2021-06-22 06:30:04
*Healthy vs Unhealthy*
Often questions get asked about certain foods being healthy. You come across articles in media where they compare the benefits of one food over other. Some such examples are:
1. Jaggery vs refined sugar
2. Red wine vs other alcohols
3. Olive oil vs other oils
It is important to understand that there is a difference in some food being healthy or healthier. If a food is healthier, it does not mean it is healthy and you should start eating it. All it means is that compared to some other food this food is less harmful. Let me explain this in comparison to the above three foods.
1. Jaggery is not healthy. There are many articles that tout the benefits of jaggery but they all are with reference to refined sugar. If you do not consume any sugar except in natural fruits and vegetables you must not from tomorrow start eating jaggery. It will harm you. Eating sugar cane is any day better than eating jaggery.
2. There is lot of press coverage about red wine having resveratrol which is health promoting. It does not make red wine healthy. All it means is that if you must have alcohol (imagine you have been kidnapped and held hostage and given only three options red wine, white wine and scotch. Water is not an option) choose red wine because at least it has some redeeming value. World Health Organization is very clear about it and states that if you do mod consume alcohol, please do not start drinking red wine. Only those who consume alcohol and can’t give it up should switch to red wine. Amount of resveratrol you get in a glass of red wine, you can get by eating few red grapes.
3. I hear lot of Indians now saying that, “I take extra virgin olive oil; I understand it is healthy”. Olive oil is not healthy, no matter how many virgins are attached to it. For Indians olive oil makes no sense. We Indians need oil to to cook and that requires heating oil to high temperatures. Olive oil and some others like flaxseed oil are unstable at higher temperatures and should not be used for cooking. The best oil for Indians is Mustard oil but there again only if you must use oil. Eating olives is much healthier than olive oil and eating mustard seeds is healthier than eating mustard oil. On the comparison of olive oil and ghee the jury may be still out. There is evidence to support that ghee is less inflammatory than olive oil. It clearly does have better Omega 3 to Omega-6 ratio. That is why in my guidelines I allow ghee and/or mustard oil consumption of upto 2 teaspoons per day.
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