Health wrecking ingredients in food

The summer break is on for schools and my teenage daughter started taking lessons on cooking and was trying new recipes.

These days the internet, television shows and magazines are full of cooking programs, diet proclamations and promises to eternal youth and health. Then, why is food making people so ill? And why are we still so focused on fast food outlets or ready-to-eat meals? Has food become a commodity of profit and greed?

Eating seems to be a rushed activity that fits into our busy days. Availability and affordability are the main reasons that are forcing us into such practices. People are now saying “there is nothing safe left to eat”. Fruit and vegetables are coated with wax and pesticides, chicken with antibiotics and hormones, seafood items contains plastic toxin, adulterated curry powders, artificial dyes and flavours, preservatives and processed foods.

If you see bread with gluten, you put it down. What is then safe to buy from local supermarkets to cook and eat? In a place where many fast food outlets are available, we have high chances of eating chemical cocktails. With sugary, salty, addictive food everywhere, it is a real challenge to persuade teenagers, not to indulge. By using and abusing food we hurt both our physical and spiritual health.

I go through great lengths to teach my daughter about good food choices and the basics of cooking. If so much of our health and well-being depends on the food we eat, shouldn’t we be more careful about what we buy and eat?

Try to instil the importance of good food choices. Teach your children what good food means to you and how to use it. Teach children good eating habits that give more energy, make you look better, heal your body and help your body and brain to work better. Exclude anything that has chemicals, preservatives, dyes and enhancers in it that wreck your health.

Eat things that are intended to be good, thus exploring a healthy lifestyle.

— The reader is based in Dubai.