Editorial
Recipe for maladies
Lining up at the doctor’s right after festivals is no fun. It is time we reconsidered the way we eat.Almost every Nepali festival is a gastronomical affair of huge proportions. There seems to be a consensus among a wide number of Nepalis that festivals are a time to eat well and eat a lot. We like to keep our taste buds happy during the celebrations. But in doing so, we often invite gastrointestinal disasters during or right after the feast. Considering the health complications that follow festivals, it is about time we reconsidered our culinary options as well as the very idea of eating during the parties.
The culture of unrestrained eating during festivals means that we end up accumulating extraordinary amounts of sugar, cholesterol and protein within a short span. Dashain is almost over, and Tihar and Chhath are just around the corner. For non-vegetarians, festivals like Dashain and Tihar are a time to eat huge amounts of meat. The fact that the consumption of red meat, laced with huge amounts of spices, is often a special affair during festivals means that it leads to complications ranging from gastritis to heartburn. With a fairly wide variety of sweets and dairy products available, vegetarians are not too far away when it comes to eating too much during festivals.
As a result, the post-festival time becomes a nightmare for health workers ranging from rheumatologists to cardiologists and hepatologists to diabetologists. It is, therefore, time to consider what health complications we have invited upon ourselves during the festival gone by, and what we can do to eat safely in the festivals next. Taking care of health during fests does not in any way mean giving up on eating altogether. Rather, it means choosing healthier alternatives to food items that are known to cause acute and chronic health complications.
The sheer surge in demand for food during festivals means that there is a higher risk of adulterated or contaminated food being available in the market. Combine that with the huge portions that we eat during festivals, and we have a recipe for disaster. A significant section of the population may consider it normal to eat unhealthy varieties and amounts of food during festivals—after all, what are festivals for if not overeating even if that may mean getting sick later on? But there is no point in continuing with the tradition of replicating gastrointestinal and related complications for want of awareness and alacrity.
Doctors and food scientists say it makes more sense to eat and gift fruits and dried fruits rather than sweets and meat, for we would certainly not like to invite dietary complications to ourselves, our friends or our relatives. Those who can afford or access can go for sugar-free alternatives for sweets, while non-vegetarians can opt for white meat or aquatic food. There is no dearth of options for those who are keen to seek healthy eating alternatives. The idea is to celebrate festivals in a way that strikes a balance between merrymaking and staying healthy the morning and weeks after. After all, lining up at the doctor’s right after festivals is no fun, is it?