"Healthy Diet"

       In the 21st century the concept of a healthy and well- balanced diet has become very popular all around the world. More and more information appears in internet, books are published and various workshops are conducted. Some time ago I got interested in this topic, so that later, when i've moved to India, a lot of interesting points and observations appeared. I want to  some of them with you.

       Recently, scientists have conducted research on the most healthy cuisines of the enitre world. In the top 10 one could see Japan, China, France, Italy, Greece, etc. India was not event mentioned close by the top positions on the list. How can that happen with fresh vegetables, fruits avaliable during the entire year, vegetarian food? All of these points are correct. The main question is, how and in what form they are cooked and served.

     No longer the secret is that biggest amount of vitamins and useful elemnts can be found in raw fruits and vegetables. At the same time for lots of Indians the concept of eating raw vegetables sounds strange. Raw vegetables are considered as the basis for cooking food, but not like the food on its own. I still remember the surprise on the faces of  some colleagues : "Do you eat raw capsicon? Cabbage? Carrot? "-" Yes. " Many of them have tried this for the first time in 25-30 years of their lives. In restaurants, you can observe a 'green salad' in the menu. Please, don't be very surprised when you get a plate of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. That's it. The remaining raw vegetables are not taken into consideration. Nowdays the concept of fresh salads has started to spread around, but this salad (lettuce) can be bought only in a few supermarkets in the city. For example, in my area (25 minutes from downtown)  people haven't heard about such delights. (First months even muesli were considered as some foreign thing in shops of my society. But in the areas, closer to the centre, it's one of the most 'easy to find' things).

    Fruits. There are so many of them, and each one has it's own delicious taste. Actually, fruits should be eaten separately and on the empty stomach or at least 2 hours later after meals. It's nearly useless to explain it to those who are used to consume a "useful" dessert after quite heavy lunch.(This is the common thing in Ukraine also, proper dinners are usually finished with a fruit dessert, so it's more a matter of a habbit, not of a country) As well as the fact that the fruits should be eaten every day in large quantities. For me it's a bit strange, there are lots of things, but more people should be aware about 'how to get the maximum benefits for your health'.

     What can i say about the main dishes? The biggest number of them are roasted or fried. More precisely, there is almost nothing boiled. Food is cooked in quite big amount of oil or pure ghee (pure fat in other words). In recipes of curries it's said in a straight manner: "fry until until the ghee starts to separate." Just wondering sometimes, how much of it is needed to be put in there! I love the spicy taste of Indian food, less i like the fact that every meal in the restaurant is covered with a "thick layer of oil" . And, the cheaper the restaurant is, the more fat is there in the dishes.

      Some days ago i read in a newspaper that quite a large percentage of Indian population are overweight. It is not a big surprise from my point of view. Because, except main dishes with a lot of fat inside,you should cosider the quantity, not very active lifestyle, and dinner after 10 pm for majority of ppl. If we take into account the fact that in the evening it is desirable to have food 3-4 hours before you go to bed, in order to make your stomach feel happier. But at the same time the majority of restaurants in Pune has the highest density of customers at 9.30 -11 pm. And after the heavy meal people go home and sleep because tomorrow there is a new sedentary working day. The same thing will happen if you are invited to any event. Serving food starts at least at 10 p.m.(And at 11.30 the party most probably will fininsh). The good news is that recently the culture of fitness and sports is spreading with a higher speed .

     "Healthy" diet is also affected by a huge number of fast-foods. Whatever  marketing departments of Donalds and other such places say, the everyday eating of fried burgers, heavily seasoned with mayonnaise hasn't brought additional health benefits to anybody. As well as daily snacks, crisps and chocolates. The same applies to the 'healthy' nuts, if you have them 200 grams a day. I'm not saying that all of there should be excluded from the diet, if you're used to, just think more about how much you eat it in your weektime.

     In the end, i'd like to mention, that there are lots of different ways to have a healthy diet in any country. You just need to decide for yourself what's good for you and go ahead with it.