Bear in mind these small discs referred to as ‘tazos’ we discovered inside chips packets within the 2000s?
A part of a worldwide promotional marketing campaign created first by the model Frito-Lay in 1994, they have been such a rage in colleges as effectively. Everybody would focus on, swap, share, gloat concerning the newest Tazos that they had managed to gather with their buddies.
Did you ever consider what number of chips you consumed within the run as much as constructing your Tazo assortment?
“I purchased a number of packets of chips to construct my Tazo assortment as a baby. I’d simply eat just a few chips and provides the remainder of the packet to my dad and mom. This led to them unwittingly consuming a whole lot of junk meals,” Revant Himatsingka, a well being coach and content material creator, remembers in dialog The Higher India.
The sick results of mindlessly consuming extra junk meals have been misplaced on a younger Revant, however as he grew older, he began noticing that one thing was amiss.
“Nearly 60-70% of what we eat is packaged, and what we eat has a direct influence on our well being. After I began studying meals labels, I realised how corporations mislead us utilizing catchy taglines and calling their meals ‘wholesome’. Most packaged meals is mendacity to us. Studying to learn past these taglines was very consequential,” provides the 31-year-old.
In its report ‘The State of the World’s Kids’ launched in 2019, UNICEF highlights a evident downside — too many school-going adolescents are consuming extremely processed meals, and 42% drink carbonated tender drinks a minimum of as soon as a day, whereas 46% eat quick meals a minimum of as soon as every week. “Thousands and thousands of youngsters are consuming too little of what they want, and tens of millions are consuming an excessive amount of of what they don’t want,” reads the report.
Tackling this alarming downside has been a mission for Revant since April 2023, when he started educating lakhs on well being claims made by FMCG corporations on their packaging, and exposing how unhealthy in style meals objects might be.
This endeavour was sparked earlier this yr, when Revant went viral for a video exposing a preferred kids’s drink for its extra sugar content material. Shared extensively throughout social media, the video would additionally end in a authorized discover, attributable to which he needed to take the video down. Regardless, the video made him an in a single day sensation and, subsequently, a well-known title in busting myths surrounding unbacked well being claims.
How wholesome are your favorite meals objects?
Earlier than embarking on this journey, Revant had a comfortable job that paid him crores yearly, he remembers. However the experiences he had had rising up pushed him to stop his job early this yr.
As we focus on this flip of occasions, he recounts an anecdote — his grandparents would all the time begin their day with a steaming cup of chai and two biscuits.
“However nobody thinks concerning the components current in these biscuits, or how a lot sugar or maida they may comprise. Most biscuits available in the market even have palm oil. It’s not the once-in-a-week chocolate that’s making you unhealthy, however truly are the every day biscuits,” he notes.
The cognisance of this undetected evil inspired Revant to pursue a course in diet from the Institute of Integrative Vitamin alongside his administration diploma from the NYU Stern College of Enterprise. “I used to be fixing enterprise issues as a administration guide, [but] I needed to make use of the identical abilities to resolve one of many largest issues in life — well being. The blatant lies utilized by meals corporations of their packaging actually bothers me,” he says.
It was additionally this ardour that led him to create the notorious viral video in April this yr.
“The label on that drink says that you just get stronger bones and muscular tissues. The rationale I selected to make a video on this drink is as a result of individuals really feel that is wholesome. They don’t have any qualms about giving this twice a day to their kids — that’s 14 occasions every week. Folks suppose aerated drinks like coke are unhealthy, which we might have solely as soon as every week. However the former has a direct influence on our well being,” he provides.
On his Instagram @foodpharmer, Revant educates about 500,000 of his followers on how they will make more healthy decisions. These embody movies decoding labels of in style packaged noodles, drinks, biscuits, sauces and extra, in addition to serving to individuals determine which bread is healthier for them, which drink they will select, and so on. He’s additionally selling small companies which might be “comparatively more healthy” than the larger manufacturers. His purpose is to assist individuals select higher, he says.
Bear in mind this subsequent time you’re on the grocery store
Whereas Revant agrees that it’s not doable to reside with out consuming packaged meals, he simply needs individuals to make knowledgeable decisions. “There are two kinds of junk meals — one is junk meals that pretends to be wholesome meals, and the second is simply junk meals. My downside is with the previous, which I wish to expose,” he emphasises.
So how can we make good on a regular basis decisions after we decide our meals? For this, Revant shares six suggestions with us:
- Elements are listed so as of their weight:
“The primary ingredient is the one the packet incorporates probably the most. So in case you’re shopping for biscuits, the primary three components normally shall be maida (refined wheat flour), palm oil and sugar” says Revant.
- Purchase objects which have lower than 5 components:
“Attempt to steer clear of merchandise which have greater than 5 components. Because the ingredient checklist will increase, it’s inversely proportional to the dietary advantages.”
- Keep away from merchandise which have sophisticated components:
“In case you can’t recognise or pronounce components in a product, it’s not good for you. Purchase the product in which you’ll be able to perceive the ingredient, like one thing that claims dates, peanuts, milk, and so on. If one thing has components like maltodextrin, anti-caking agent, technical chemical compounds, steer clear of it,” he provides.
- Purchase objects that don’t checklist sugar within the first 5-6 components:
“Avoid merchandise which have sugar listed first or second. These merchandise are principally simply sugar.”
- Go for the marginally more healthy choices:
“The entire thought is to make more healthy decisions. As an alternative of going for a maida biscuit, go for an atta (entire wheat flour) biscuit.”
- The perfect meals for you is one which doesn’t have a label:
“In the end, the healthiest meals are those with none labels, fruit and veggies. In case you should purchase different merchandise, go for easy merchandise which have components . For instance, in case you’re shopping for peanut butter, go for merchandise which simply have peanuts,” explains Revant.
In his quest to make the subsequent technology more healthy and wiser about their meals decisions, Revant desires of a day when each youngster is taught the best way to learn meals labels. He now goes to colleges and schools to show college students this talent as effectively. Right here, he typically finds that kids ask fascinating and clever questions.
“They query why the entrance of the packets say one thing that the product clearly doesn’t do. They wish to know why their favorite superstar is endorsing a product which is unhealthy. I’m hopeful that it will result in higher decisions,” smiles Revant.
“If kids are taught the best way to learn a meals label and perceive the implications, it should carry a couple of large change. Firms shall be pressured to market themselves actually, and it will change the sport.”
Edited by Padmashree Pande and Divya Sethu
Sources
UNICEF
