Why Millets Should Be A Part Of Our Daily Diet

Modern medicine is focused on creating healthcare and sick care systems by naming diseases, categorising them and then finding ways to cure them. On the other hand, functional medicine is about avoiding diseases and sufferings in the first place by fueling our bodies with what it needs. One of the best steps we can take toward overall health is understanding that everything we do with our bodies is connected to everything else in our life. “Change food and change your life” should be the motto.

Let’s face it - today’s industrial food culture is one of the important reasons for the present-day problems that our globe is facing for the last three-four decades. Whatever food grains our ancestors used have become a rarity and the present generation is unaware of them. If anyone asks what are the most common foods used today, they will say rice, wheat, milk, eggs and meat. Influenced by western culture and education, our food habits have undergone such a drastic change that almost all the healthy staple food grains and cooking methods have become extinct. It is only the human beings who drifted away from their natural path and so they alone are responsible for the current deplorable state of mother earth. It is, therefore, our responsibility to clean up the mess and initiate the rejuvenation process. The natural rejuvenation process of universal wellness will correct all the imbalances in the human body and bring about universal balance. Thereby, to achieve the same, we have to understand the importance of the food consumed by our ancestors - the millets.

Our digestive system is designed to assimilate food derived only from the plant kingdom or plant-based sources. We need to grow and consume only those grains, vegetables and fruits, the cultivation of which doesn't cause any ecological imbalance.

Suggested Reading: Mediterranean Vs Nordic Diet: Which Has More Health Benefits?

Millets in diet: Five Benefits

For this, five positive millets- Kodo, Foxtail, Little, Browntop and Barnyard should be taken as the staple grains by the whole of mankind. These grains help us overcome glucose imbalance, microbial imbalance in the gut and hormonal imbalance in our body. These grains are, and should be, the food of the entire human race. To understand that, we should first know the properties of these positive millets.

1. There should be a slow release of glucose into the blood. Sudden spurt or spike of glucose into the blood is the primary cause for most diseases. Thus, these 5 positive millets ensure gradual and slow release of glucose in the blood due to its single digit carbohydrate/fibre ratio.

2. Consumption of positive millets helps in keeping hunger pangs at bay for at least five-six hours.

3. These positive grains are endowed with most of the micro and macro nutrients needed for the sound functioning of our body. Even if we don't consume vegetables for a few days, these millets can take care of our basic nutritional needs.

4. These millets are rich in soluble as well as insoluble fibres which help to flush out wastes and toxins from our body apart from providing taste and ">nutrition.

5. Restoration and maintenance of health is a unique function of these millets, which no other grain can compete with. In addition to all the above mentioned attributes, these grains are laden with a fibre called Lignan that acts as antioxidant and has the ability to eliminate cancer causing conditions in the human body. The beneficial gut microbiome acts on Lignans, making them bioavailable and helping us derive the health benefits. These millets help in curing dreadful diseases, inherited-health conditions and unfathomable diseases, because of their ability to regenerate healthy tissues.

The right kind of food is the one which is rightly grown, rightly prepared and rightly eaten.

Rekha Raheja is a food choreographer and culinary medicine consultant. She provides food and lifestyle-related advice based on Ayurveda and Siridhanya principles. For the last four years, she has been practicing millet therapy and has refined and curated a lot of dishes from millets to make them more popular. She has been felicitated by FDA for her valuable contribution to the Eat Right India movement, organised by FSSAI. Views expressed are the author's own.