That’s right the infamous Punjabi tidd (belly)! The refinery, filtration system, waste deposal unit and pride of many Singhs.
Why is that it is a common site that we see older males from about 35 plus with over developed tidd’s? I mean we are supposed to be quite healthy having mainly a vegetarian diet which should be low in saturated fats. How wrong we are.
- 25 percent of heart attacks in indian males are below the age of 25
- being an indian puts indians at a higher risk
- BHF statistics show that the death rate from coronary heart disease is 46% higher in South Asian men than the UK population as a whole, for women it is 51% higher.
Lets look at a typical punjabi dinner:
3 rotis with butter
1 daal cooked with ghee
1 veg cooked with ghee
Raita or dhai
Pickle in oil
2/3 Gulab jamans
get rid of the desert, butter and ghee and we have quite a nutritious meal, but how many Punjabis will ever eat the above meal with out it? very few I think.
Lets explore, where did it all start…..
….Once upon a time in a small village in the north of India there were two neighbours, one was a builder the other was a farmer, every morning both the builder and the farmers wives got up before dawn to start a fire for the cooking of their husbands breakfast and fetch water from the well. The husbands got up soon after and went to the river for the morning bath.
After doing there paat (these were good Mr Singh’s) they had their breakfast of Parotas and yogurt with fresh makhani (fresh butter) washed down with a glass of butter milk. The two neighbours then walked together to work. For the farmer work consisted of ploughing the fields manually, sowing seeds manually and looking after the young crop. For the builder work consisted of chopping and shaping wood, creating structures out of clay and brick and general hard grafting.
While this was going on the women were tending to their flock of children, as Punjabi males are quite virile, and also preparing the lunch for their husbands which consisted of saron da saag and maki do roti (spinach with corn flour roti’s).
At half way during the day the wife of the farmer and the wife of the builder would carry the bundles of food on their heads to where the husbands worked. The husbands would eat their fill and wash it down with some butter milk and continue with the days work as the wives returned to home to prepare the next meal. Which consisted of the seasonal vegetable curry and rotis with kheer (rice pudding) all served up with ghee and some hot butter milk.
This was the routine everyday, long hours of physical work which was made possible because of the wives commitment to their husbands and the preparation of high energy foods….
So what seems to have happened is that our method of earning a $ has changed but our food tastes and foods haven’t changed to reflect our lifestyles. Now the farmer’s great grand son works for an IT firm in the US of A and the great grand son of the builder is an accountant in Canada. But the genetic taste is still there for high energy foods which contain lots of fat or sugar or a combination of both.
So what’s happening?
Well the visuals are obvious, the big fat tidd amongst other things. But the real damage is going on in the inside. Indians have the highest risk of heart disease then any other group, we are prone to diabetes, blood pressure, dysfunction of the liver and all sort.
On paper we should be the fittest of all races, with a vegetarian lifestyle, our heritage with yoga, our disregard for opulence. But in reality we are slowly killing our selves. Some of it is hereditary, genetic, we have a tendency to coat our arteries with cholesterol with great efficiency.
So how do I know if I am at risk?
There are some signs… you see your hand, is it brown? Yes? You are at risk. While standing, you can’t see your feet as you look down because of your protruding belly? You are at risk.
There are official guidelines, if you as an Asian male measure the largest part of waist and its over 35 inches and you are older then 25 you have an increased risk of becoming diabetic. You are also at greater risk of having heart related problems later in life. For women this figure is 31 inches around the widest part.
What to do?
Oh my god im going to die!! If that’s what you are thinking then good, yes we all go one day but do you want to go while you still have lots to achieve, see and do lying on a hospital bed because you basically killed yourself due to your love of tasty food??
Get active, do something everyday and enjoy it, 30 minutes of moderate exercise is all it takes. It might be hard to go all out in one go but introduce exercise into your daily routine, It could be a brisk walk, swimming, weights, cycling, playing football etc. There are so many things you can do that are fun but are really exercise, for example the Nintendo wii, which has games like tennis which will get you up and active.
Once you start seeing the weight come off you will be more inclined to do more and want to push harder and become fitter, maybe challenge yourself to do a marathon or two?!
Revolutionise the food we eat.
If you cook for yourself, look at what you are eating cut off the bad things like sugar, fat and salt and boost your protein and fibre. Control your carbohydrate intake too as carbs are high in calories, more then protein but fill you up less so weight for weight you will eat more carbs then you would protein.
Stop deep frying your food, bake or boil where possible, samosa’s can be baked. Did you know that, light spray of 1 Cal oil and that’s it bake away, you get the taste with out the impending death.
Over all be conscious about what you eat, you are what you eat as they say and it’s very true.
Guradwara’s and langar.
Guru ka langar (free kitchen) has been an ingenious conception started by Guru Nanak Devji and integrated as part of the Gurdwara tradition by Guru Amar Dasji the third guru.
These days you can go into most gurdwaras in England and have a fantastic vegetarian meal at almost any time of the day which will better any Indian restaurant. You get a daal or two, a few subji’s, rotis or paronta in the morning and a desert, Great.
But we need to start incorporating healthy options into Langar and reduce the ghee, fats and oils used so that out community become healthy. If you have influence or can speak to people who will listen then make suggestions. If you have already implemented or know gurdwaras that are doing this let us know.
We have plenty Guradwaras who have parotas in the morning, pakora on the afternoon, chips for kids days, jelebies and ladoos for special occasions. Let is try and make this the exception not the norm. its not the gurdwaras fault, this is what the ladies doing sewa know how to make and this is what the sangat want.
A small investment of time and some thought over what we are putting into out own and children’s bodies and we can be fitter and active for longer.
So lets stop our taste buds killing us and make the effort to get fit.
I'm off all this talk of food is making me hungry!
More info here:http://heartsmart.info/indiawest2006.pdfhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/842764.stmhttp://www.tlca.com/adults/heart.htmlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/328796.stmhttp://www.bhf.org.uk/
Bhai Khanaya Singh giving water to a moghul soldier, an example of selfless service. 
