FRIED STUFF is SLOW POISON

Chapter 24

FRIED STUFF

A packet of fried food has become as common as a bottle of soft drinks during a journey.  Both can be called as slow poison. The consumption of fried stuff leads to so many health problems. In fact the impurities (fats, calories and bad cholesterol) collected in our body due to the consumption of fried stuff can be removed mainly through illness. With modernization, we have replaced health food with junk food which may be tasty but unhealthy.

The main targets for junk food are the children. The parents have been increasingly giving junk food to their children since it is easily available in small packets for cheap prices in shops all over. The junk food packets are made very colourful and attractive to trap the children. Children come home from school and sit in front of the television with a packet of chips in their hand. This sight has become very common today. But beware!! 100 gm of potato chips has 150 calories. Your child is sure to fall a victim of obesity.

Children need nutritious food since they are passing through growing state in their life. What they eat is going to affect them in the future as they grow. They should be given fresh fruits and fruit juices regularly.

Food is immersed in hot oil to get fried food. The water content of the food is converted into steam. If the food is not kept in the oil for long the oil will not penetrate the food. The frying temperature is mostly between 175 to 190 degrees C (345-375 degree F).

When you fry a substance you are removing all the nutrition present in it. Fried food may be tastier but it is still junk food. There are some people who say that they nothing happens to them if they eat fried food because their body is used to it. This only means that the rubbish is getting collected in their body and soon they are going to be attacked by a dangerous disease. This rubbish leads to heart disease, diabetes, clogged arteries, high blood pressure, obesity and many other diseases.

Let us see why fried food is dangerous for our body. When you fry something in oil, you are filling it with insoluble grease-saturated fat and trans fat found in oil, ghee and butter, which cannot be broken down during digestion. This grease is stored in the cells all over your body especially in your gut, on thighs or around your heart.

People tend to reuse the oil again and again. If oil is heated again and again, trans fats are produced which are harmful for our body. The oil becomes light poison. Hence use only how much you need when frying food so that you can get rid of the left over oil.

Also never mix two types of oils. If you mix oils, the balance of unsaturated fatty acids is disturbed and hence the mix becomes harmful to health.

Saturated fat and trans fat raise the bad cholesterol (LDL) in your body. This helps the deposition of plaque in the arteries leading to coronary heart disease.

Some people argue that little fat is good for the health. Little fat in the form of lipid is good for the health. Lipids are soluble organic molecules that are like carbohydrates and proteins and are necessary for the normal functioning of the body. Lipids can be broke down to provide energy for the body. But the fat we get from fried stuff is of the dangerous type which is harmful to our body.

It is interesting to note that men and women store fat differently due to the difference in sex hormones produced: testosterone and oestrogen. Adult men store fat in chest, abdomen and buttocks producing an apple shape while the women store fat in breasts, hips, waists and buttocks creating a pear shape.

This body is our vehicle. We must put good fuel into it if we want it to last long. So go for a fresh fruit or packet of nuts instead of packet of fried food. Raw food builds up your immune system and prevents diseases from attacking your body.