The Fascinating but difficult Urban India

Urban Cities in India are known to draw people since time immemorial. Good job prospects, high-quality educational facilities, better communications and medical facilities in cities clearly highlight the reasons why majority of us are fascinated to the big cities. With better services and amenities, cities certainly offer a better standard of living for its people.

But just like there are two sides of a coin, urban lifestyle has its problems. Deficient in open spaces, pollution, stressful jobs, increased cost of living, chaotic and nerve-racking lives that urban people live are some of the depressing aspects of urban life. In fact, it has been estimated that urban life can make people prone to problems of obesity, infertility, depression and the list goes on.

Inactive Lifestyle and Poor Food choices

People in cities work harder and much longer if compared tothe people living in rural areas. This usuallyleaves them with no time for exercise andconsuming fast food at odd hours. These factors to a great extent are accountable for health troubles like diabetes, hypertension, blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, arthritis, cancer etc. Furthermore, stress and depression too have gained grounds. Poor lifestyle choices, like smoking, excessive alcohol, inappropriate diet, limited physical activity are the primefactorsresponsible for chronic diseases. While doctors emphasize on healthful behaviors to escape many chronic conditions, many patients overlook and ignoreto bring about these healthy changes. Notwithstanding aperception of what leads a healthy lifestyle, many patients do not possess the behavioral skills that they require to maintain these good habits.

Unawareness of Healthy Food choices

Passing through the drive-thru or stepping into your favorite fast-food restaurant tends to happen more often. We usually fail to find the alternate healthy food option while eating out and are unable to realize the calories we end up eating. This obviously is not good for our health.

The Missing Traditional Food and Grocery Management

We find it troublesome to add traditional food in our dietsand prefer fast food but end up eating unhealthy. We even lackgrocery management as there is no meal planning for the week or the month, thereby ending up buying extra grocery and fancy fast food. This again adds up to eating unwholesome food.

We usually tend to induce lifestyle changes without realizing that dieting is not the solution to stay fit.It is not just the conventional Diet or Lifestyle management but it is the Food Mismanagement that makes us suffer.

Modern Food Management

We must know that Food Management comprises of Right Food choices, Proper Meal planning, a Healthy Kitchen & better Grocery Management. It is our food choices and eating habits that produce a healthy lifestyle. This reflects our attitude towards food and the choices we make.

According to researchers in this area there are 6 pillars of a healthy eating style, which are:

These pillars are very essential for a healthy and stress-free life.

We must avoid eating processed foods and prefer traditional or DNA based diet as these go well with our body, mind and taste. We can also approach regional experts have clarity on Foods that suit our genes. The regional diet experts have better knowledge of local food and our regional DNA.

Rather than ‘aaj kya banega?’ attitude, we must know how to plan our meals and manage the grocery while ensuring the family health. We definitely can enjoy our favorite food by just making it healthy with proper diet management& better cooking techniques.Proper meal planningnot only savesour time but will also make our eating habits better.

India is a land of diversity. It has diversified regions and the seasons and thus the food culture varies.Therefore it becomes difficult yet important to use our Regional Food for Prevention Cure.

CA Vinay K Aggarwal is Director of Healthsum Life which provides services in diet plans and healthy recipes. He has a diversified experience as an entrepreneur in Health & Wellness domain in addition to being a Chartered Accountant. Vinay started his professional journey with Ernst & Young as a consultant.