August 5, 2023 / 5 Comments
WHY SHOULD WE OPT FOR MILLETS – OUR VERY OWN SUPERFOOD
Since ages, Millets have been there as our very own superfood. If we go back in time by few decades, our ancestors have always eaten and have preached about healthy eating. Traditional wisdom about processing of food, its preservation techniques, and its therapeutic effects have been established for many generations in India.
Indian traditional foods are also recognized as functional foods because of the presence of functional components such as body-healing chemicals, antioxidants, dietary fibers, and probiotics. These elements help in weight management, and blood sugar level balance and support immunity of the body. The functional properties of foods are further enhanced by processing techniques such as sprouting, malting, and fermentation. Millets have been recognized as highly functional due to this aspect, as they have been known to promote cardiovascular health, prevention of spike in blood sugar levels, reduce gut inflammation and maintain healthy weight.
Millets – as per their nature, are gluten free and good for the gut. They are highly resilient crops in nature, requiring very less water to grow, which makes them ideal for arid summer conditions in India. They also are organic by nature, requiring very less care and no fertilizers to grow.
In India, our culinary history boasts of millet consumption in various ways – be it Bajre ( Pearl Millet) ki Roti in Rajasthan, Ragi (finger millet) mudde in Karnataka, Sama ke chawal (Barnyard) in Northern India… millets have been there as an avid part of our culture, our history and tradition.
A super crop that has been there since ages, had started losing out on its charm where we inclined more towards crops like wheat, rice and likewise for the taste and comfort. Then came the era of highly preservative-laden and chemically processed instant food items which again, were the need of the hour. Decades later, we have rediscovered the health benefits of millets due to issues like environmental concerns, health consciousness, the need of evolving our food systems to survive the climatic change due to global warming, and turned back to understanding the true importance of what a gem our ancestors had left for us.
So many proven health benefits, ancestral connections and scientific evidence exists to support the benefits of millets. It is now, up to us, how we make that conscious switch that is beneficial for not just us, but for the environment as well in the long run.
