The three white poisons

We all have heard of the three witches of ‘Macbeth’, the three aspects of godhead, ‘trimurti’, Bramha, Vishnu, Maheshvara, three doshas of ayurveda- vata, pita and kapha. But what are these three white poisons? According to Naturopathy, the three white poisons are- white flour (maida), sugar and salt. The three culprits cause so many health problems of which we are clueless.

And isn’t it a disturbing or rather alarming thing as we all have these three items in our kitchen shelves, laying there innocuously and almost inevitably. These three forms a part and parcel of most of our cuisine and it seems as though we cannot do without them. Here, I am reminded of an incident which made me realize how many wrong choices we make every day and the ubiquity of ‘the three white poisons’. I had gone to see my brother who stays in Bangalore with a friend. As we went for some grocery shopping, I saw his friend put a packet of white flour into the shopping cart. I could not help it. I had to tell them. I told it is not good for health and it will cause Diabetes Mellitus if you eat it frequently. The awareness about diet and health is so less in the common man and the ‘un-vulnerability’ feeling of youth got the better of him. He had to take the flour. In spite of my warning him, he has to take it. ‘Rotis are softer, you know, when you use white flour’ he retorted. And into the cart went a packet of biscuits, bread, cup cakes, Maggi, Yipee noodles, a bottle of jam, butter, to my utter dismay. The three white poisons staring at me and as though sneering at my futile efforts to fight them.  

You may now be curious why I called them ‘poison’, and here is the explanation. 

White flour or maida is the refined form of wheat. To improve the shelf life of white flour, the whole wheat is processed to remove its kernel and bran. This produces a white powder devoid of the natural oils, Vitamins and dietary fibre.

In processed white flour chemical substances like alloxan is added to make it soft and white. And alloxan is a chemical used in pharmaceutical experiments to induce diabetes in lab rats as it destroys beta cells of the islets of Langerhans. One can gauge the seriousness of the problem if he knew of the complications of diabetes, which ranges from numbness in hands and feet, blindness, gangrene in the foot, kidney failure to list a few. Also, refined carbohydrate can be easily over consumed leading to excess of calorie intake, a risk factor for obesity.  So, isn’t it poison that we are consuming so happily. One can list out the health problems that obesity can lead to but that would be never ending.

Why berate the poor bottle of sugar now? Again, sugar is consumed without any hesitation and with utmost relish in most homes. We have so frequently heard of the phrase ‘you know, I have a sweet tooth, can you please give me an extra sweet? Or I have diabetes, but I’ll have just one sweet before my wife sees’. The average person consumes about 24 kg of sugar every year. Sugar is made by refining sugarcane syrup or beet root syrup by diffusion, treatment with milk of lime, evaporated and crystallised. The most common form would be sucrose crystals. Other forms are liquid sugar, treacles, sugar alcohols, brown or unrefined sugar.  In the form of sweeteners, it is maltodextrin. Sugar is refined form being processed from the beet root or sugarcane stem to the sparkling white crystals. It is now devoid of any goodness a natural food could provide. And to add to that, sugar is hypothesized to cause diseases like obesity, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, tooth decay, and even Alzheimer’s disease. So, beware of the spoonfuls of white poison you add for your tea or the sweet meat you eat with so much pleasure.

Now, the third item in the trio- salt. Oh yes, the ubiquitous bottle of white powder on the dining table. In most dining places, it is considered not ‘up to the mark’, if the waiter fails to provide salt and pepper powder on the table. Salt, speaking of its importance, one is reminded of Birbal’s story when he answers ‘salt’ to Akbar’s question as to what is important and he proves his point by feeding his royal guest with a feast devoid of salt. And it is indeed true, salt adds to the flavour of things like nothing else. But do we know what havoc it wreaks inside your body when it is consumed. I suppose not. Salt or sodium chloride is considered inevitable whenever we cook anything. It is proven by research that overconsumption of salt can lead to diseases like hypertension, stroke and may increase the risk of heart attack. The body requires 2000mg of sodium chloride per day for its normal functioning. But we need not consume it separately as this much amount of sodium and chloride is available in the foodstuff that we consume daily. Also, preserved foods like pickles, butter, bread, and canned food all contain extra sodium chloride to prolong the shelf life of the products.  

Yes I agree life should be lived to the fullest with zest and not in fear of an impending doom. But what I want to emphasize here is ‘if you lose money, you lose nothing; if you lose health, you lose something; if you lose character, and you lose everything’. By being reckless in our eating habits, one has very high chances of acquiring diseases and with ailments; life is not so enjoyable anymore. The solution to the issue at hand is moderation and substitution. If we know that these three substances cause so many problems, should we continue being slaves to our tongue and bring on the problems upon ourselves. Wisdom lies in healthy choices. White flour can be substituted by whole wheat or brown rice. Sugar can be substituted by honey or jaggery. Salt can be consumed less.

Brahma astra against the three white poisons:

·         Use ragi (finger millet) powder or whole wheat instead of white flour.

·         Use honey or jaggery instead of sugar.

·         Decrease salt in food preparation and do not keep the salt bottle on the dining table.

·         Avoid bakery items like- bread, biscuits, cakes, muffins.

·         Avoid packaged noodles, soup powders, fruits juices.

·         Avoid pickles, ready to eat preparations, canned fruits and vegetables.

·         Avoid chips and snacks available in stores.

·         Prepare snacks at home and eat more of veggies and fruits.

·         And drink 3-4 litres of water a day.

Conserve your life energy, eat healthy and be healthy. Enjoy life the natural way.

Sarve bhavantu sukhinah (may all be blessed)

Love and regards,

Roshni