If you ask anyone “what is more important health or taste?” Of course the logical answer is “HEALTH”, but when we have to choose any item in our menu card , our most of obvious choice depends upon “TASTE”. So let me ask you once again “what is more important health or taste?”. Now, the young ones may say ‘taste’, while older ones may prefer ‘health’. So, the eternal problem is that majority of the audience believes ,” what’s tasty can’t be healthy and what’s healthy can’t be tasty. But I would say that: why can’t we have best of both worlds in one platter ? So is that really possible , Lets explore it ‘whether it is possible or are we just shooting an arrow into the dark sky!’
So, what is food? It is a substance that living being consumes in order to sustain life by providing their body with essential nutrients...! Then why do kids eat lot of chocolates and sweets when they know it will harm them either directly or indirectly? It is because of its taste. Many parent assumes that kids like more of junk food, but the fact is kids like more of taste! We always ask our parents to make food tasty but we never told them to compromise health for taste, so it’s our elders who unknowingly taught us .
As a teenager, I do believe that the best way to make a child eat what parents want is to make it tasty along with health, as every parents should try to bend their kids’ weakness into strength, for example if we like chocolate then serve us almond chocolate if we like burger then add fine chopped veggies in it and serve it , if we like pizza then serve us pizza with less cheese and more of veggies toppings.
We prefer tasty food, and we care least whether it has low or almost nil nutritional value. Thus, such tasty food is more of junk and less of food. So, we have got one more opportunity to grab and bend it in our best favor after all what we eat we are most likely to be. Ann Wigmore has well said that “the food you eat can be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or, the slowest form of poisonous.”
So, why do we eat food? ‘Of course to survive!’, that is an obvious reply by young girl, but my question is why don’t we eat to maintain a healthy life and stay fit. “It’s a burning question!”, we all have been taking our diet for granted. So when kid see their parents consuming junk food, they develop their own love for junk food. So needless to say that the more attentive parents are for their health, more their kids will be. So I really wonder how can parents expect us to do something that they even can’t do themselves? Why do we eat just to survive, why not just eat to survive healthy life, why not to teach this to young ones, why don’t we act like this in front of them also, so that they get inspired with this.
So living a healthy life is like building a castle. A diet filled with seven main nutrition which are essential for humans to survive a healthy balanced life includes: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and fiber. Seventh, add water to mix them in our body and we're shaping up nicely! These seven nutrition are like basic building block of our castle. So, build your castle with these blocks so, it has beauty with strength.
Provide a platter to your wards which has no ‘C.R.A.P.’ and here each letter has it’s own meaning. C stands for carbonated drinks, R stands for refine sugar, A stands for artificial sweetness and color ,P stands for pre-preservative food. So, if you really want to live healthy life then food with no C.R.A.P. should be your first preference .
Sometimes kids don’t like this nutritious food. So parents should find a reasonable solution to such problem in an intelligent way. When I was young I use to scream, you use to scream, we all use to scream for ice cream! But then our moms too scream back on us, “It is not nutritious!” I will say that: ‘Then moms why can’t we have dry fruit ice cream! Which is more nutritious. Elders should try to find win-win solution because kids like to win no matter you lose or win. It is nowhere Hercules task for elders to help young ones to adapt healthy habits and life style. “Let’s reconstruct the taste and nutritious value among them from today only!
But who wins health or taste ?
The best balance of both the world in one platter ‘wins’.