High salt content in frozen food could be harmful to health, warns an expert Chef.
Kerala based CGH Earth Group of Hotels Corporate Chef Jose Varkey said such food may be tasty and palatable but could be harmful in course of time.
“Companies add preservatives as per the chemical norms but not according to the requirements of the human body. Eating noodles is also very harmful,” he said.
Mr Varkey said such food do not have fibre and is loaded with monosodium glutamate (Ajinomoto), to make it tasty.
“It is a chemical that settles into your body and gives you all kinds of diseases. It is not wanted by the body, except by your taste buds,” he said.
When preservatives are added to the food, they become toxins in the body, which spends a lot of energy to eliminate it. Because of a fibre-less diet, it is an uphill task. Invariably, the toxins remain in the body and develop into cancer, joint pains, and arthritis, he said.
Another problem of processed food is the lack of nutritional value.
“All the vitamins, minerals and fibres are eliminated through the refining process. Now these have been put into the food by nature. It is meant to go directly to our bloodstream without denaturing,” Mr Varkey said.
He said even red rice, which is one of our staple foods, is now sold as a refined package, unlike in earlier times when people would eat it with bran.
Bran purifies the body, he said.
Harmful food
Other examples of refined food are white flour, salt, sugar and bread.
“Bran is removed from bread to make it tastier. But it is useless in terms of nutrition,” Mr Varkey said.
He said whole wheat bread was the best, but not widely available in India.
“At CGH Earth Resorts we sell whole wheat or multigrain bread, but when we put it in our pastry shops there are hardly any takers. I don’t blame customers because most people are not aware of the dangers of processed food.”
Mr Varkey said it is imperative to develop an organic food movement in Kerala.
In Europe, everyone buys organic food, even though it is costlier.
“In fact, there are many markets which only sell organic food.
We must eat only healthy food, such as idli and dosa (South Indian delicacies similar to steam pudding and pancake). We should also eat more fruits, he said.
Mr Varkey advised people to eat rough cereals or muesli for breakfast. Do not eat fried fish, because at high heat, the oil turns into transfat. Too much fish can create high levels of cholesterol, he said.
No fried fish
Most fish have oil inherent in them and hence do not require additional oil. This may not be tasty; wrapping fish in a banana leaf before cooking would do good, he said.
Mr Varkey said two or three drops of unrefined oil in dishes would also be healthy.
“Meat should be cooked for a longer period at about 80 degrees. However, no one seems to have time to cook for three hours.
“In Europe people use slow cooker with set timers. They put meat in the pot and go to work and it would be ready when they return home in the evening.
Chef Joe Varkey is now in Auckland to participate in the Indian Spices Festival being held at Stamford Plaza Hotel with Buyer-Seller Meetings until November 3 and nightly dinner with Indian Spices theme until November 5
Shevlin Sebastian is a Trivandrum based journalist who writes on current affairs, health and other issues. The above article, which appeared in the New Indian Express, has been published with special permission from the author and the publication.
