Why Indians Can’t Diet?

Diet and Indians are two terms that hardly ever go hand in hand. Whenever India comes to mind, naturally, it is food that pops up first. But why is it so? Why is it that Indian’s can’t resist food?

Eat Well is our Mantra

It is so because, since times immemorial, Indians are taught to lie by the golden rule ‘eat well’. It is thus not in their blood to compromise their love for food to stay thin or lead a healthy lifestyle. It is like asking a non-vegetarian person not to eat chicken. In other words, it goes against their philosophy.

Indians are happy with their current weight

As revealed by Global Market Research Firm, IPSOS, out of the entire Indian population:

• 33% of them consider being thin holds much more importance than so-called eating well.
  
• Majority of the people, 74% to be precise, said that they were happy with their current weight. Diet is not their cup of tea.
  
• When they talked about exercise, 67% of the people claimed that they exercise so that they don’t have to watch what they eat.
  

Indians love to eat restaurant food at home

As Indians, we prefer to eat at home, most of the time, but never mention whether it is a home-cooked meal or an online ordered packet. With so many ‘Eat-out or home-delivery apps’ in the market, we prefer restaurant delivered food, eating at home.


The definition of healthy food needs to be modified

Eating well might be a mantra for Indians; however, the type of food that we consume daily can hardly be considered as healthy. According to the National Family Health Survey, “Half the population (of India) consumes an unbalanced diet.” If you’re the one who loves to eat ‘Poori & Sabzi with a bowl of fresh fruit’ and call it a healthy meal, you know what we are talking about.


It has been over a decade, but India’s food patterns haven’t changed a bit. They are still fixed on thinking that ‘eating well’ is the only way of living a good life. Will it ever change? Only time can tell whether it’ll be ‘Live for Eat’ or ‘Eat to live’.