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From the desk of Dr Nandita Shah...
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It’s hard to believe now, given the abundance of packaged foods, that there was a time when they were almost non-existent. When I was growing up, packaged food was rare. Even staples like grains, beans, and lentils were sold by weight in paper bags. The countryside looked beautiful without plastic waste strewn around, and life carried on just fine.
When packaged foods first appeared, we considered them a blessing, especially for travel. They seemed hygienic, and perhaps they were. Yet the food industry, like all industries, can be highly deceptive. Packaging is designed to be irresistible, and the food itself is made addictive with excessive amounts of fat, sugar, salt, milk powder, and MSG. Add to this a cocktail of chemicals that stabilize, emulsify, and extend shelf life, and these products often remain edible well beyond their expiry dates. Slick marketing strategies ensure you buy them, often because children insist.
Today, we know that these products are rarely designed with our health in mind. What started as a time-saving solution has turned into a widespread dependency.
The good news is that once you become mindful of this, breaking the habit becomes easier. Always ask yourself: Is what I’m about to eat truly worthy of my body?
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Highlights
Our new centre in Mumbai has opened up in Andheri West and we are now looking forward to hosting many live events there. Meeting up like-minded people, tasting the delicious healthy food makes a big difference. To check out what’s in store, click here.
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'This journey has transformed my well-being in ways I never imagined possible'
Delhi based 28-year-old Sheena Dawar shares how one realisation helped her relieve her anxiety and more….
I first learned about SHARAN through some of my vegan friends. Intrigued, I visited SHARAN’s Instagram profile and watched several videos. I was deeply impressed by the work they were doing. At that time, I was vegan, but my diet included refined sugar, refined oil, and a lot of packaged and processed foods. However, SHARAN’s beliefs started making sense to me, and I realized that significant changes were needed in my lifestyle.
I began making changes gradually, one step at a time. I eliminated refined sugar, refined oil, refined salt, and all packaged and processed foods from my diet. Then, in January last year, I participated in SHARAN’s 30-day Healthy Me Challenge, which turned out to be a life-changing experience. It opened my eyes in ways I could never have imagined. I would often skip breakfast because it made me feel sick—mainly nauseous and anxious. However, as part of the Healthy Me Challenge, I started having fruits for breakfast and noticed a significant improvement in my health. Later, I participated in one of SHARAN’s smoothie challenges on Instagram, where I learned to make delicious and healthy green smoothies at home. Now, my breakfast consists solely of green smoothies and fresh fruits, and I can proudly say that my anxiety and panic attacks have almost disappeared.
One of the most profound moments in my journey came during a SHARAN webinar when Dr Nandita shared her experience of feeling anxious after consuming dairy. She explained how the negative emotions, created as a result of the animal exploitation in the dairy industry, affect our body. This was my turning point. At that time, I was already following a vegan lifestyle, but I would still accept prasad containing dairy when offered to me. I would also occasionally accept sweets or cakes at work, even though my conscience urged me not to. Each time, I would experience a surge of anxiety lasting for hours, sometimes even days. I would even have anxiety and panic attacks the night after consuming anything containing dairy, no matter how small the portion.
It was then that I had a profound realization: any unethical offering made to God (i.e., any prasad containing dairy) is not prasad, but a morsel full of negativity. Once I realized this, I completely stopped consuming dairy, and the intense anxiety build up that had plagued me for so long disappeared.
By embracing SHARAN’s lifestyle, I not only overcame my anxiety and panic attacks but also started feeling mentally and physically fit, energized, and at peace. This journey has transformed my well-being in ways I never imagined possible.
Recipe - Schezwan Sauce
Ingredients
- 15 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1½” pc ginger, finely chopped
- 6 shallots (sambar onions), minced
- 23 Kashmiri red chillies, soaked in water for half an hour
- 3 Bedgi red chillies/gundu chillies, soaked for half an hour
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- Unrefined salt to taste
Method
Heat a pan and add garlic and ginger. Sauté on low heat, until fragrant. Be careful not to brown or burn the ginger or garlic.
Add the minced onions and let them cook on low heat. In the meanwhile, discard most of the water used to soak the chillies and grind them with just 2 tbsp water to a paste.
Once the onions look like they are almost melting, add ground chilli paste, soy sauce, vinegar, salt and water.
Bring this to a boil and simmer, until the sauce thickens.
Turn the heat off and let the sauce cool. Once completely cool, transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 15 days.
Food For The Mind
FACEBOOK SUPPORT GROUP
If you love Facebook, then join us to be supported on your plant-based journey. We offer 2 possibilities.
1. SHARAN India is SHARAN’s main Facebook page which you can like and follow for getting useful daily updates and news from the plant-based health world. You will also get news about the latest SHARAN events, see testimonials, and more.
2. SHARAN’s Vegan Support Group is an open support group to know more about vegan/plant-based lifestyle. Here you can ask questions and share inspiring stories, tips, recipes, etc.
All our doctors and presenters will be here to answer your questions and give you tips. If you have attended our events join this group to be a part of our family.
Please like the main SHARAN page and join the group(s) applicable to you.
Other platforms to be connected and know more…
- WhatsApp
- Instagram
- YouTube – English & Hindi
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The Reality about Packaged Food
Packaged foods are present in almost every household across the world!
Apart from being highly processed, the additives that they contain come with a whole set of problems. Food additives are added to packaged food to make it look good and taste better, to improve its texture, to keep it stable and to increase its shelf life. They appear as numbers in the ingredients list, sometimes marked by initial letters ‘E’ or ‘INS’.
Here’s why we need to look carefully at the labels of packaged foods before consuming them:
1. Food additives consist mostly of chemicals
Additives can be natural or artificial. Since they are produced at a large scale, it is more profitable for the manufacturer to add the artificial ones. This means the additives are synthetic and full of chemicals.
2. Hormone disruptors
Chemicals are known to disrupt hormones, and additives have been strongly linked to male and female infertility and PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome).
3. Highly addictive
They are added to make the product look and taste better and hence, very addictive. Even natural additives like sugar, salt, and oil (which are highly processed in and of themselves) are addictive.
4. Hyperactivity in children
Food colours are mostly by-products of coal tar. They are used in several foods like candies, sweets, soft drinks, cakes, and ice creams and can be the cause of ADHD and hyperactivity in children.
5. Allergies and respiratory problems
Certain additives can give rise to allergic reactions like rhinitis, or more severe conditions like asthma and bronchitis.
6. Added sugars
There are at least 80-100 highly processed natural or artificial sweeteners that can be added to foods without them being labelled as sugars.
7. Carcinogenic risks
Most dangerously, additives have a strong link to cancers. TBHQ and BHT (antioxidants in refined cooking oil/fried food), saccharin (sweetener), nitrites/nitrates (preservatives in processed meat), food colourings, and carrageenan (emulsifier) are just some of the additives that have been linked to cancers in studies.
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All Events
Most of our events are online now, so you can join us from anywhere in the world. Click to know more…
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| What is SHARAN? |
Sanctuary for Health and Reconnection to Animals
and Nature (SHARAN) is a social enterprise with
the goal of spreading awareness about holistic
health and an ecologically sustainable
compassionate lifestyle.
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| Compiled & Edited by: |
This newsletter is compiled by SHARAN Head of Mumbai, Reyna K Rupani. She facilitates the Six Weeks to Health Gain & Weight Loss program and also conducts health talks for schools, groups, corporates and more.
Mar 2024 | Issue: 239
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