it will absolutely satisfy the hunger and therefore eating to the heart’s content becomes the quantity sufficient. Hunger and satisfying the hunger is based on individual conditioning and also on energy requirement. A sedentary person may require as much food as a physically active person because exertion is both on mind and body. Sometimes mind work is more exhausting than physical work and therefore food has to be quantified on that basis.

Harikrishnan Ramakrishnan