Bunk the junk

This particularly unhealthy trend of eating anything and everything is something that is rising quickly among the youngsters. While students and youngsters attribute the same to the fact that they are either overworked or overstressed parents feel that the fast exposure of youngsters to lifestyles that are fast paced is the root cause. Whatever may be the reasons the fact of the matter rests on the point that unhealthy eating is penetrating quickly and deeply into the urban populace.

Jennifer Batcha a fourth year law student puts it in simple terms. “The average youngster today undergoes a lot more stress than his or her parents owing to the high level of competition. To beat this we tend to eat on the run. The most convenient way to do so is either grab a couple of sandwiches or burgers from a take away joint,or eat processed foods like chips and drink sodas,” she says

However youngsters staying away from families attribute bad eating to the dreary mess food. Jesal Shah another law student points out,“ For those of us who live away from home,even a humble Wada Pav makes for a tremendous change from the mess food. Dishes like dosas,uthappas,rolls,and even pastries make for quick eating and also taste better.”

The bad food habits however do not come without a cost as second year commerce student Vivek Kaul feels,“Two years of constant eating out,parties,and drinking soft drinks on a daily basis did a lot of damage to my health. Right from giving me periodic bouts of painful stomach ulcers,I even had to undergo a root canal treatment for three of my teeth due to the erosion of the enamel. Its really not worth abusing your system by eating junk food,I feel.” “Especially after learning it the hard way,” he adds as an after thought.

So what really makes the wheels for the burger machine,and the French fries,and soft drinks turn? It is a question to which answers lie deep within the psyche of the modern day youngster and the excess speed of their daily lives.

As per Namrata Desai,a dietician,apart from stress caused due to syllabus exams,submissions and other factors,youngsters also dealwith peer pressure. “It’s quite natural to get carried away,when their friends plan to grab a bite at a food stall,” says she.

Desai feels that instead of stopping the children from having junk food, parents should encourage also healthy eating by giving them packed home-cooked food and fruits while they leave the house. “They should also be motivated to exercise,” says Desai.

There however are youngsters who learn from the experience of those who belong to the ‘Tsardom of Fools’. For 18-year-old Ronak Iyer,seeing his own brother struggle with problems of digestion and subsequent operations due to his sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle has more than galvanised him into action. “Seeing my brother struggle in the hospital,the trauma that our folks and relatives went through just made me realise that it really isn’t worth ruining the working of one’s body and health. Eating out once in a while is fine. Its only when it becomes a habit that problems arise,” he adds with a touch of wisdom. Sin.