<h1>My Vision</h1>
Studying Homeopathy has given me an approach to look at the patient as a whole, in the totality of all signs and symptoms along with an individual's unique traits. While practicing with homeopathic medicines, I realised that something more is needed to achieve recovery in patients, finding the root cause of the ailment.
Dr. Hahnemann has given guidelines for each and every homeopath in the form of aphorisms in the book Organon of Medicine. I read it often. The 4th aphorism states that the physician’s responsibility is to prevent the diseases. He is the preserver of health, if he knows what can cause a disease and how to remove them from a person's health. 5th, 6th, 7th aphorisms say that cause is most important while treating patients. For example, if two siblings are suffering from a headache, their approach of treatment is different according to the ‘cause’ of the headache. One may have it because of dehydration and the other may have it from unrefreshed sleep (night watching). So optimum water intake would be the right mode of treatment for the first and taking rest is a logical one for the other. Sometimes removal of exciting and maintaining causes can help a lot rather than medication. In other words along with medication, if we abstain from the factors which derange our health, we can prevent diseases and enjoy our potential to optimum level. I guide and treat people with this approach.
This approach is quite close to that of ‘Functional Medicine’, an upcoming branch nowadays.
Diet is equal to human; I can say so long contemplation on Sir Einstein’s principle that ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form into another.’
e=mc2
E= energy
M= food (mainly) (this all combines to become us - the human being)
C= basal metabolic rate (Assuming this as constant)
Food is most important but there are other sources of energy as well. Diet comes from diaita (origin Greek-latin) means lifestyle not just food. 
With my eclectic education and reading, I have realised a number of factors that can affect health and thus are instrumental in the healing process. 
These are as follows,
<ul>
<li>Food</li>
<li>Thoughts (Thinking pattern)</li>
<li>Social bonding (with people we meet)</li>
<li>Atmosphere</li>
<li>Proper rest</li>
<li>Coping with adverse conditions</li>
<li>Circadian rhythm (tuning with nature)</li>
<li>Apparel (what we wear)</li>
</ul>
So what we consume and is inside us and what we accumulate and surrounds us structures and deconstructs our personality and well-being. My vision is towards understanding every person independently considering all the above mentioned factors in his/her living and work towards a healthy individual, which will eventually lead to a healthy society. My endeavour is not just to treat but rather move towards a society that is free from diseases with healthy lifestyle choices and change the degenerative genetic mutations because of wrong life choices in terms of food and way of living. Although a doctor, I encourage all to have a healthy lifestyle sans medicine, and my efforts are towards helping you form one healthy life pattern for yourself. My sincere request to all is to open your inner eyes and let ‘us’ think much more than medicine!
<h2>Dr. Vinita Deshpande</h2>

Dr. Vinita Deshpande shares her Vision about Functional medicine.

Vision

vision

# My Vision

Studying Homeopathy has given me an approach to look at the patient as a whole, in the totality of all signs and symptoms along with an individual's unique traits. While practicing with homeopathic medicines, I realised that something more is needed to achieve recovery in patients, finding the root cause of the ailment. 

Dr. Hahnemann has given guidelines for each and every homeopath in the form of aphorisms in the book Organon of Medicine. I read it often. The 4th aphorism states that the physician’s responsibility is to prevent the diseases. He is the preserver of health, if he knows what can cause a disease and how to remove them from a person's health. 5th, 6th, 7th aphorisms say that cause is most important while treating patients. For example, if two siblings are suffering from a headache, their approach of treatment is different according to the ‘cause’ of the headache. One may have it because of dehydration and the other may have it from unrefreshed sleep (night watching). So optimum water intake would be the right mode of treatment for the first and taking rest is a logical one for the other. Sometimes removal of exciting and maintaining causes can help a lot rather than medication. In other words along with medication, if we abstain from the factors which derange our health, we can prevent diseases and enjoy our potential to optimum level. I guide and treat people with this approach.
This approach is quite close to that of ‘Functional Medicine’, an upcoming branch nowadays.

Diet is equal to human; I can say so long contemplation on Sir Einstein’s principle that ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form into another.’ 

e=mc2

E= energy

M= food (mainly) (this all combines to become us - the human being)

C= basal metabolic rate (Assuming this as constant) 

Food is most important but there are other sources of energy as well. Diet comes from diaita (origin Greek-latin) means lifestyle not just food. 
With my eclectic education and reading, I have realised a number of factors that can affect health and thus are instrumental in the healing process. 
These are as follows,

- Food
- Thoughts (Thinking pattern) 
- Social bonding (with people we meet)
- Atmosphere 
- Proper rest
- Coping with adverse conditions
- Circadian rhythm (tuning with nature)
- Apparel (what we wear)


So what we consume and is inside us and what we accumulate and surrounds us structures and deconstructs our personality and well-being. My vision is towards understanding every person independently considering all the above mentioned factors in his/her living and work towards a healthy individual, which will eventually lead to a healthy society. My endeavour is not just to treat but rather move towards a society that is free from diseases with healthy lifestyle choices and change the degenerative genetic mutations because of wrong life choices in terms of food and way of living. Although a doctor, I encourage all to have a healthy lifestyle sans medicine, and my efforts are towards helping you form one healthy life pattern for yourself. My sincere request to all is to open your inner eyes and let ‘us’ think much more than medicine!

## Dr. Vinita Deshpande

<h1>Fasting - Serving - Starving</h1>
Fasting reminds me of Batachyachi Chal, a famous creation of P.L. Deshpande, the master comic writer in Marathi language. He lucidly describes the antiques of fasting commenced to reduce weight. P.L. here has brought out the subtle nuances of fasting given to us by our culture and how we have been ridiculing it eventually. Eating absolute unhealthy food as fasting savories, or eating double than usual as goes the famous saying Ekadashi duppat khashi (eating twice on the eleventh day of the lunar cycle of every month is a popular fasting day in India) is common with us. But what is ‘fasting’? We hardly fathom the idea, though fasting has been part of a number of cultures all over the world.
In our culture ‘fasting’ equates to spending quality time with our divine spiritual energy. This fasting is not only for the spiritual exemption but the main aim rather is the cleansing of body and mind. Religion is not only about sin and virtue, but it also tries to imbibe an ideal lifestyle. Many religions have subscribed to fasting. In Hinduism, the day of worshipping God and that of self-control is fasting. For Muslims, Ramazan or Ramadan means experiencing extreme thirst (heat). Fasting has been prescribed to take experience of the energy, the heat within our own bodies. So one can say that ‘Fasting is the method of cleaning, renewing the soul’. Christianity indicates that fasting prepares the body and soul for the coming in of new energy. Baha'i believes fasting to be the best medicine, a medium to rid oneself of diseases. Parsis do not have the concept of fasting but they do agree on the idea of closely listening to the demands of the body and consuming food in accordance. Jainism has given exceptional importance to fasting. During Paryushan, a deep sympathy is shown towards all microorganisms in the universe along with self cleansing. At the same time with Pratikraman, meaning self-introspection, a new journey is commenced. From these examples one observes that not just Hinduism, but all religions have associated fasting with faith and worship. This certainly has some scientific basis. In sanskrit fasting is called upas. Upanishads give the meaning of up + aasan as sitting with your desired energy. It is not just sitting in one place but the process of forming a synergy between mind and body, becoming neutral and looking within oneself.
The cell is the basic unit of our body. A number of cells are continuously active in our body, the energy utilised by these cells is largely sugar (blood glucose). Whatever we eat converts largely into glucose and provides energy to the cells. The cells work, and thus the body works. While creating this energy, the body also creates many other non-useful elements. These need to be emissioned, drained out. When we pre-decide and not consume food for sometime, the cells in our body have a system of recycling these unused/unwanted elements into energy again. Anyways, half of what we eat is accumulated in our body in general. We have a long history to support this fact. For prehistoric man, concepts like ‘food at any time’ and a variety of foods available 24 hours did not exist. As available food was scarce, hunting or gathering food every day in the morning was a daily routine. Food was usually tubers, fruits, at the most animal hunt, that were relished in the evenings. Sometimes there was simply no food due to natural calamities. In such times the fats stored in the body were utilised.
Even today, after thousands of years of evolution, our body keeps reserves inside. During fasting, the body uses ‘fat’ instead of glucose for energy. The energy thus acquired is used by the muscles. Simultaneously, elements with carbon called ‘ketones’ are also generated in some quantity. These ‘ketones’ are useful for our brain to an extent. It is said that these are the brain's favourite food, these increase the capacity of the brain and make it even more enthusiastic. The mind is able to concentrate, and eventually one is able to worship. One acquires stability, the body is cleansed, and so are our thoughts. And aren't thoughts the energy of living?
।।लंघंनं परमौषधम्।।
(fasting is the foremost medicine)
This is a popular idiom; if anyone has indigestion at home, rather than taking the quick release medicines, they are generally suggested to simply not eat, i.e fasting. Avoiding eating for a particular period of time actually acts like a medicine. Nowadays advertisements promote a number of powders, tablets to consume immediately in indigestion for quick relief, but these have adverse effects on our digestion in loger terms and eventually medicines stop working on our body. So the best medicine actually is fasting.
Father of modern medicine – Hippocrates (c.460 - c.370 BC) has also stated that sudden death occurs in overweight people than people with well - maintained body fats. He also accepted that the lifestyle with exercise, appropriate food intake and fasting or starving periodically was for good health. He says that fasting helps the healing of our body. Swiss German physician and father of Toxicology, Paracelsus (1493-1541) says, “the dose makes the poison”; means too much of something destroys it. Although food is essential for our survival, excess of eating is harmful for the body and leads to diseases, thus it should be consumed only in appropriate amounts.
"Fasting is the greatest remedy - the physician within."
Many Greek thinkers have also supported the concept of fasting. Mahatma Gandhi in fact has given an exceptional example to fasting, non-violence and its combined power. Be it Mahatma Gandhi pacing ahead after 21 days of fasting or the contemporary Jain, Hindu, Buddhism masters, all are the symbols of energy. What cannot be achieved with fasting? It naturally helps control fattening. It controls glucose in the body and eventually secretion of insulin is streamlined, thus insulin resistance is avoided. The oxidation process in the body is reduced and so lesser free radicals are generated, thus fasting actually works like a natural antioxidant. ‘Triglycerides’, the unnecessary cholesterol in the body is controlled and significantly, it is the easiest, natural and the most convenient way to bring in ‘happiness’.
"अतीव बलहीनं हि लंङ घनं नैव कारयेत्।
ये गुणाःलंङघनं प्रोकास्ते गुणाः लघुभोजने।।"
This idiom suggests that weak, malnutritioned people should not fast. They should take light food with appropriate nutrition value.
Fasting should be done for a particular period of time, and only as per requirement. It is advisable to go to the doctor and take appropriate directions for the same. To not have food is an extremely malnutritioned, sad state of the body; our body in such circumstances does not get required nutrition and becomes weak. But if done with correct advice and proper understanding, fasting can give ample nutrition to the mind and the body, and thus fasting is a natural elixir given to us by nature. Its correct incorporation in life can make us healthy, fit and fine.
<h2>Dr. Vinita Deshpande</h2>

Understanding the natural elixir - Fasting.

Fasting

fasting


# Fasting - Serving - Starving 

Fasting reminds me of Batachyachi Chal, a famous creation of P.L. Deshpande, the master comic writer in Marathi language. He lucidly describes the antiques of fasting commenced to reduce weight. P.L. here has brought out the subtle nuances of fasting given to us by our culture and how we have been ridiculing it eventually. Eating absolute unhealthy food as fasting savories, or eating double than usual as goes the famous saying Ekadashi duppat khashi (eating twice on the eleventh day of the lunar cycle of every month is a popular fasting day in India) is common with us. But what is ‘fasting’? We hardly fathom the idea, though fasting has been part of a number of cultures all over the world.   

In our culture ‘fasting’ equates to spending quality time with our divine spiritual energy. This fasting is not only for the spiritual exemption but the main aim rather is the cleansing of body and mind. Religion is not only about sin and virtue, but it also tries to imbibe an ideal lifestyle. Many religions have subscribed to fasting. In Hinduism, the day of worshipping God and that of self-control is fasting. For Muslims, Ramazan or Ramadan means experiencing extreme thirst (heat). Fasting has been prescribed to take experience of the energy, the heat within our own bodies. So one can say that ‘Fasting is the method of cleaning, renewing the soul’. Christianity indicates that fasting prepares the body and soul for the coming in of new energy. Baha'i believes fasting to be the best medicine, a medium to rid oneself of diseases. Parsis do not have the concept of fasting but they do agree on the idea of closely listening to the demands of the body and consuming food in accordance. Jainism has given exceptional importance to fasting. During Paryushan, a deep sympathy is shown towards all microorganisms in the universe along with self cleansing. At the same time with Pratikraman, meaning self-introspection, a new journey is commenced. From these examples one observes that not just Hinduism, but all religions have associated fasting with faith and worship. This certainly has some scientific basis. In sanskrit fasting is called upas. Upanishads give the meaning of up + aasan as sitting with your desired energy. It is not just sitting in one place but the process of forming a synergy between mind and body, becoming neutral and looking within oneself. 

The cell is the basic unit of our body. A number of cells are continuously active in our body, the energy utilised by these cells is largely sugar (blood glucose). Whatever we eat converts largely into glucose and provides energy to the cells. The cells work, and thus the body works. While creating this energy, the body also creates many other non-useful elements. These need to be emissioned, drained out. When we pre-decide and not consume food for sometime, the cells in our body have a system of recycling these unused/unwanted elements into energy again. Anyways, half of what we eat is accumulated in our body in general. We have a long history to support this fact. For prehistoric man, concepts like ‘food at any time’ and a variety of foods available 24 hours did not exist. As available food was scarce, hunting or gathering food every day in the morning was a daily routine. Food was usually tubers, fruits, at the most animal hunt, that were relished in the evenings. Sometimes there was simply no food due to natural calamities. In such times the fats stored in the body were utilised. 

Even today, after thousands of years of evolution, our body keeps reserves inside. During fasting, the body uses ‘fat’ instead of glucose for energy. The energy thus acquired is used by the muscles. Simultaneously, elements with carbon called ‘ketones’ are also generated in some quantity. These ‘ketones’ are useful for our brain to an extent. It is said that these are the brain's favourite food, these increase the capacity of the brain and make it even more enthusiastic. The mind is able to concentrate, and eventually one is able to worship. One acquires stability, the body is cleansed, and so are our thoughts. And aren't thoughts the energy of living? 

।।लंघंनं परमौषधम्।। 

(fasting is the foremost medicine)

This is a popular idiom; if anyone has indigestion at home, rather than taking the quick release medicines, they are generally suggested to simply not eat, i.e fasting. Avoiding eating for a particular period of time actually acts like a medicine. Nowadays advertisements promote a number of powders, tablets to consume immediately in indigestion for quick relief, but these have adverse effects on our digestion in loger terms and eventually medicines stop working on our body. So the best medicine actually is fasting. 

Father of modern medicine – Hippocrates (c.460 - c.370 BC) has also stated that sudden death occurs in overweight people than people with well - maintained body fats. He also accepted that the lifestyle with exercise, appropriate food intake and fasting or starving periodically was for good health. He says that fasting helps the healing of our body. Swiss German physician and father of Toxicology, Paracelsus (1493-1541) says, “the dose makes the poison”; means too much of something destroys it. Although food is essential for our survival, excess of eating is harmful for the body and leads to diseases, thus it should be consumed only in appropriate amounts. 

"Fasting is the greatest remedy - the physician within."
Many Greek thinkers have also supported the concept of fasting. Mahatma Gandhi in fact has given an exceptional example to fasting, non-violence and its combined power. Be it Mahatma Gandhi pacing ahead after 21 days of fasting or the contemporary Jain, Hindu, Buddhism masters, all are the symbols of energy. What cannot be achieved with fasting? It naturally helps control fattening. It controls glucose in the body and eventually secretion of insulin is streamlined, thus insulin resistance is avoided. The oxidation process in the body is reduced and so lesser free radicals are generated, thus fasting actually works like a natural antioxidant. ‘Triglycerides’, the unnecessary cholesterol in the body is controlled and significantly, it is the easiest, natural and the most convenient way to bring in ‘happiness’. 

"अतीव बलहीनं हि लंङ घनं नैव कारयेत्।
ये गुणाःलंङघनं प्रोकास्ते गुणाः लघुभोजने।।"

This idiom suggests that weak, malnutritioned people should not fast. They should take light food with appropriate nutrition value. 
Fasting should be done for a particular period of time, and only as per requirement. It is advisable to go to the doctor and take appropriate directions for the same. To not have food is an extremely malnutritioned, sad state of the body; our body in such circumstances does not get required nutrition and becomes weak. But if done with correct advice and proper understanding, fasting can give ample nutrition to the mind and the body, and thus fasting is a natural elixir given to us by nature. Its correct incorporation in life can make us healthy, fit and fine. 


## Dr. Vinita Deshpande


<h1>Shhh….... LISTEN to what your body says !!!</h1>
Communication is fundamental to living. Each living organism has the potential to communicate in various ways to fulfil basic requirements for their existence. Like when plants dry they begin shedding leaves, and communicate their need for water, good soil and atmosphere. Animals communicate through their actions. And ‘us’ humans communicate with our speech, gestures, actions to fulfil our needs.
We as mammals are made up of a complex set of mechanisms, our body. Let’s consider our body as an assembled or combined unit of multiple systems and each system is made up of further small units called ‘cells’. The intercommunication between these cells leads to the proper functioning of systems in our body. Our body is extremely intelligent. It maintains its basic rhythm by balancing physical being, mind and spirit. This is done by interchange of some molecules of chemicals called neurotransmitters. These chemical substances communicate with each other and also with the brain at special spaces called synapses where electrochemical signals are generated. These help an individual to adjust with the surrounding and changing atmosphere, with protective reactions through the body. For example, we observe an increase in the body metabolism to generate body heat in winters, as also a demand for more food as temperatures drop; whereas in summer exactly opposite happens. The body tries to lower down the metabolism, lowering the heat production and hence we observe lesser appetite. All these functions are maintained arduously and are very much needed for survival.
The more easy and smooth the communication of our body within itself as well as with the outside world, the better it can acclimatise with its habitat and nature. This is exactly what Darwin’s law of evolution states when he talks about the ‘ survival of the fittest’. Being ‘healthy’ is nothing but the proper synchronisation of body, mind and spirit (energy). If you have any conflicts in your mind, it reflects on your physique in the forms of restlessness, anxiety, fear. These eventually lead to the release of chemicals called Hormones inside our body, leading to our body expressing through ‘symptoms’- the language in which our body communicates with us. It says, “Hey, I am not comfortable. Please do what it requires to get back the equilibrium and regain Health.” Health is like a pendulum. It keeps oscillating between the states of fitness and disease. We need to work together with our body and maintain it to achieve enthusiasm for its optimum functioning capacity.
Our body speaks through subtle signs and symptoms like weakness, body ache, sleeplessness, lack of concentration, hair fall etc. These are some basic examples of our body saying ‘HELP’, and here we need to pay attention. These can be ‘ALERT’ signs, that we need to consciously pay attention to, and trust this language. By listening and offering the necessary actions to these calls, we can prevent diseases from evolving and making our body their home. One doesn’t need to take medications if the gravity of symptoms is bearable and fairly within the capacity of one’s control. In such cases, a small conscious change in lifestyle, diet, surroundings can help to restore our health. For example, sometimes we may fatigue from overexertion, and can be corrected by taking good rest with a refreshing diet; but quite often we tend to ignore the voice of our body and continue working. This in turn results in further deterioration of one’s health, severe symptoms further leading to a disease. Even in our diseased state, things may not get worse if we help ourselves with some lifestyle alterations and healthy choices as our body demands, taking help of our physician. I illustrate my point here with what is now becoming a global issue, and India currently ranks at the top with rising numbers of Indians facing this problem- ‘OBESITY AND DIABETES’.
If a person is slightly overweight in his/her childhood and slowly gains weight at the average of 1 kg per year, he would be near about 40-50 kgs extra over basic weight by his mid-50’s. This is extra weight, not the healthy that I have been referring to. If we listen in time, this is actually a protective part of our body telling us, “I am storing a good amount of extra fats, now it is time to get rid of these to prevent further diseases”; diabetes being the most common one we catch. We often miss this ‘voice’. This could be the stage where we intervene and alter our unhealthy habits into a lifestyle with healthy means. Not just through the medications, but with use of natural resources, appropriate mental and physical exercises, we can relieve the pain of our body.
If we keep ignoring these conversations until conditions are complex, it means that we are not listening to what our mind and body have to say, which actually may help us to prevent the disease.
So let’s be WISE enough to be alert and careful towards the LANGUAGE of ourSELVES’…shhh listen to your ‘body speech’!!
<h2>Dr. Vinita Deshpande</h2>

An article highlighting signs, symptoms and signals our body speaks through.

Shhh….... LISTEN to what your body says !!!

listen_to_your_body


# Shhh….... LISTEN to what your body says !!!  

Communication is fundamental to living. Each living organism has the potential to communicate in various ways to fulfil basic requirements for their existence. Like when plants dry they begin shedding leaves, and communicate their need for water, good soil and atmosphere. Animals communicate through their actions. And ‘us’ humans communicate with our speech, gestures, actions to fulfil our needs. 

We as mammals are made up of a complex set of mechanisms, our body. Let’s consider our body as an assembled or combined unit of multiple systems and each system is made up of further small units called ‘cells’. The intercommunication between these cells leads to the proper functioning of systems in our body. Our body is extremely intelligent. It maintains its basic rhythm by balancing physical being, mind and spirit. This is done by interchange of some molecules of chemicals called neurotransmitters. These chemical substances communicate with each other and also with the brain at special spaces called synapses where electrochemical signals are generated. These help an individual to adjust with the surrounding and changing atmosphere, with protective reactions through the body. For example, we observe an increase in the body metabolism to generate body heat in winters, as also a demand for more food as temperatures drop; whereas in summer exactly opposite happens. The body tries to lower down the metabolism, lowering the heat production and hence we observe lesser appetite. All these functions are maintained arduously and are very much needed for survival. 

The more easy and smooth the communication of our body within itself as well as with the outside world, the better it can acclimatise with its habitat and nature. This is exactly what Darwin’s law of evolution states when he talks about the ‘ survival of the fittest’. Being ‘healthy’ is nothing but the proper synchronisation of body, mind and spirit (energy). If you have any conflicts in your mind, it reflects on your physique in the forms of restlessness, anxiety, fear. These eventually lead to the release of chemicals called Hormones inside our body, leading to our body expressing through ‘symptoms’- the language in which our body communicates with us. It says, “Hey, I am not comfortable. Please do what it requires to get back the equilibrium and regain Health.” Health is like a pendulum. It keeps oscillating between the states of fitness and disease. We need to work together with our body and maintain it to achieve enthusiasm for its optimum functioning capacity. 

Our body speaks through subtle signs and symptoms like weakness, body ache, sleeplessness, lack of concentration, hair fall etc. These are some basic examples of our body saying ‘HELP’, and here we need to pay attention. These can be ‘ALERT’ signs, that we need to consciously pay attention to, and trust this language. By listening and offering the necessary actions to these calls, we can prevent diseases from evolving and making our body their home. One doesn’t need to take medications if the gravity of symptoms is bearable and fairly within the capacity of one’s control. In such cases, a small conscious change in lifestyle, diet, surroundings can help to restore our health. For example, sometimes we may fatigue from overexertion, and can be corrected by taking good rest with a refreshing diet; but quite often we tend to ignore the voice of our body and continue working. This in turn results in further deterioration of one’s health, severe symptoms further leading to a disease. Even in our diseased state, things may not get worse if we help ourselves with some lifestyle alterations and healthy choices as our body demands, taking help of our physician. I illustrate my point here with what is now becoming a global issue, and India currently ranks at the top with rising numbers of Indians facing this problem- ‘OBESITY AND DIABETES’. 

If a person is slightly overweight in his/her childhood and slowly gains weight at the average of 1 kg per year, he would be near about 40-50 kgs extra over basic weight by his mid-50’s. This is extra weight, not the healthy that I have been referring to. If we listen in time, this is actually a protective part of our body telling us, “I am storing a good amount of extra fats, now it is time to get rid of these to prevent further diseases”; diabetes being the most common one we catch. We often miss this ‘voice’. This could be the stage where we intervene and alter our unhealthy habits into a lifestyle with healthy means. Not just through the medications, but with use of natural resources, appropriate mental and physical exercises, we can relieve the pain of our body. 

If we keep ignoring these conversations until conditions are complex, it means that we are not listening to what our mind and body have to say, which actually may help us to prevent the disease. 

So let’s be WISE enough to be alert and careful towards the LANGUAGE of ourSELVES’…shhh listen to your ‘body speech’!! 
 
## Dr. Vinita Deshpande

<h1>Food [vor]acious</h1>
Some boring disliked vegetables were synonymous to us not eating in childhood. Novel schemes were cooked to make us eat those vegetables. My sister would eat only if sweets were served, but her stomach would be ‘full’ if she was to eat vegetables. Then we had a new rule at home, sweets only after vegetables. Slow but steadily she started enjoying vegetables and eventually learnt to ‘eat’. Rules of eating were then essentially practiced and inculcated at home.
We never realised when the passion to cook and eat apt and food as an essential requirement was taken over by 2 min cooking. Our culture is abundant with recipes of vegetables, chutneys (grinded fresh sauces), salads, boiled/steamed pulses as dal, flavored pulses, poli (Indian bread), rice and so on. Along with these we have some specific indications of what should be included in diet for every aspect/events from life, from birth, birthdays, weddings, festivals, celebrations; food even for last rites after death. But these were overthrown with illusions of ‘party, celebration’. Delicacies reserved for special occasions now were served whenever wished for. Stomachs were strained with random overeating for the sake of ‘let’s get out and have some fun!’.
Culture evolves organically with collective observations, impact of weather on our body, geographical temperament of regions, subsequent crops, all these are tried and tested for centuries which finally makes a food culture. How this food is to be eaten, its effect on not just our body but also our mind is generally considered in then. In fact Annapurna, the goddess of food is worshipped in every household in our country. But unfortunately, an actual visual of the saying ‘you are what you eat’ can be witnessed around us in recent years. Quite often we see a ‘burger’ driving a car round the corner, or a ‘pizza with loaded cheese’ on a bike next to us on the road. A bean or a ladies finger although are a rare sight. The real reason behind this is our recent habit of munching away merrily, everything, all day.
We reduce our diet if we put on weight and eat more if some kilos drop. But our culture anyways has advised a moderate diet. Moderate means limited, consuming the required calories only. But today we casually turn a blind eye to this concept, saying that ‘life is too short’ we live each day in party mode. Eating whatever and as much as the heart wants has become our assumption of happiness. May be thus, we have so conveniently adopted unlimited thali and unlimited buffet systems. We plan to munch on fried pakoras or fries while watching our favorite program on television, what if we enjoy one of these pleasures at one time rather than combining them? The definition of happiness equal to food is harmful for our body.
“No upma in Punjab, no chole in Karnataka, even though I work in another country I have only my Maharashtrian (regional) food!” People proudly boast of doing so… but ones believing that only their type of food is best tend to neglect the fact that food culture doesn’t depend on some caste or religion, but evolves around the experience of weather, lifestyle and natural resources. Coastal regions like Goa, Konkan have fish while plateau regions have food grains in their staple food, and these are beneficial for the health of those respective regions. The ones who migrate to other countries should ‘……do as the Romans do’ i.e. eat whatever is the local food cuisine. 
Twitching your nose for food that you don’t like, and eating for time pass even when your stomach is full makes one feel that the need for food is lost in time. Maybe owing to our attitude, food is no more a source of life, it's rather eating us away to death.
Why do we need food? It can be well illustrated with Einstein’s principle e=mc2
Through the burning of mass matter goes through the process of dissemination and digestion takes place. The energy required for our body is thus created. Energy can neither be created not destroyed, it can only be converted from one form into another. We can acquire energy but there are many ways to do so. We get solar energy from the sun, also energy from the wind but we cannot consume such energies, we require elements of nature but we get them through our food.
We have been repeatedly told 'उदर भरण नोहे जाणिजे यज्ञकर्म' (don’t eat to fill your stomach, eat to burn like a rite), but rather than eating food to consume and burn in calories, our voracious eating is letting the food consume us. Our faulty eating habits are consuming our life, food that keeps us alive is eating us away from our own ridiculous habits, will we ever be able to overcome this paradox? We seldom think of this twist. We invite lifelong problems of preposterous weight gain, diabetes, blood pressure imbalance, metabolic syndrome and many more for our momentary pleasures. We need to imbibe ‘only as much required’ in place of ‘whatever and wherever’.
Our wrong food choices are eating away our health, we need to change our thinking to stop this consumption…. ‘Are you hungry? Just 2 min’….or ‘At your doorstep in 30 min’ is not going to work. We have to reinvent our idea of happiness.
Do we wish to pass on the hybrid culture of food formed of our bad food habits to the next generation?
Let’s tell our coming generation how to eat instead of them getting eaten.
<h2>Dr. Vinita Deshpande</h2>

This article higlights how culture, diets and common beliefs impact food choices.

Food [vor] acious

foodacious

# Food [vor]acious 

Some boring disliked vegetables were synonymous to us not eating in childhood. Novel schemes were cooked to make us eat those vegetables. My sister would eat only if sweets were served, but her stomach would be ‘full’ if she was to eat vegetables. Then we had a new rule at home, sweets only after vegetables. Slow but steadily she started enjoying vegetables and eventually learnt to ‘eat’. Rules of eating were then essentially practiced and inculcated at home. 

We never realised when the passion to cook and eat apt and food as an essential requirement was taken over by 2 min cooking. Our culture is abundant with recipes of vegetables, chutneys (grinded fresh sauces), salads, boiled/steamed pulses as dal, flavored pulses, poli (Indian bread), rice and so on. Along with these we have some specific indications of what should be included in diet for every aspect/events from life, from birth, birthdays, weddings, festivals, celebrations; food even for last rites after death. But these were overthrown with illusions of ‘party, celebration’. Delicacies reserved for special occasions now were served whenever wished for. Stomachs were strained with random overeating for the sake of ‘let’s get out and have some fun!’. 

Culture evolves organically with collective observations, impact of weather on our body, geographical temperament of regions, subsequent crops, all these are tried and tested for centuries which finally makes a food culture. How this food is to be eaten, its effect on not just our body but also our mind is generally considered in then. In fact Annapurna, the goddess of food is worshipped in every household in our country. But unfortunately, an actual visual of the saying ‘you are what you eat’ can be witnessed around us in recent years. Quite often we see a ‘burger’ driving a car round the corner, or a ‘pizza with loaded cheese’ on a bike next to us on the road. A bean or a ladies finger although are a rare sight. The real reason behind this is our recent habit of munching away merrily, everything, all day. 

We reduce our diet if we put on weight and eat more if some kilos drop. But our culture anyways has advised a moderate diet. Moderate means limited, consuming the required calories only. But today we casually turn a blind eye to this concept, saying that ‘life is too short’ we live each day in party mode. Eating whatever and as much as the heart wants has become our assumption of happiness. May be thus, we have so conveniently adopted unlimited thali and unlimited buffet systems. We plan to munch on fried pakoras or fries while watching our favorite program on television, what if we enjoy one of these pleasures at one time rather than combining them? The definition of happiness equal to food is harmful for our body. 

“No upma in Punjab, no chole in Karnataka, even though I work in another country I have only my Maharashtrian (regional) food!” People proudly boast of doing so… but ones believing that only their type of food is best tend to neglect the fact that food culture doesn’t depend on some caste or religion, but evolves around the experience of weather, lifestyle and natural resources. Coastal regions like Goa, Konkan have fish while plateau regions have food grains in their staple food, and these are beneficial for the health of those respective regions. The ones who migrate to other countries should ‘……do as the Romans do’ i.e. eat whatever is the local food cuisine. 
Twitching your nose for food that you don’t like, and eating for time pass even when your stomach is full makes one feel that the need for food is lost in time. Maybe owing to our attitude, food is no more a source of life, it's rather eating us away to death. 

Why do we need food? It can be well illustrated with Einstein’s principle e=mc2
Through the burning of mass matter goes through the process of dissemination and digestion takes place. The energy required for our body is thus created. Energy can neither be created not destroyed, it can only be converted from one form into another. We can acquire energy but there are many ways to do so. We get solar energy from the sun, also energy from the wind but we cannot consume such energies, we require elements of nature but we get them through our food. 

We have been repeatedly told 'उदर भरण नोहे जाणिजे यज्ञकर्म' (don’t eat to fill your stomach, eat to burn like a rite), but rather than eating food to consume and burn in calories, our voracious eating is letting the food consume us. Our faulty eating habits are consuming our life, food that keeps us alive is eating us away from our own ridiculous habits, will we ever be able to overcome this paradox? We seldom think of this twist. We invite lifelong problems of preposterous weight gain, diabetes, blood pressure imbalance, metabolic syndrome and many more for our momentary pleasures. We need to imbibe ‘only as much required’ in place of ‘whatever and wherever’. 
Our wrong food choices are eating away our health, we need to change our thinking to stop this consumption…. ‘Are you hungry? Just 2 min’….or ‘At your doorstep in 30 min’ is not going to work. We have to reinvent our idea of happiness. 

Do we wish to pass on the hybrid culture of food formed of our bad food habits to the next generation? 
Let’s tell our coming generation how to eat instead of them getting eaten. 

## Dr. Vinita Deshpande

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Food [vor] acious