HEALTH/MONSOON SPECIAL..Say no to leafy veggies, fish, pani puri

Say no to leafy veggies, fish, pani puri

Experts say one should avoid certain food items during monsoon as it may cause severe health problems

Sitting near your window, enjoying heavy rainfall with a hot cup of coffee and some onion pakodas! Sounds amazing? Apart from giving relieve from the intense heat of the summer season, monsoon brings some health risks as well. Think how healthy and hygienic are the pakodas or any kind of oily food during  

 monsoon? 

Here’s a checklist on the number of things one should avoid during this season.

The moment you see leafy vegetables, call for an SOS! The leafy vegetables contain germs, so avoid having them during monsoon. Dr Preeti Devadiga, a nutritionist from Kalamboli, says, “Leafy vegetables are healthy all throughout the year, but not during the rainy season. The reason being, these vegetables are plucked right from the soil, hence most them are sold with their roots intact (Methi, Chowli, Lal Math and others). The soil sticks to its stems and need to be washed carefully. However, during the rainy season, it’s not the dry soil, but the mud that sticks to the stems and leaves. This soil contains pesticides and insecticides and is harmful for your stomach and skin.” Opt for vegetables like pumpkin, tomatoes, cabbage, ladies finger and more, which come without stem or root.
While, there are some who advise to stay away from vegetables that grow under the ground. “There are a lot of people who complain of skin and throat allergies as well as stomach infections, after eating vegetables like elephant’s foot (suran), arbi, carrots or beetroot during monsoon. The soil stuck on these vegetables causes irritation on the tongue, throat and skin, which leads to allergies,” said, Dr Saguna Vishwakarma, a dietician from Nerul.
After vegetables, fishes are the next harmful things to be consumed during this season. “I have suffered from stomach problems due to eating fish during the rains and so I never eat fish for these four months. Due to the tides most of the good fishes swim into deep seas. Hence, it’s difficult to find good fishes during monsoon. Fishes that are available close to the shore are sold in the markets. Fishes consume dirt from the sewage, oil, pesticides, and several other harmful things and this leads to severe health problems,” said Ashok Khandekar, an environmentalist from Belapur.
And, of course, the same thing that most of our moms keep saying, ‘Don’t eat the roadside pani puri’. The roadside food becomes highly toxic during monsoon and increases the risk of water-borne diseases for us. “Water is something that one needs to be careful about. Drinking open water at random eateries will spoil your health. One should carry a bottle of boiled or purified water along all the time. This helps in keeping a lot of ailments away from the body,” said Chaitanya Sonejee, from Shinjari Ayurvedic Trust and Clinic, Panvel. 

Srishti Shinde  Vashi DNANM120613