Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar has been offering plenty of advice on why we must ditch fad diets and instead eat more local and seasonal foods.
The bestselling author recently took to Instagram to talk about the health benefits of eating sheera -- a sweet dish made from sooji (rawa).
Posting a picture of sheera, Rujuta wrote: 'One dish that every household made to nurse their sick back to strength was gaud sheera or sooji halwa.'
'Roasted in an iron kadhai, cooked in ghee and milk, spiced with sugar, kesar and dry fruits. It stroked their appetite, lifted their spirits and led to a speedy recovery.'
'This is also why the sheera was also celebrated as the mandatory prasad at every puja.'
'These pujas were traditionally planned around seasonal changes and everyone getting a dose of this prasad worked like an immunity boosting shot of sorts.'
Pointing out how our preferences changed over the years, she said: 'The food industry displaced our common sense approach of eating according to the season with the fear of sugar.'
'Sugar is poison, it told us. And even as sugar consumption through colas, cookies, chocolates rose, the cooking and celebration of seasons and festivals with sheera, laddoo and barfi dropped.'
'Eating ultra-processed food is poison whether it has sugar or its substitute. Eating home cooked and in sync with season is healthy for the planet and its people.'
'Scientists warn of many more pandemics in the future. The human behaviour that leads to climate change and biodiversity loss is exactly what will bring pandemics too, they say.'
'Truth be told, mindless consumption is poison, not sugar.'
