Millets are the new age forgotten foods. Our diet determines the kind of food we grow and its prospects after it enters our system.The food that we grow has a great impact on nature and the ecosystem.
Every other person’s staple diet is either rice or wheat which have resulted in several problems affecting our physical health system.
Sustainable diet involves the production , consumption of Nutritional and Energy efficient foods. Getting people to change their food habits is not easy and much more difficult than changing farming and farming patterns.
In this context, millets which are far more sustainable and are wonder foods took a back seat after the green revolution when rice and wheat have dominated our systems.
Millets are high fiber, and high mineral grains.Human body requires sufficient quantity of water to digest these millets.
For generations we Indians have been consuming millets. Till date people in Karnataka eat Finger millets which is also known as Ragi. They make delicious Ragi mudde which replaces rice in lunch and dinner. Ragi has the highest amount of calcium when compared to any other millets. People in Maharashtra eat Sorghum which is also known as Jowar and Pearl millet which is also known as Bajra. Both Jowar and Bajra are rich in proteins when compared with rice
So,millets are not something new to our culture,it is a forgotten or a disappeared food which has taken a front seat now with the increase in the number of diseases. These forgotten foods are bringing changes in our lives and lifestyle.
Different types of millets and their nutritional comparison with rice,
| MILLETS | PROTEINS | CARBOHYDRATES | FIBER |
| Foxtail millets | 12.3 | 60.2 | 31 |
| Little Millets | 7.7 | 67 | 17 |
| Barnyard Millets | 6.2 | 65.5 | 22 |
| Kodo Millets | 8.3 | 65.9 | 35 |
| Finger millets | 7.3 | 72 | 344 |
| Sorghum | 10.4 | 70.7 | 25 |
| Pearl millet | 11.8 | 67 | 24 |
| Rice | 6.8 | 78.2 |
Enjoy millets for a healthier and a disease free lifestyle,
By: Sailaja Nukala
sailaja@indicliving.com