Why Kerala sadya may be no better than junk food | Ep 146

[00:00:00] The Kerala sadya, a lavish spread of rice, vegetables and sweet piaisam, is deeply rooted in tradition, and often celebrated as a perfectly balanced meal. But is it really as nutritious as we believe? Does it meet the modern dietary needs, or is it due for a makeover?

[00:00:19] Hi, and welcome to News Break. I am Harita Benjamin, and in this episode we speak to experts to analyze the calorie distribution and nutritional value of the traditional Kerala cuisine.

[00:00:37] So at a recent event organized by the Kerala Food Safety Department, Dr. T.S. Anish, the Professor of Community Medicine at Korikot Medical College, challenged the widely held belief that Kerala sadya is a well-balanced meal. So let's speak to Dr. Anish himself, and understand the rationale behind this statement. Welcome to the show, Dr. Anish. Thank you. Thank you, Hedega.

[00:01:01] So your statement on the Kerala sadya goes against the general belief that it is a balanced meal, the Kerala sadya, right? So what makes you say this, and is it due to the lack of protein or an excess of carbohydrates that you say that it is not a well-balanced meal? Definitely, Kerala sadya has got excess calories. As you have already mentioned. Okay. And the protein component may be much less.

[00:01:27] And if you just look at the micronutrient distribution, that will also be maybe inadequate. Because the traditional vegetarian sadya may be having or may not be having some of the micronutrients that is present in some kind of an animal food. Okay. That is the basic. But the basic problem with Kerala sadya, especially the new additions that is there recently, that make it energy dense.

[00:01:56] And sometimes it may be equivalent to a junk food. Okay. So whatever contributions given by the side dishes along with the sadya, because of the small amount of side dish provided along with large amount of rice and so many types of suites make it so unhealthy. So another problem is if you have a Kerala sadya, the usual problem that we may encounter is you may be feeling sleepy. Right.

[00:02:24] That itself means that you have taken a large amount of carbohydrate or energy. So one Kerala sadya may contribute. It is 70 or 80 percentage of the total calorie requirement for that day. So you can make it balanced if you are purposefully just viewing it.

[00:02:46] And if you are the people who are distributing the curries or maybe giving large amount of curries and small amount of rice. And if you restrict the piousness to a small amount, that to maybe one type of piousness, you can make it balanced. So that kind of a thing that you can do only at your house.

[00:03:07] If you are preparing a Kerala sadya at your house, and if you have got the freedom to have maybe a small amount of fish or something like that, that we have in the northern side of Kerala, definitely you can make Kerala sadya balanced. But what exactly it is given in sadyas and maybe during festivals, definitely the sadya is not balanced. It is energy dense and it can cause a lot of problems. Okay.

[00:03:35] So now you mentioned about the lack of micronutrients, right? What are the micronutrients which could be lacking in a traditional Kerala sadya or meal? And how could you balance it if you are a vegetarian? Yeah, that is a very important question. What the traditional or exact veg meal, the problem is the lack of some of the micronutrients. Some of the micronutrients will be present only in vegetarian diet. Some of the micronutrients will be present only in animal food.

[00:04:04] But usually the non-veg, people having non-vegetarian food, they are not limiting their food in non-vegetarian sources. They will include the vegetarian diet also, or the vegetarian dishes also in their menu. Right. So there may not be an issue with micronutrients. The problem with a non-vegetarian diet may be they may be using unhealthy fats, maybe cooked in an improper way.

[00:04:30] And they may be having large amount of breads or rice along with a non-vegetarian food. Those are the problems in non-vegetarian diet that we practice usually in Kerala. Okay. But the problem with vegetarian diet is some of the micronutrients that is only present in animal food is lacking. One of such micronutrients is vitamin B12. So vitamin B12 is only present in animal sources.

[00:04:57] Some of the vegetarian animals or the animals who are herbivores can make their own vitamin B12 in their intestine. But during the process of evolution, human beings lose that capacity. So we have to have the vitamin B12 supply from external sources. But luckily or fortunately, most of the vegetarian diet in Kerala are not truly vegetarian.

[00:05:26] For example, milk. Milk is a non-vegetarian source, but we consider that as a vegetarian food. Not because of the quality of food, but because of the aesthetics. So we are not killing an animal for getting that food. That is why we are considering that as a vegetarian, but actually a non-vegetarian source. So if you are able to have more milk or curd, sometimes you can just get rid of this problem.

[00:05:53] But the true veg, they are not consuming any other non-vegetarian sources like milk, curd or egg. You may face with some kind of a micronutrient deficiencies. But in typical Kerala diet, you may be using Pulsedi. Sometimes you may use Moedil. And we may be using milk in some of the piousoms. So those problems may be addressed.

[00:06:19] But the exact problem is that if you compare the calories with the micronutrients, the micronutrient sources will be served in much lower quantity. But the calorie sources will be served in much higher quantity. So that is a real issue regarding Kerala, this typical Kerala vegetarian. Okay. So now earlier when you were speaking, you said that there have been several modifications in the modern Sathya.

[00:06:46] And these are likely what makes it more calorie intense. So what are these modifications? And is it enough to reduce these modifications to have an improved version of Sathya? Or, you know, and have methods like portion control. How could you make it a well-balanced diet if you are to make it? If you look at the history of Kerala Sathya, it is not about traditional kind of, maybe a cultural kind of thing.

[00:07:15] It evolved something like that recently. For example, if you consider the Onasathya, there is some proof that in, maybe in the 18th or 17th century, in Onasathya, at that point of time, most of the people in our community cannot afford Onasathya. So that is one thing. And these kinds of energy-rich Sathya don't have a history more than 50 years. If you look at exactly the Onasathya, the sambar. Sambar is not a Kerala food.

[00:07:45] It's actually some, it just came from some part of Nibirandhra Pradesh or Tabernak. But we were using edithiadi. Edithiadi, in a sense, edithiadi is a good food, for example, because it contains pumpkins. Pumpkins is a very good source of antioxidants. But sambar is also good, because sambar is maybe a best vegetarian soup that we can think of, because it has got a lot of vegetables. Nothing wrong in introducing sambar to Kerala Sathya.

[00:08:13] My point is, Kerala Sathya has evolved over time. It is not like that our, maybe grandparents or maybe the generations before they were using Kerala Sathya. That is a false notion. So, the Kerala Sathya, what we see today is only just, you know, 50 to 60 years old, probably, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you just look at the recent additions, you can see that it is becoming more and more worse.

[00:08:41] For example, the tuber part. So, if you just, roots and tubers used in our menu was recently, it was the traditional roots and tubers. We called the yam, chena, kachil, chambu, and all these things, stuffs were used. These were containing phytohystragens and the glycemic index of this foot were much lower. But now we are not using that kind of materials at all.

[00:09:07] Rather, we may be using tapioca, which has got high glycemic index compared to any other roots and tubers. And another thing is, we are using many types of pyosomes now. And some of the pyosomes are even made up of maida. That is, the sugar content in these kinds of food materials, maida and all, is very, very high. If you just look at the vermicelli pyosome, you can see that the vermicelli is made up of maida.

[00:09:33] And if you look at the, it is mixed with, in Trivantrum side or in the southern side, it is mixed with pyosaboli. Pyosaboli can be prepared using kadalamao. Kadalamao, that is the floor that we use. Or sometimes it may be making using maida. Most often in Kalyana Sathya, the boli is also made up of maida. If you just look at these things, you can see that the refined carbohydrate component has come out like anything.

[00:09:59] And if you just look at, there are additions like ledoes and some materials or some food materials fried, deep fried like unniyapam. And so many things are getting introduced to Anasadhyaya and make it maybe more wise. And energy dense and fat rich. And another problem is, we have got a notion that this is good for health, this is a barren's food. And those kinds of things are intermingled with our cultural things. And so many other things are also there.

[00:10:29] For example, when you are putting hot rice on banana leaves, the aroma and some flavonoids or alkaloids will be there merging with rice. And it is good for health. These are good thoughts, but we don't have any good proof that these kinds of flavonoids or alkaloids, how much it is attributed to good health and all other things. So many science and pseudosciences are mixed.

[00:10:58] And we have got a lot of confusing things distributed through YouTubes and WhatsApps regarding Kerala Sathya. Definitely, if you have large amount of rice and many types of piazums and the side dishes that is fried or sweetened side dishes are there, make it worse. So that is an important point that we have to consider. Right.

[00:11:23] So now, if you are to move beyond the sadhya and you're looking at the general pattern of Malayali food, are there any major dietary red flags when you're looking at the eating habits of Keralites? Yeah, one of the major problems with Kerala diet is the cooking practice. Okay. The sources of food may be having some kind of issues that I have already mentioned that the roots and tubers that we use,

[00:11:52] the conventional roots and tubers were much maybe low in glycemic content that it contains more micronutrients. But now it is replaced by the tapioca kind of thing that is energy dense. Those kinds of issues are there. And we are depending the other states for our food crops and sometimes there will be insecticide present in the vegetables and all other things are there.

[00:12:17] But rather than that, the major problem with the Malayali diet is our cooking practice. We are using oil as a very important cooking medium and more often we will deep fry the food materials. For example, there is considerable evidence there that seafish is one of the good foods that you can have. But what we practice is we will fry food, seafood, especially we will deep fry it.

[00:12:47] For example, this nettoji, the small fish that we can have in Kerala and it is abundant in Kerala, we usually deep fry it and make it maybe a piece of carbon or something like that. Okay. So that is the kind of cooking practice that we follow. And often we will be having food outside our home and the cooking oil that may be using outside the home may not be properly,

[00:13:16] maybe sometimes repeated cooking, repeated heating, deep frying and all other problems that you can have. And again, we can have some kind of maybe processed food materials there in food materials, especially the Vanaspati kind of oils that contains a lot of trans fat. So whenever we are going out and having food materials from outside our home, it may be unhealthy.

[00:13:43] Or even inside our home, our cooking practice makes it more unhealthy. So one thing, one may be a mantra that we can have. All food materials should be cooked, but it should not be cooked over or it should not be fried, maybe deep fried so that it will become worse. So uncooked food is unhealthy. Similarly, overcooked food is also unhealthy. All right. So now there was this recent campaign which was launched by Prime Minister Modi,

[00:14:13] the campaign against obesity. So like how does a typical Kerala diet impact the public health? And with increasing number of youngsters and sedentary jobs, is obesity and other lifestyle diseases like say diabetes becoming a growing concern? So could you just talk about that? Yeah, definitely. It is a welcoming step that the Prime Minister has initiated a campaign to reduce obesity in the community.

[00:14:39] Because if you look at the nutritional problem in India, we have got maybe a double burden. So a significant proportion of people are suffering from problem with undernutrition. Undernutrition does not mean that not only these people are suffering from weight loss or something like that, but there is something called a hidden hunger. Hidden hunger usually we mention in case of micronutrient deficiencies.

[00:15:04] Because if you, the function of micronutrient is to increase the efficiency of bodily functions, not only body functions, the mental function also. If there is micronutrient deficiencies, the population may not be that much productive. So even students, they may not be able to study well, people who cannot be able to work well, and all other problems are there. A significant proportion of people in our country is suffering from micronutrient deficiencies.

[00:15:33] But outside Kerala, a large amount of, maybe inside Kerala also, especially children, are suffering from even micronutrient deficiencies are also there. So food deficiency is a big issue that we have to take care of. But on the contrary, we are finding problems with the nutrient excess, overnutrition kind of problem. If you just look at the data, you can see that from National Family Health Survey,

[00:16:01] the serial data show that the prevalence of obesity among men and women is more on increasing in India. In that regard, Kerala is leading the show. Kerala may be having the largest or highest proportion of obesity, especially among women. But recent NFHA survey show that men are also suffering from large proportion of obesity.

[00:16:26] And if you look at children, maybe at least 30% of our children are suffering from overnutrition. So overnutrition is a big issue. As you have mentioned, it is a door to many non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks. Some cancers are also linked to overnutrition, especially breast cancer has got a link to obesity. And this is a complex situation. So it is a high time we have to address this nutritional kind of thing.

[00:16:55] So that is in that sense, definitely this campaign is very, very important. Now let's hear from Kerala-based nutritionist, Dr. Mumtaz Khalid Ismail. She is a consultant clinical dietitian at the Rainbow Polyclinic Total Nutrition Plus. Thank you so much for joining us today, Dr. Mumtaz. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to talk on the Kerala sadhya.

[00:17:20] All right. So we just heard from Dr. Anish that the Kerala sadhya in its most common form featuring rice, toran, pachadi, kichdi, paripa, ghee, salt, banana chips, sharkaraparati, pappadam, sambaram, sambar, pulisheri and payasam is not truly a well-balanced meat. So he flagged the lack of micronutrients and the excess of carbs as a few of the reasons why he said this. So do you agree on this as a nutritionist?

[00:17:49] See, I have got some pros and cons for this sadhya. Okay. As you all agree that Kerala sadhya is a vegetarian feast which is deeply rooted in tradition and it features a variety of dishes served on a banana leaf. Okay. The dishes which is included as you said that it include all these pachadi, kichdi and avial, toran and all

[00:18:13] which has got a lot of vegetables in it and then some amount of legumes and dairy also is there. Okay. Pulisheri like sambaram or like some buttermilk which will help in digestion by giving probiotic benefits about it and it is giving micronutrients we get from these vegetables. Okay.

[00:18:38] But as you said that a single meal is a good source of fiber which gives around 53 grams from different vegetables.

[00:19:13] Okay. Okay. So it's energy dense. So and it also has ghee, coconut based preparations, fried items like banana chips, pappadam which is rich in saturated fat and the fat also in that single meal gives approximately 94 grams of fat which is quite high.

[00:19:34] But at the same time the macronutrient protein is not adequate as it gives only 57 grams of protein from the paripu and small amount of the legumes which is there in it. Right. So now that you've decoded the calorie intake and the nutrition for us, could you suggest some modifications which you can make to a Kerala sadhya or a traditional Kerala meal

[00:20:03] so that it is nutritionally better because that is what youngsters are looking for these days to maintain the taste of traditional Kerala cuisine but also have it healthy. So what would be your suggestions be on that regard? Yes. We can easily make it a healthy version. My first thing is the rice. White rice has to be replaced with parboiled long grain rice. Okay.

[00:20:28] Or you can go for little millet or quinoa. I don't think quinoa people will like it but parboiled long grain rice would be a better choice and it gives you many micronutrients are also present in it and it reduces the calories also. We need to enhance the protein. Protein in the milk. So include more of legume dishes to balance the macronutrients.

[00:20:56] So legume dishes like pire, kadala, those things can be included. Some sprouted pire, alti, something like that can be included for the better macronutrients. And reduce the chips, pappadam and snack in limitation. The chips and pappadam and all. Yeah. And sharkaravarti.

[00:21:22] Sharkaravarti also can be avoided in the sadhviya. And cut down on the added sugar and jaggery in the piousam. And reduce piousam to 1 instead of 2 and 3. In some places of Kerala we have boli also is being given along with the piousam. Yeah. So that again will add the calories. The calorie what I said was 1800 is without the boli.

[00:21:51] So if it is boli again the calories will increase. Yeah. Dr. Ranesha had also been particularly upset about the inclusion of boli in the Kerala sadhviya. So and because you know it is nowadays it is made using maida and things like that. So do you agree to that? Yes. Truly. The boli is traditionally it is made with bhangol gram. Right. If it is traditionally made then it is good. At least some amount of protein will get.

[00:22:20] But nowadays people are making it since large amounts are being prepared. They are making with the refined flour and cornstarch also is being used. Okay. By adding some color they are making it the boli taste. Understood. Okay. So now moving on from the Kerala sadhviya. If you are looking at the general Kerala diet. What are the major dietary red flags that you feel is there?

[00:22:43] And what advice would you give Malayalis who want to enjoy Kerala food to maintain a healthy lifestyle and avoid these red flags? Red flags? Yes. First and foremost is we are rice eaters. Okay. So we have to avoid white rice. There is a general belief in Kerala. People believe that white rice is healthy which is wrong. We have to go for matta rice or traditional rice which is parboiled rice. Long grain rice is always.

[00:23:13] Glycemic index is low. Go for that rice rather than going for the white rice. Understood. Okay. Then reduce the coconut and coconut oil preparations because they are rich in saturated fats. So it is better to reduce that in the preparations. I am not saying that to completely avoid coconut oil and coconut preparations. But we can reduce these to reduce a saturated fat content. Okay.

[00:23:40] And we use more pickles also as we use pickles and puppets. They are fried and salt. High amount of salt is present in it. So better to avoid that. And include some salads. Keralites don't have a habit of having raw salads, raw vegetables in the diet. They have a habit of having vegetables but raw vegetables are not included in the Kerala cuisine.

[00:24:04] So always better to include at least in one meal we should include some raw vegetables. Because now the National Institute of Nutrition says that the vegetable intake should go up to 400 grams in a day. So we have to consume so much of vegetables. We need to consume some raw vegetables also to achieve the target. And the lack of protein as I said. So include more of protein. And we are in the coastal belt.

[00:24:33] So Keralites if those who are non-vegetarians go for fish. Because we get good fish. They are good omega 3 fatty acids are also present in it. Instead of fried fish enjoy the grilled and tawa or curry fishes. And at the last I would like to say that be active. Stay active. Maintain an active lifestyle to be healthy. So eat safe and stay healthy. Thank you.

[00:25:01] So thank you so much Dr. Mumtaz for joining us on this podcast. With that we come to an end of today's episode. This is On Manorama's News Break and Explainer podcast which is produced by Harita Benjamin. That's me. It airs every week and is available on all podcast platforms. So do follow OnManorama.com for more such updates. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.