Your Plate Your Power: Healthy Eating to Strengthen Immunity and Emotional Wellness

You might have heard people saying, “The body is your temple. Keep it strong and pure. The mind is your sanctuary. Keep it calm and clear”. Yes, Strong Body & Calm Mind together they create balance, enabling us to face life’s challenges with both power and poise!  And Diet plays a significant role in that! What do you say?

Let’s see why healthy eating is more important than ever in this blog.

One morning, a few years back, we stopped at the 99 KM coffee shop for a coffee break while driving from Chennai to Tiruppur. I was surprised to see that all the food items sold there are made from millets, and taken aback to see the board there stating that ‘anyone can sit there and eat the food they bring from their homes’. I wanted to see the owner of the cafe, wondering who that man was who was so kind to do that. Incidentally, Aruni was transferred to Chengalpet, and he happened to meet Mr. Solomon, who owns the 99 KM, for some official reason. Then I asked Aruni to introduce him, and that made us become good family friends.

Two weeks ago, Aruni and I attended the inauguration ceremony of his new restaurant. Dr. Sivaraman, the famous Siddha doctor, was the chief guest.  That was the first time I heard his speech in person. I was surprised to hear certain points he was talking about, and became a little worried also. That made me responsible for sharing whatever I had learned from his speech with my loved ones.

He highlighted the significant health challenges India is currently facing. The first shock he gave was that India is known as the “world’s capital for diabetes” and is increasingly becoming the capital for cancer as well.

This trend is particularly alarming because there is a notable rise in cancer cases among adolescents and young adults, specifically those aged 25 to 40 or 45.  This age group is considered the most “productive age span” for a country, crucial for driving change in society. Besides cancer, diabetes is also increasing in this demographic.

Several factors contribute to these growing health issues. Food is an important factor, but it’s not the only one. Environmental factors play a significant role, particularly air quality. The source mentions the Air Quality Index (AQI) and notes that the World Health Organization (WHO) standard is 50 for dissolved particles per square centimeter of air. However, in many areas around Chennai, the AQI is far higher, ranging from 100 to 250. Delhi’s AQI can reach 400, and in one specific location, it was recorded as high as 999. In this regard, he said that everyone must work together to reduce pollution to ensure a healthy future generation.

Another critical environmental factor mentioned is the widespread use of weedicides. Specifically, Glyphosate, often sold under the brand name Roundup, is heavily used in India. This is despite the fact that the European Union and 55 other countries have banned it or restricted its entry. The source notes that the World Health Organization (WHO) lists Glyphosate in Group 2 of its classifications, labeling it a “probable carcinogen,” similar to how nicotine is classified as a direct cause of lung cancer (though nicotine is Group 1). The continued use of such banned chemicals in India contributes to the increasing disease burden.

He also shared about a retired government clerical worker who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer but could not afford the expensive chemotherapy treatment, costing around ₹80,000 every 21 days. He resigned himself to death rather than incurring the cost, illustrating how middle-class individuals can be priced out of life-saving treatments.

Given these challenges, he emphasized the importance of healthy food choices, especially for the next generation. What was once a mere “choice” to consume traditional foods like millets or specific healthy preparations (like ulundhu vendhayam kali) is now presented as a “mandate”. He further advocates for avoiding white rice, highlighting the traditional ingredients like black gram (karuppu ulundhu) and black kavuni rice for their medicinal properties, particularly their high content of anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant. This antioxidant is also found in fruits native to India, such as Java plum (navva pazham) and paneer grapes (panneer thiratchai). While no immediate cures for diseases like cancer, regular consumption of small amounts of these traditional, antioxidant-rich foods can provide cumulative health benefits and protection over time. Similarly, even tiny amounts of beta-carotene in Thinai rice can be beneficial, for example, for eye health. Focusing on healthy food from childhood is crucial, given the early onset of diseases now being observed.

Dr. Sivaraman also gave insight into different types of diseases. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, and cancer are increasing. These few NCDs account for a large majority of deaths (e.g., 690 out of 1000 deaths in certain districts). Uncontrolled NCDs often lead to related complications.

Communicable diseases (infectious diseases), while previously thought to be under control due to antibiotics and vaccines, are becoming a problem again with the emergence of new viruses.

A particular concern is the rise of zoonotic viruses, which originate from animals, such as swine flu, avian flu, and COVID-19. Unlike some diseases that can be eradicated, these zoonotic viruses are described as constantly changing form, sometimes within hours. Scientists predict the potential emergence of millions of such viruses. The Earth itself is called a “Virosphere”, naturally containing many viruses. Global warming is now becoming a cause for viruses and bacteria previously dormant in ice and oceans to be released. Combating these new threats requires an adaptive immune system, and a healthy diet is critical for building this immunity and preventing both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The 99km Coffee is an example of a venture aligning with the need for healthy, traditional food. 

Interestingly, I happened to meet Ms. Nidhi, who owns a restaurant named Aahar at Rakkar, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, yesterday at the first anniversary celebration of my daughter’s Dance class. She said she avoids the five whites in her cooking: maida, sugar, rice, salt, and milk. She is committed to giving only healthy food items there. She further said, she uses fresh coconut, soya, and badam to get milk for cooking. While speaking with her husband, I understood that she is a certified emotional wellness coach and she is taking sessions for women in particular to manage their emotions. Now, Aahar is a manifestation of a wellness cafe. And Aahar is now part of the spiritual art and wellness centre. Why I am emphasising this much on Aahar is: an emotional wellness coach, who strongly says there is a significant impact of our food not only on our physical health but also on our emotional health, is promoting healthy eating, avoiding white rice and including millets means we can blindly follow that change of our lifestyle, what do you say?

So, from south to north and east to west, there is an increasing awareness of health, food choices, use of millets, avoiding the whites, etc. It is you and I who have to decide on how we are going about it, either changing our lifestyle to live a healthy and peaceful life, or eating all junk to suffer from the new diseases (some of us might not be able to afford enough for treatment, also). 

In this context, I am happy and, of course, a little proud of providing the recipes for a variety of healthy food items using millets on my website www.spavai.com, where I have given the easy-to-make recipes of the regular food items that we can prepare for our daily food needs in simple words.

You may please try a few of those and share your experience in the comments!