Yellow Dal: A Bowl For A Happy Bowel

India is the land of many.

If you think that sentence is incomplete, think again. India is the land of many things and possibilities. Right from the regions, religions and languages, India does have immense variety that has a profound impact on your lifestyle, too. That leads you to have many beliefs, superstitions and many, many myths, too!

You understand where we are getting at, right? India is a land of many myths, especially surrounding food and health. Now, the connection is obvious, isn’t it? Food and nutrition play a big role in your health and one thing amiss can lead to the whole cycle collapsing, which, by the way, is a very common occurrence, especially in this age and time.

Myths Galore!

While many of you leave no stone unturned to research the living daylights out of a topic, yet, many diet myths continue to plague your thoughts and consequently, your health. For example, many of you might have the temptation to take a fistful of raw rice in the supermarkets and chew on while trying to find what you were looking for. This is only met by angry looks from your mother/anyone else older to you, because apparently, chewing raw rice is said to be harmful. Many mothers claim that it soaks your blood!

Now, eating raw rice is certainly harmful as it can lead to a host of health issues, most significant one of them being stomach ache. The reason why we brought this up here is because even though this dietary habit is harmful, yet, linking it to something like a headache might be very untrue and very misleading.

Even though many of these myths might be harmless, yet, some myths that our patients share with us just leave us a bit lost for words.

One of our patients had an interesting observation, or myth, if we may say. He complained that he had been suffering from severe constipation and he claimed to have diagnosed it along with the trigger, too. While we were thinking of our role here, what he said next was amusing to say the least. His diagnosis was chronic constipation and the trigger, according to him, was yellow dal!

Oh my!

Myth or fact?

Indian traditional diet is meant to serve the purpose of giving nutrition, but in a way that it doesn’t harm your gastro-intestinal system. Elements like curd, buttermilk and ghee are a great source of nutrition that help digestion and excretion.

Dals, or lentils, of any variety are abundant in protein, which is essential for your health. Apart from that, however, yellow dal contains magnesium, which aids the expulsion of waste material from your body.

Yellow dal is a pretty common item on the menu of every household. One of the reasons why yellow dal is quite popular is because it’s also rich in fibre, known for its natural qualities in being a friend of the bowel movements, making the process smoother and regular.

Yellow dal also has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, which means if you have an irritated bowel, steering clear of all the junk and consuming the comfort food of ghar ka dalwill help deal with the situation and will diffuse the constipation-like situation threatening you. Then again, it also helps fight acidity and other digestive issues, which makes for a happy GI tract!

Let The Best Bust The Myths!

The whole yellow dal myth is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many myths surrounding food and health that can cause serious threats to your health if you believe them blindly. If you are suffering from difficulty in passing stool or any problem in that area, it’s best you get professional help rather than follow what you know.

At SMILES, we are committed to ‘making your other end smile’! This means, any issue you have, you can schedule an appointment and share your doubts with our doctors. We promise to hear you out, no matter what your questions are. So, bring out those myths and let’s bust them together!