Eating healthy! How many of us have heard those words and said ‘I’ll try it next week’ but never get around to it because so many alternatives are available? And frankly, because we do not want to and do not feel that we need to. Like most things that are good for us, healthy food has to be forced on us, sometimes against our strong objections but at the end when we reap the benefits, we ask ourselves why we hadn’t done it before.
Nowadays healthy food need not be bland and tasteless; there is a lot of experimenting with different tastes and a whole lot to experience. We have also observed that there is a changing trend with regard to food; more people are preparing their own meals.
The reason? The rising cost of living, which is negatively affecting many people worldwide, is forcing people to prepare home-cooked meals. They say that behind every cloud there is a silver lining. Could this be the positive effect of this phenomenon?
While most people would likely respond with a resounding ‘no’, we think that the scaling-down of the popular practice of eating out, which often involves greasy, fried food, is something positive.
People preparing their own food, which, in most cases is healthier than fast food, must be considered a good thing. From our observations, generally people are more conscious when preparing their own food and it tends to contain more ‘healthy’ ingredients such as vegetables.
While, we are not saying that the rising cost of living is good as it is affecting many people negatively, including us, at least, people are looking to other, sometimes healthier alternatives.
It is a fact that items, previously taken for granted, are moving into the realm of being termed luxuries. You mush have heard someone complaining that they could no longer afford this or that.
This is good (from the healthy point of view at least, though not for the fast-food outlets). Some people who seemed to be too dependent on fast food are now being weaned off. Some are breaking new ground and preparing dishes that they never tried before and there are those who never prepared a meal but are now learning how to do so.
And with more people walking as a result of higher gas prices, this could potentially be another step to a healthier life.
Now… what about dessert?
(thescene@stabroeknews.com)
