Over the last decade, the number of eateries selling junk food or fast food has increased manifold. There are big shopping malls now and all shopping malls are incomplete without a dandy food court. In these food courts a proper food course is rare, a food course which is organic and ethnic. Preparing a proper food course takes a lot of time. Fast food or junk food is made fast, less time involved in cooking, cooked over a high intense flame. Low-flame cooking over an extended period is good for health. But in posh shopping malls, the prospective customers neither have enough time nor the eateries. The result is quickly semi—cooked food which sets the stage for lots of lifestyle diseases.
The trend in town is to tow children to these fast-food eateries and make them overeat this unhealthy food. In adolescence or preteen years, this regular intake of fast food plays havoc with the hormonal balance, sometimes leading to early puberty, mood swings, and aggressive behaviors. In teenage boys and girls, this regular eating of junk food becomes a gateway for gastrointestinal diseases and other lifestyle diseases like Diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.
In the fast pace of life, modern parents have less and less time to dedicate to some of the primal things in life. Cooking takes time. It is a serious activity which requires dedication and discipline. Eating at an eatery or a reasonably cheap restaurant on the way back from the office has become a new norm in various Indian cities. This trend is picking up in Jammu city as well as in Srinagar city.
Modernism is good. But to go over the top and eat anything cooked a few days ago and left in the freezer, reheated, and served to you on a dandy plate is the easiest way to destroy a healthy lifestyle. Some things in the old ways of the world are good and can not be replaced no matter how much we embrace modernity. Food is one such thing. Junk food or fast food is an open assault on the health of a modern man. Let us wage a counter-war against it by limiting its intake.
