How to select grocery for balanced diet

How to Select a balanced diet with traditional methods in modern markets using possible changes.

The diet varies according to available food and cultural taste of any country, which subsequently differs with respect to rural and urban segments.

There is much industrialised agricultural based food in urban segments which has minimum nutrition and mostly adopted by international fashion which opts too much consumption of refined and conventional foods, wherein the nutritional value is depleting because of processing and chemicals used for preservation.

But in the rural segment food is still grounded to its original form which is consumed seasonally and maintains that earthy taste.

Five Traditional Food Groups

1. Grains 2. Legumes 3. Vegetables 4. Fruits 5. B12

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• Legumes are taken half of grains and when they are taken together provide eight essential amino acids.

• Vegetables, they give liveliness and energy with flavor . The fresh vegetables consumption differs from region to region but areas where they are obtained have a good portion of consumption.

• Another group includes dairy products, meat ,eggs, fish and certain fermented beans which provides B12. This group is needed in small quantities but is a very essential part of health.

• The Raw group which is fruits, good source of some vitamins and minerals.

Major quantity needed – Grains, legumes and vegetables.
Small quantity needed -B12 and fruits.

Let’s make earth a better place to live by teaching our children from the beginning about balanced diet ,which will help them in their development and in protecting our environment.

Considering more healthful diet:

LESS FAT       LESS CARBOHYDRATES   MORE VEGETABLES AND FRUITS

Selecting healthful food requires better selection of food groceries but these days supermarkets with long aisles of fancy designed items prompt consumers with their clever tagging of convenience. So, how to choose one? first try to obtain foods which are close to natural beings and not altered with other elements.

Let’s first start with possible changes :

• Replace refined white flour with less refined and if possible eliminate it with whole grain flour or combination of two or three grains together. These days people prefer home made breads which give more flavour and nutrients.

• Another replacement is refined vegetable oil as they do nothing except inflammation in the body which can cause several chronic diseases. Go for cold pressed oils (Olive, sesame, etc)which are available locally. If not locally then in the supermarket you can find some of them.

• Other items are- canned, frozen, ready-prepared, processed prepared stuff like cheese spread and hydrogenated peanut butter. They all have excessive preservatives ,sugar and salt. Frozen vegetables like peas are next to fresh but canned ones are totally a big NO.

• And, the so -called healthy junk aisle is another culprit these days which tempts us with fake advertisements.

Buy your food as fresh as possible. And if you are lucky enough to have your own garden of fresh vegetables and fruits then go for it. Add a few tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, mustard, turnip ,squash and here it is: your meals will be so fresh and handy.

• 

The practice which I do is buying from local stands or farmers’ markets at my place. It feels so fresh and gives a sense of the coming season. Eat seasonal food as it is nutrient dense.

• 

Always try roadside seller stands or farmer’s markets and you will experience drastic price differences for fresh foods.

Understand :

More Whole    More nature    More pure   More Fresh    Seasonal

Plan your meals in such a way that you get all required legumes, grains, vegetables,B12 and raw . DO some planning and you are ready for balanced diet. Here is how I started:

Menu	Grain	Vegetables	Legumes	raw	B12
Casserole and salad	whole wheat pasta	onion, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato	seeds, nuts, sprouts ,beans ,etc,, salad	romaine lettuce	cheese, or meat of choice
Indian Khichdi	rice, whole wheat toast	onion, broccoli, zucchine, peas	mung beans	cucumber, lettuce	yogurt

Meat dishes can be made more nutritious by adding peas, beans and so on. It will improve digestion and add all required goodness to one’s meal.

You don’t need to prepare many dishes to get all the groups, just try to plan meals by buying some good cookbooks or any mode which is convenient to be more organised.

Make your day blossom with all freshness, life has offered

To be continued for in-depth selection…..