Food for thought

Let’s begin with a pop quiz! What am I describing here - we can’t live without it, we need it at least 5 times every day and what we like is mostly unhealthy. Well, it’s food! There is a general agreement that raw food (nuts, berries, leafy vegetables) is healthy. Processed food (as long as it is processed using simple processes like freezing, cooking, canning or drying) is largely healthy too. But, it is the ultra-processed food – food processed by adding preservatives, sugar, salt or artificial flavours to boost taste – that could lead to health problems if its consumption is not restricted. I came across a recent report from WHO / ICRIER that says that ultra-processed food market in India has seen a sharp rebound since Covid lockdowns and gives out some guidelines to promote healthier eating. Interestingly, there is a positive fall out of the pandemic- in general, people have become more health conscious and there is increasing interest in vegan foods, fibre rich food, high protein / low carb diets, organic foods and farm-to-kitchen foods.

Enough food for thought? Not really- I didn’t want to talk about food today. I wanted to touch upon something else. Here is a pop quiz again. What am I describing here - we can’t live without it, we need it every waking minute of the day and what we like is mostly unhealthy. Well, the answer is ‘information’. In a world shaped by zillions of TV channels, OTT & social media, we get sometimes healthy & mostly unhealthy diet of information. I wonder if we ever wonder about the information we consume the way we obsess over food. So, here is my attempt at categorising information inspired by foods categorisation:

Raw information: Information you obtain yourself directly from the source. No garnishing, no processing while consuming the information. Very likely to be healthy and not damaging to our minds.

Processed information: Consuming information curated by reliable sources- reputed journalists & news channels, official social media handles of institutions, open source news sources (wikipedia, gapminder, UN organizations) where you could trace the origin of information. Processed information is also likely to be healthy and good for our minds.

Ultra-processed information: Consuming social media forwards, posts from unverified handles, rumours, stock markets tips. This information is likely to be very tasty and almost certainly unhealthy. If consumed in excess quantities, ultra-processed information could be extremely damaging.

Fibre rich information: Fibre-rich foods take more time to process and digest. They are good for our (actual) guts. Similarly fibre-rich information (verified data, high quality statistics, robust analysis) will require more time to process and digest. And, there are good for our (figurative) guts. We form more informed opinions after consuming fibre-rich information.

High protein / low carb information: Food proteins are building blocks of our bodies. They help with building immunity and regulating body processes. But, food proteins are complex. Similarly protein rich information is complex- there will be opposing points of views, diversity of information, listening to opinions of people that you don’t like much etc. High protein information has the potential to be a building block for our mind. It will facilitate better thinking skills and give us immunity from getting upset with every negative message we come across in social media.?

I guess this is adequate food for thought for today. I am going to scoot off now. But, I can’t decide whether I should go and munch on some walnuts to give me a high protein food kick or I should open my Kindle and start reading one of my downloaded books for a high protein information kick.

Any suggestions?