How Sustainable or Healthy is your Choice of Food?
In an ideal world all of us are rational. Producers are responsible and consumers are discernible. But the world is not ideal. Many decisions we make as consumers are impulsive, addictive and unsustainable. In fact, many a times, we ourselves don't make decisions - advertisements do them for us.
Our life is controlled by brands. That itself is not bad but many brands – especially, in the case of food and medicine, make are bad – i.e, chemical and addictive products. A soft drink is nothing but a chemical drink. It is addictive. The advertisements and promotional activities the soft drink brands also create a psychological effect in us making us think that consuming cola is a cool thing to do in life.
India is fast becoming a major market for soft drinks, and many other products for which India’s culture has to be changed. Food brands want India to break away from its traditional lifestyle and life habits. That’s what brands try to do with their advertisements.
In addition, they increase the reach of their products – you can find a cola even in a remote shop of the remotest village. They are made more profitable for shopkeepers to sell. As a result, the shops that were selling a nannari sarbath are too happily opening a can of cola for you.
Sarbaths made of nannari, avaramboo, and vettiver are natural. They are health promotive. But they are not within the reach, and often times, we – “the fashion conscious and the status conscious” - are not readily inclined to consume them.
Another case in point is health drinks. Adding curry leaves and spinnach in your daily food can give you more calcium than consuming jars and jars of health drinks. But thanks to advertisements, and the aspirations to improve the social status, we go only for "health" drinks that are more costly and less effective than natural produce like fruits and vegetables.
In the fast paced world, who will have time for seekai powder or a green gram powder or whole green gram powder for cleansing our body? We grab a chemical, unhealthy and environmentally unsustainable alternative - a soap. A soap in fact does more harm to your skin than good. Same is the case with your tooth powder or paste, your facial cream or cosmetics, and your skin lotions. But since they have become a part of our daily life, people do not think before continuing to make the same choices.
But lose no heart. The world is not completely irrational. People from across the world are going back to the basics. Here is an interesting video explaining how using a small twig (of an African tree) can help us contribute to green and healthy living. Embrace traditional lifestyle, whenever possible.
Our life is controlled by brands. That itself is not bad but many brands – especially, in the case of food and medicine, make are bad – i.e, chemical and addictive products. A soft drink is nothing but a chemical drink. It is addictive. The advertisements and promotional activities the soft drink brands also create a psychological effect in us making us think that consuming cola is a cool thing to do in life.
India is fast becoming a major market for soft drinks, and many other products for which India’s culture has to be changed. Food brands want India to break away from its traditional lifestyle and life habits. That’s what brands try to do with their advertisements.
In addition, they increase the reach of their products – you can find a cola even in a remote shop of the remotest village. They are made more profitable for shopkeepers to sell. As a result, the shops that were selling a nannari sarbath are too happily opening a can of cola for you.
Sarbaths made of nannari, avaramboo, and vettiver are natural. They are health promotive. But they are not within the reach, and often times, we – “the fashion conscious and the status conscious” - are not readily inclined to consume them.
Another case in point is health drinks. Adding curry leaves and spinnach in your daily food can give you more calcium than consuming jars and jars of health drinks. But thanks to advertisements, and the aspirations to improve the social status, we go only for "health" drinks that are more costly and less effective than natural produce like fruits and vegetables.
In the fast paced world, who will have time for seekai powder or a green gram powder or whole green gram powder for cleansing our body? We grab a chemical, unhealthy and environmentally unsustainable alternative - a soap. A soap in fact does more harm to your skin than good. Same is the case with your tooth powder or paste, your facial cream or cosmetics, and your skin lotions. But since they have become a part of our daily life, people do not think before continuing to make the same choices.
But lose no heart. The world is not completely irrational. People from across the world are going back to the basics. Here is an interesting video explaining how using a small twig (of an African tree) can help us contribute to green and healthy living. Embrace traditional lifestyle, whenever possible.