Have your cake and eat it too

While it may be a cardinal sin to consume oil, sugar, salt and flour in excess, in moderation they can be good for our body. Active! tells you how to tweak your diet plan to get the best of eating healthy without missing out on the taste factor

Food like rice, sugar, burgers and readymade packs are welcome delights for any young professional living in a busy metro, after a hard day's work. But are these harmful for our bodies? Is there a way by which we can use these to our benefit? Active! has listed seven deadly food items that are said to be harmful and tells you how to consume them effectively with suitable alternatives for each of them.

Salt
According to Mehta, excess consumption of non-iodised salt is harmful. She informs that one teaspoon of table salt contains 2, 300 mg (2.3 grams) of sodium. Mehta advises that for a healthy adult depending on the age and health condition, the consumption of salt should not exceed 1,500 or 2, 400 milligrams per day. "Excessive sodium leads to high blood pressure, kidney disorder, cardiac problems and also creates imbalance in osmotic pressure," says Mehta. Salt is caustic to the sensitive inner tissues of the body and causes water retention to neutralise its acidic effect. When the salt is not eliminated, it gets deposited throughout the body fluids causing extreme irritation, injury and death to billions of cells craving for water." However, she adds that it is important to supplement one's body with sodium rich juices and fluids to restore the amount of electrolyte.u00a0Also, sodium helps in maintaining glucose absorption, acid-base balance and regulation of fluids. An eight year-old study by scientists in Belgium suggested that including salt in the diet could reduce the chances of developing heart disease. Over the course of the European-based study, people with the lowest salt intake had the highest rate of death from heart disease. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
What else to use: Instead of salt, condiments, herbs, spices, pepper, tamarind and lime can be used to substitute salt in your food.

Flour
It is an age when pizzas, pastas, noodles and burgers are becoming the main meal of the day for most adults and children. Their main ingredient is maida or refined flour. However, experts say an overdose of flour leads to a low fiber diet that dips the vitamin and mineral levels in our body. According to Roopali Mehta, nutritionist and diabetic educator, these kinds of food fill our stomach but lends the body calories but not much nutrition. "It elevates cholesterol, imbalances lipid profiles, imbalances the gut and leads to constipation," explains Mehta. Dr Narmada Matang, Head Medical operations at Kaya Skin Clinic says that more finely ground the flour and the more boiled noodle, the higher would be the glycemic index. She adds that consumption of flour can risk heart diseases and its rapid absorption also results in sugar balance. While refined flour is bad, you can always opt for bajra flour, jowar flour, soy flour, etc which are
healthier.
What else to use: Instead of using flour for the outer covering of samosa, whole wheat flour half cooked thin rotis can be used as the outer layer. Also, instead of potato, any dal with spinach, pudina, green chillies, lemon and spring onions can be used as the filling. Also, snacks according to Mehta can be replaced with poha, khakra, homemade chiwda, upma and more.

Sugar
Fitness instructor Nishrin Parikh describes chunda, gol keri pickle as dining table disasters due to the high content of refined sugar in them. She says, "The raw mango is hardly any comparison to the high sugar put in the making of the pickles. The sugar increases the insulin levels in the blood stream." According to Dimpi Singh, refined sugar eaten in any form like chocolates, ice-cream, soda and junk food has no vitamins, enzymes, fiber and minerals. The empty calories of sugar, she informs, drain and undermines the body of essential nutrients. "Refined sugar reaches the blood too quickly triggering the blood level, inducing it to fluctuate causing physical and mental instability," says Singh. She adds that nerve damage, brain impairment, hypoglycemia, diabetes, obesity, dental decay and vaginal infections are some of the complications caused by consuming sugar.
What else to use: As a substitute, experts suggest using natural sugar in the form of dried fruits like dates, figs, grapes, bananas, apricots, raisins, prunes, peaches and more. Also, brown sugar, unrefined palm jaggery or honey can be used in place of the refined sugar.

Milk
Neeta Dharamsey believes that animal milk provides temporary relief to human body. She explains, "The milk contains hormones as hormones like oxytocin is injected into the cow to bring milk. When we consume the milk the hormones enter our body." Dimpi Singh observes that milk is indigestible as the enzyme rennin that is required to help the digestion disappears from the human intestine at the age of three. "After the age of three you naturally begin disliking milk because your body cannot digest it," she says. As a result, a lot of the body energy is spent to expel it. Milk according to her may cause problems like asthma, ulcers, thyroids, sinus, ear infections, bronchitis and more in the long run. What else to use: However, Dharamsey that milk contains essential elements like protein, Vitamin B12 and calcium. It is known to aid keep your bones strong and prevent dry skin when applied on your face.
What else to use: You can opt for soya milk and consume a lot of leafy vegetables, dry fruits and sesame seeds to get the nutrients as well. A simple way, according to Dharamsey of making an equivalent of milk at home is to soak six dates and mix it with one tablespoon of sesame powder and one tablespoon of almond powder with hint of saffron and cardamom.

Packaged food
Neeta Dharamsey describes packed ready-to-eat as the biggest threat to urban life. She says, "Processed canned food comes with a lot of chemicals. To increase the shelf life of the food, preservatives are added while colour is added to make the food look attractive." With no nutrients in such food, according to Dharamsey, we expose ourselves to various kidney, heart, cholesterol problems. Matang agrees with her and says, "As food is
prepared for a higher shelf life and easy lifestyle, like the soups available today, they lose the essential
nutrients which are then of no help for the body." Learn to differentiate between packaged food as packaged oats, milk, frozen vegetables and whole grain bread are not so bad for you.
What else to use: Dharamsey advises usage of coconut water, dried bananas, resins, nuts, sunflower seeds as some of the alternatives that you can munch on instead of resorting to packed food when hunger strikes. Otherwise opt for homemade snacks instead that include pulses.

Oil
The market is flooded with various oils including refined, non-refined, cold-pressed, saturated, unsaturated, mono-saturated, poly-saturated oils as well as oils made from coconut, sunflower, kardi and more. Dimpi Singh, an associate with The Health Awareness Centre explains, "Avoid consuming oil as much as you can and use as little as possible. The problem with oil is that it is a very concentrated food. It will take two cups of peanuts to make one teaspoon of oil." Homeopath and vegan Neeta Dharamsey reveals that it is better to have peanuts or ground nuts raw instead of extracting oil from them. "When you eat raw you eat less. But in the oil form it mixes directly with blood and the excess is laid on tissues and artery," shares Dharamsey. Both Singh and Dharamsey agree that deep-fried foods are more dangerous as oil when heated releases free radicals that can have harmful effects on the body. Instead, the best way to cook is not to cook at all and eat raw. Else, they advise to steam, roast, stir fry and then boil the food. "Fried foods are carcinogenic. They cause cancer. The heat deforms oil causing it to combine with fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Thisu00a0 creates certain kinds of compounds, which is highly toxic and carcinogenic," says Singh. However, our body requires certain essential fatty acids (EFA) for lubrication of muscles. Hence, consuming olive oil can be helpful as it is a mono-unsaturated fat, which helps rid your body of cholesterol and protects your heart, keeps your muscles lubricated and aids digestion.
What else to use: Experts suggest raw and unsalted nuts like peanut, walnut, almond and seeds like sunflower, sesame, pumpkin and others as substitute to oil as they release the required EFAs. Else, coconut or groundnut should be added to the gravy or sprinkled on the top to add the flavour of oil.

Butter
Discarding the popular belief that butter is not good for health, Dr Narmada Matang says that it is better than just about any margarine for several nutritional reasons. She agrees that butter consists mostly of saturated fat and is a significant source of cholesterol that increases the risk of heart diseases. However, she does not think that margarine is the substitute and advises the use of whipped out white butter instead. "Margarine was recommended as a substitute, since it is higher in unsaturated fat and contains little or no cholesterol, but in recent years, it has been shown that the trans fats contained in partially hydrogenated oils used in typical margarines significantly raise undesirable LDL cholesterol levels as well Trans-fat-free margarines have since been developed," says Matang. On the other hand, butter is an easily absorbable form of Vitamin A and maintains thyroid health. Also, it is contains anti-oxidants that protect against free radical damage and moisturises skin from within and is a source Vitamin E and K.

Celebs who did it too

Kristin Cavallari
Her craving for all things fatty, especially cheese, is substituted with a low fat pizza made out of pita bread and low fat cheese.

Shilpa Shetty
She thinks the healthier way to eat sugar and bread is replacing it with the brown varieties.

Alicia Silverstone
She opts for cow-free vegan butter to substitute the regular variety in cookies, baked potatoes, etc.