Kolkata: An outreach campaign for healthy living — Say no to junk food — rolled out at Sreebhumi Sporting Club on Thursday evening to encourage people to choose a healthy diet — like what is offered to Goddess Durga in the form of bhog — as part of their daily life. With many people eating out during pandal-hopping, the campaign focused on the need to choose healthy dishes comprising ample vegetables and cereals and less oil and spice.The campaign named ‘Matribhog’ has been undertaken by social organisation ‘Resurrection’, which had till last year conducted cancer screening camps at different puja pandals.“We will conduct cancer screening later. An awareness drive on healthy food habits is need of the hour, especially for children who are mostly found shying away from traditional food. That is why we decided to make an outreach campaign on this issue with the help of puja organisers. We are also making people aware of healthy puja diets,” said Biswajit Sarkar, an executive committee member of the organisation.Under the new initiative, the members of the organisation decided to reach out to different pujas across the city to educate people, especially children, about the adverse effects of junk food. The drive that started with Sreebhumi will cover about 12 pujas across the city, including Chetla Agrani, Tridhara Sammilani, Jodhpur Park 95 Palli, Jadavpur Sree Colony, Kumortuli Park Sarbojonin, Shyam Park and Naba Bagh bazaar among others.Krishna Kumar Roy, an onco-surgeon who was part of the campaign, turned the spotlight on the risks of cancer associated with junk food. “Matribhog is pure as it contains rice, pulses, cereals and various other natural ingredients. So, the idea is to make people understand the importance of eating pure food to stay healthy,” said Roy.Dieticians also flagged concerns over unhealthy food habits, pointing out that gastro departments of hospitals teem with patients after puja. “This is because of wrong choice of food. We always advise patients to avoid having fried or junk food and carry dry fruits while pandal-hopping,” said Sudeshna Mitra Nag, chief dietitian of a private hospital.During Puja, people often stay awake late into the night and tend to eat at unusual hours. Combined with excessive consumption of oily and spicy food, this can trigger acidity, bloating, indigestion and gastritis, according to Agnimitra Mukherjee, a consultant dietitian of a private healthcare facility.
