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Health benefits of eating traditional snacks

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With the change in time and introduction of new food items, our habit of eating has seen a tremendous change. We have completely ignored our traditional snacks and shifted our interest towards other eatables. It is really sad that today’s generation has failed to understand the importance of consuming traditional snacks. We no longer see kids getting excited about the laddus made by their grandmothers. Instead, they would love to have French fries and burger from outside. In this context, we have taken a small effort to rejuvenate the trend of traditional snacks. It is high time we should bring back the essence of our tradition in snack ideas.

 

What is exactly a traditional snack?

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The staple food is the best concept to understand the importance of traditional snack. The staple is the common food which is consumed by people of a particular area. It is based on the climatic condition and soil of that respective area. Have you ever wondered why Chhole Bhature is concerned with Punjab and Pav Bhaaji with Maharashtra? Give it a thought!

Similarly, traditional snacks are concerned with people of different culture and belonging to different parts of our country. It has more or less, staple ingredients in them with more taste and health benefits. It is obvious traditional snack will improve your health and turn you into a more productive individual.

Why should traditional snacks be preferred?

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There are many amazing benefits of consuming traditional as well as healthy snacks. One should not limit their choices to certain brand names and preference of taste buds. It is always good to explore traditional snack recipes. It may not be as delicious or cheesy as other snacks but will satisfy you in terms of health. Let us jump into the benefits of the same!

Doesn’t make you fat

The best part about consuming traditional snack is that it does not add much fat to your diet. When you closely take a look at the entire range of Indian snacks, you will see nutrition value in each of them. Our ancestors accordingly prepared these snacks by keeping health benefits in mind.

Better nutrition in less effort

Traditional snacks are extremely easy to make and will help you cope up with the energy loss in the body. It is made up of healthy ingredients which contribute significantly in boosting up your energy. It has balanced amount of carbohydrate, protein, fibre, and fat.

Too light to make you feel heavy

Usually, we sense a feeling of heaviness in our stomach after consuming the ready-to-eat snacks in a packaged form. This will not be the case when you have your traditional snacks. It will keep you light and will be easily digestible for your stomach because of its balanced nutrition value.

Preserves your mental health

We already mentioned that canned snacks are likely to make you lethargic. It may not be wise for students and young working professionals to consume such snacks. It will reduce your focus and you will start feeling drowsy after few hours of consuming it.

Long lasting and portable

Have you ever noticed the viability of Indian snacks? Let us particularly focus on south Indian snacks. Buy crunchy murukkus and you can travel the entire nation without missing burger and pasta. Traditional snacks are really long lasting. They do not easily get affected by fungus and microbes if cooked properly.

Myths and facts about snacking

There are several rumoured facts that we come across about snacks available to us. Is it necessary to believe or do research about each one of them? Certainly not! If you want to believe anything, just remember that “it’s all in mind.” Believe this fact and you will never complain about negative effects of snacking.

It is clinically proven that if you take appropriate snacks in subsequent quantities then you are likely to gain 72% less weight. One must know the technique of combining yum with healthy ingredients. If you love cheese, you can consume it along with a salad. This will help you in compensating the fat, vitamins, fibre, and carbohydrates.

Similarly, one must eat the traditional snack when hungry after breakfast or before dinner. It will prevent accumulation of abdominal fat. We have been repeating the fact that traditional Indian snacks are made from the staple raw ingredients. Hence, it will hardly add extra calories to your body.

Who said reducing the portion of your meal will flatten the curves of your body? It is all about balancing your calories and maintaining the nutrition value. There are people who consume two meals and feel lethargic. But, there are also people who consume three meals and three snacks and still manage to maintain their flat tummy. The mantra is to increase the frequency of intake and work enough to balance the calories.

Properties of an ideal traditional snack

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How can we not let our readers know this important part about snacks? One must know the food they eat and only then it will be possible to balance the nutrients in your body.

  • It should be lighter than your regular meal.
  • It should not make you feel drowsy, lethargic, or heavy.
  • Consuming 3 ounces of traditional snack should comfort your feeling of hunger.
  • One should be able to prepare it with limited ingredients in less time also.
  • It should remain safe from getting rotted for at least a week.

 

Hence, after analyzing the importance of traditional snacks, it is our duty to aware other people, especially youngsters, regarding this. For a healthy and productive living, one should take good care of eating habits. We are living in an era of modernization and food items are available in tetra packs, tin cans, etc. But is it really safe for your health? Are you doing justice to your body by relying on such stuff? Think about it and your conscience will prick you. Traditional snack is one of the most sustainable food items that will not only satisfy your hunger but will also nourish your body. Adopt this healthy habit from now and we wish you happy snacking!

External References

 

Traditional Indian Snacks with health benefits

http://www.snacknation.com/blog/healthy-snack-delivery-service-benefits/