DNA Special | Waste not, want not: Analysis of India's dietary habits

Coronavirus is definitely a dangerous epidemic, but hunger is a bigger epidemic. According to a UN report, more people die of hunger than of AIDS, TB and malaria. According to this report, 90 lakh people die due to hunger every year all over the world. On Friday, World Food Day was observed globally.

The Global Hunger Index figures have also been released on the occasion of World Food Day and you will be very pained and angered to see India's position in this index, and you will probably be ashamed of the  food you waste.

A total of 107 countries have been included in the Global Hunger Index of 2020 and India is on the 94th position. While the situation in backward and small countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and even Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia are also better than India. India is the first in the world in terms of malnutrition of children, according to this report. Last year, India was ranked 102 in the list of 117 countries in this index. That means, India's position in this matter is not improving.

Do you know about 19 crore people in India sleep hungry every day. Such is the sad state of affairs.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a UN body, 33 per cent of the food produced worldwide never actually reaches the plates of those who need it. About 45 per cent of fruits and vegetables become useless before reaching people and 35 per cent of seafood and 30 per cent of cereals also meet the same fate. While 20 per cent of milk products and 20 per cent meat are also not used to feed people.

According to an estimate if only 25 per cent of the food that is wasted all over the world is saved, 82 crore hungry people around the world can be fed. According to the United Nations, food that is wasted every year all over the world weighs more than 130 million tonnes.

Developed countries waste food worth about Rs 47 lakh crore. While in developing countries, Rs 22 lakh crore of food is wasted every year.

Benjamin Franklin, one of America's founders, had said, "I have seen as many people die of hunger but far more people have died because of more food. Franklin said this 300 years ago. Even today, obesity remains the biggest problem in the world. And one of the major reasons for this obesity is that the size of people's food plate is so constantly growing. People don't know how to eat and how not to eat to keep themselves healthy.

The National Institute of Nutrition, an institution that determines the scale of nutrition in India, has released a report 'What India Eats'. We tell you what is lacking in your plate before you tell you what should happen to your plate.

According to this report, a person should take 150 grams of fruits, 90 grams of dal, eggs or meat, 20 grams of dry fruits, 27 grams of oil or ghee, 270 grams of cereals, 350 grams of green vegetables and at least 300 ml of milk or yogurt throughout the day.

Now let's know four things about this report:

A person needs an average of 2,000 calories a day. According to the report, one person in India's cities takes 1,943 calories and 2,081 calories in villages.

-There is a big difference in the plate of villages and cities. The villages have about 65 per cent of the grains like wheat, barley, bajra and maize. While the grains in the cities plate are only 51 per cent.

-The amount of fat and oil in the cities plate is nearly doubled as compared to the village. People living in cities are eating about 13 per cent of fat, ghee and oil, the biggest contributor to junk food. While the village people have a share of such food in the plate, it is only 7 per cent.

Let us look at some food items to understand how many calories we are consuming on a daily basis:

- A bun contains 80 Calories but 1 parathas have twice as much as 150 Calories.

- 250 grams of rice contains 170 Calories, 100 calories in 100 grams of pulses and 170 Calories in 250 grams of vegetables

-1 boiled egg contains 90 calories.

-If you consider Corn Flakes as a low Calories diet, know that 250 grams of Corn Flakes have 220 Calories.

-Similarly, 250 grams of Poha receives 270 Calories.

- 2 Idli contains 150 Calories

A samosa contains 200 Calories.

-1 cup of tea contains 75 Calories. If you drink tea several times a day, you can count Calories now.

-200 ML cold drinks have 200 Calories in a Slice of 150 Calories and Pizza.

-Only 100 grams of saffron has 320 Calories.

According to one research, 63 per cent of people in India's villages cannot buy nutritious food. That means, six out of every 10 people living in villages of the country do not get nutritious food. The average price of a nutrient-rich plate in rural areas is Rs 45. But because of poverty, most of the villagers are not able to spend that much.

On the one hand, millions of people in India still sleep hungry every night. On the other hand, people  stuff themselves stuffed with food. They don't know what to eat and what not.

By discussing food daily, we indians who set menus think about food in the minds of the taste first, and health later.

According to a recently released report by the National Institute of Nutrition, 31 per cent of people in urban India are overweight. The highest number of obese people is 34 per cent in North India and 23 per cent in central India. In villages, 16 per cent of the people are overweight. Most of these people are 22 per cent in South India and 10 per cent in villages in central India.

You can make your body healthier with a balanced diet and that it turn will keep your mind fresh and happy.