What is a way of life?
The combination of a person’s or a group’s habits, attitudes, tastes, moral and ethical standards, economic status, cultural customs, etc., make up their lives. Numerous factors, including the DNA we inherited from our parents, the environment in which we live, and the jobs we do, all have an impact on our health.
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Everything that we do, including what we eat and drink, how much exercise we get, and whether or not we smoke or use drugs, has an impact on our health and not just how long we live to be old but also how long we avoid developing chronic illnesses. People who have an unsuitable relationship with their surroundings are more likely to suffer from lifestyle illnesses.
What makes knowing about it now so crucial?
These lifestyle illnesses have a slow, sneaky start that takes years to appear, and they are difficult to treat once they do. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) may force a person to live with them, depleting all of their financial, social, emotional, and physical resources. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Indians have a weak heart and a sweet taste. The World Health Organization projects that by 2025, India would have the greatest number of diabetes patients worldwide, at 5.72 crore. Diabetes patients already make up more than 10% of the population in our urban areas. To exacerbate the situation, we will also account for 60% of global heart disease cases. As a result, we will have the dubious distinction of becoming the global epicenter for cardiac and diabetic patients. In addition, there has been a rise in hepatic, pulmonary, and cardiovascular disorders as a result of alcohol and nicotine addiction. It has been shown that smoking is the main risk factor for heart disease in young individuals.
Up until now, infectious and malnutrition-related health issues have not even been able to be stopped by the traditional firefighting medical procedures that include giving out “cure.” As the WHO’s 1997 Health Report correctly noted, “developing countries are paying a price for mimicking western lifestyle with an upsurge in diseases of affluence i.e. hypertension, diabetes, arthritis and cancer.” These countries are still grappling with problems associated to poverty.
Therefore, promoting surroundings that support healthy activities should be a part of any attempt to encourage them. It’s never too late to make lifestyle changes, and by starting today, one can continue to benefit from a healthy lifestyle later on. Motivate individuals to learn the truth about fitness and nutrition so they may make informed decisions.
A society’s health is influenced by four key factors: food, water, employment, and leisure. These four areas will be examined in more detail in this essay.
Food is important because the foods that society chooses to eat have a lot of effects. Currently, a certain dish is selected based on the following factors: 1) Location 2) Climate-related factors 3) Socio-cultural factors & 4) Differential government actions, etc.
Millennia ago, human ingenuity led to the exploration and systematization of a food production system known as “agriculture.” Within this system, certain groups of people who were perceptive and clever discovered which crops produced more. This allowed them to have more free time, which allowed other segments of the community to focus on raising the standard of living. The methods used to produce food differed from location to location, and the food crops themselves were only selected according on how well-suited and nativity they were for that particular environments. What food crops must be cultivated and when depends on a number of variables, including geographic locations, terrain, precipitation, soil types, local climate, and experience knowledge at any particular time. In addition to the continuous invention and fine-tuning of the agricultural system, communities have seen significant changes in the areas of skill development, food culture, and labor division. Because of its diversity, this cuisine culture has embraced and enhanced the local communities, civilizations, and countries. In India, the village has come to represent the country’s culinary culture, with its inhabitants seeing food as essential to all of their customs. Indians’ lives have been impacted by these ceremonies in every way, from conception to death and beyond.
Food was seen by the Indian civilization before industrialization as providing sustenance for the body, mind, culture, and soul. Indian society is significantly more complex and nuanced since the caste and religion elements have been fully used. To the great dismay of Indian society and its people, the post-industrial era and its ethos speak a language of food in terms of calories, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, trans-fats, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and soluble and insoluble fiber. However, these terms do not fit well into their cultural and social settings. As eating customs and food itself undergo fast changes in place and time, there is a profound sense of conflict and agony.
A culinary culture that was once highly advanced has hit a standstill and is experiencing tremendous instability as it navigates a route full of competing demands, fads, and commercial influences. The main cause of this predicament is that Indians, even farmers, now view food as a commodity. Given that commodities must meet certain requirements and have a certain value, some food crops are already in danger of going extinct or becoming very rare. Certain foods and related crops have perished as a result of the interaction of government policy, market pressures, and contemporary medical knowledge because they are no longer deemed valuable to cultivate and sell. Indian society is paying a heavy price for this process in terms of both the environment and health.
The experience of Andhra Pradesh provides the greatest explanation for this occurrence. High yielding rice varieties, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, large dam and reservoir building, green revolution technologies—all of these—caused certain regions to transition from millet-based agriculture to paddy cultivation, while other areas resorted to non-food income crops. As a result, there was less variation in the foods available and rice became the dominant crop. Due to an overabundance of rice produced, the market pressures forced the development of a two rupees per kilogram rice program, which finally forced the millet culture itself to disappear. This assured that the extra rice was absorbed in the millet producing and consuming areas. Numerous fronts, including the ecology, water resources, fertilizer production, and energy resources, have been impacted by just one state policy initiative.
The state of Punjab serves as the second illustration. People who are fighting for hospital admittance in order to receive treatment for cancer, a serious illness for which there is no known cure according to the patient’s own activities; also, the forces and developmental programs that motivate the patient. The iconic Cancer Express incident, Bhatinda-Bikaneer, clearly illustrates the flaws of a complex, expensive healthcare system that is about to collapse. A shift in farming techniques ought to bring about the true transformation. For instance, the Bhatinda incident (which is only the tip of the iceberg) would not have occurred in the first place if agriculture had been conducted without the use of chemicals. As a result, the country is currently dealing with a growing illness load in addition to a nutritional shortage in the foods produced. Today, it is the duty of the government and society to ensure that progress and development do not come at the expense of people’s health.
Aside from sanitation and cleanliness, the altered eating patterns of a huge population affected public health. Water-intensive agricultural practices have led to an increase in vector-borne diseases. Additionally, water-borne diseases caused by chemical pollution are on the rise as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) enter our food chain. POPs are soluble in water and have a tendency to accumulate in living things’ fat tissue, where they interfere with endocrine function. In addition to all of this, nutritionally linked health issues are brought on by a high-carb diet that lacks nutrients. The intricate relationship between food, society, and health has a significant impact on national health and has the potential to become epidemic-scale.
The question of what, how much, and when to eat is a conundrum facing modern civilization today. Even if it would take a lot of money and effort to produce wholesome food that precisely complies with current regulations, we won’t be able to meet the varied tastes and other cultural demands of the populace.
When selecting food that is appropriate for a particular society, it is important to keep in mind the following guidelines: consume locally grown food that the soils can sustain, avoid chemicals, choose energy-efficient options, and choose food that is produced using environmentally friendly agricultural methods. At the individual level, moderation—not rationing—is the key credo. Consume food just when you’re truly hungry.
Many specialists have advocated for crop diversification and dietary choices in order to eradicate high levels of nutrition deficit, sometimes known as “hidden hunger,” including M.S. Swaminathan, the architect of the Green Revolution. The table below illustrates how badly starch-dominated white rice performs in terms of nutritional factors when compared to quinoa and millets.
