NewsX recenty held a special telecast on Holistic Wellness Week 2.0- Food & Nutrition, in association with US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and poultry protein. The discussion revolved around some very important and relevant topics such as healthy protein rich diet and importance of nutrition in daily life, in the light of the existing health crisis. A Group of special people joined the session to lend valuable insights into what should be eaten and what should be avoided in the pandemic times.
The panel of speakers included Chef Aditi Madan, Chef Ajay Chopra, wellness expert Mitushi Ajmera, food influencer Yashvi Agarwal and actor Himani Shivpuri. The session was aimed at understanding the importance of poultry protein, healthy eating and nutrition in daily life. It shed light on how much protein needs to be incorporated in diet, various protein sources like poultry, egg, fish, etc. and different approaches and ways of incorporating protein in diet.
Chef Ajay commenced by talking about importance of nutrition in these times of pandemic, “Food has always been considered as a source of wellness. In our busy life, we have started taking food just as a value to fill our stomach. We give little attention to nutrition but pandemic time has pushed us to think more about the wholeness, wellness and nutrition which comes along the kind of food we intake. It is important to understand that whatever we intake should help our body and not just satisfy our taste buds.”
Commenting on how pandemic has changed the way people see health now and have become more health conscious, Aditi said, “Covid is affecting the immunity hence immunity building food has become a trend setter and latest healthy diet approach. Now people are more aware about healthy foods and corporate marketing has also been on similar lines.”
Himani speaking on immunity as buzz word in the pandemic said, “I think immunity building is the factor of the food. The only way to survive in this pandemic is to build our immunity by exercising and in taking healthy food. Protein has to be part of diet.”
Protein, poultry and eggs are building blocks of not only muscles but whole body. But many are unaware about this. Mitushi talking on how to bring about awareness on this expressed, “Talking more about it and telling that protein is required for every cell building in body. Every person contacted with Covid experiences a great muscle loss, which tells us how important muscles are and sadly they can be built only by proteins. I recommend poultry more than vegetarian protein is because of its higher biological value. Biological value means how much of protein you have taken is absorbed by your body for biological protein functions.”
When asked about how do we incorporate poultry into our regular diet system Yashvi said, “From all my readings, I got to know that around protein grams that should same as your weight in kilograms to be incorporated in diet for faster covid recovery. 1/4th of our meal should be protein. Chicken, tofu and sprouts are good sources of protein.”
Chef Ajay added that it is proven that children, athletes and people who are fed more proteins have both dense muscles and bones, thus protein rich diet is a more holistic approach. Aditi shared some tips on how to incorporate more poultry into children’s diet.”Parents should first identify and choose protein rich diet. I would suggest children to eat more fish, lentils, cheese, etc.” Himani told her favorite poultry dish to audience “I love chicken biryani and fry chicken.”
Vidushi spoke more on fitness goals in kitchen, she said “We need to see individual protein requirements. I would say exercising is must but certainly what you eat makes a difference. It is a combination of both proper diet and regular exercise that makes a person fit.” Last reaction was taken from Yashvi on consuming trends about poultry and protein. She said “I have personally increased my protein intake. Being active on Social media, I have observed that over last few months people have started posting more of easy recipes to prepare protein rich hummus.”
