Friday, October 24, 2008

How easy is it to eat healthy?

India has become a dumping ground for Genetically Modified foods, MSG loaded foods and our government is doing nothing to stop it. They are increasing the use of pesticides too. In the midst of all this how is one to eat nutritious food? Slowly people have started saying NO to such food and organic food has come into existence. This I think is a real joke, because in our villages, people eat organic, their foods are not loaded with pesticides nor are they GM enhanced foods. And the less said about the MSG loaded instant foods the better. Our government does not think it necessary to ban MSG while most countries have recognized its harmful effects and have done so. And since most of us do not have access to organic foods, we have to make do with what we have certain precautions and care in washing, cooking and storing goes a long way.

What started out as an answer to suki's question and has turned into a full fledged post. Had been meaning to do this for a very long time, just never got around to it.All these tips and remedies are from Uncle Jag who runs the Jag therapy clinic in Mysore, we follow this at home all the time, irrespective of organic or not. We play safe.

Washing:

Soak all veges and fruits in salt water for min 30 min. drain and wash with running water and leave them to dry. Soak the greens too, clean thoroughly and leave them to dry.

Soak ginger in water for 30 min in water, then wash it with a toothbrush under running water. Having ginger with skin is more beneficial than without skin.

Carrots, potato, sweet potato etc...all the vegetables that can be had with skin, soak and clean under running water with a brush( can use a discarded cloth brush or a soft brush) Be careful that you do not scrape the skin, only clean the mud out. It is healthier to eat vegetables with skin. And this process is good for those who like to eat raw veg and salads.

According to Uncle Jag, if the greens have a lot of insect bites in them, it would mean that no pesticides were sprayed and it would be safe to have.

Cutting & Cooking:

Cut vegetables fresh. There are times when we are in a time crunch, so we usually keep the cut veges in the fridge but for not more than 2 days(stretching our limits)

While preparing anything, like dal, sambhar, soup etc, add an inch of ginger (with skin). Just pound it lightly and cook it along with the dish. It lessens the toxicity.

De-seed tomatoes and chillies while using them. Its the seeds which are harmful.

Heat the pan first and then add the oil or ghee. Can add min while cooking and add olive oil as a garnish just before eating. Healthy and Tasty. My kiddo loves it :)

And since we are all slaves to our taste here are some Antidotes for those weak moments, but before we go there, first the imp know hows:

Preparing an Infusion(for 1 person): Boil one cup of water, switch off gas, add a teaspoon of the herb/spices, and cover the dish. Allow it to steep for about 5 minutes. Drain and it is ready to have.

Preparing a Decoction: Boiling the herb/spices for 8-10 minutes and letting it steep for about 5 minutes.

Cinnamon Tea/Infusion: Eaten too much at a wedding or when socializing? Prepare this with a pinch of sugar and a small strip of cinnamon bark. Sugar brings in the carbon required to break down the oily food aiding digestion. This should be had only once a month, DO NOT make a habit of this as it will weaken the intestines. Always to be had 30 min after food. Not on an empty stomach. Another option is to have Cardamom/ Elaichi at the end of the meal.

Eaten too much of gassy foods and stuck with flatulence? Mint Tea/Infusion to the rescue. Take fresh mint leaves, clean and leave them to dry in shade. Once dry, powder them in a mixer and store. Use this powdered mint to make the infusion.
Always to be had 30 min after food. Not on an empty stomach.

For food poisoning: Cinnamon Infusion followed by Ginger Decoction, 30 min later. And this is followed by a through cleansing of your stomach through your mouth. Repeat the Cinnamon tea 2 more times. And stick to light bland food for a day.

Ginger Decoction: About 3/4 glass of water, add an inch of ginger with skin, pounded lightly. This should be had only after 30 min of having the cinnamon tea.

Have this only when you start to show the symptoms of food poisoning. This is a very safe procedure. I had food poisoning and fever 3 months after delivery and since
I do not like to pop medicines especially antibiotics, followed these steps along with Crocin and was fine the next day.
Disclaimer : I am not asking you to not visit your doc!

Want to detoxify your body? Prepare a Decoction of a table spoon each of Cumin/Jeera, Feenugreek/Methi Seeds, Fennel/Thick Saunf & Coriander Seeds/sabut dhanya in about 1.5 ltrs of water. One liter to be had in one day, comes to about 4 glasses in a day. Take for 5 days.

With the influx of GM foods increasing, it is getting increasingly difficult to eat healthy. One has to be very careful when buying and eating. What does one do when our staple diet is being genetically engineered? Wheat, Pulses, Sugar, Salt, Milk all have additives in some form or the other. In the earlier days, roti's would be brown in color, now they come out white. It is because of the increase of gluten in the packaged flour. Excess gluten is beneficial to bakers as it makes the bread and cakes fluffy and tastier. During processing of the wheat, the wheat germ is taken out, gluten added and voila we get the packaged flours. The wheat germ which is the most nutritional product of wheat is exported. Organic wheat is available, but tough to find. If one knows or has access to organic wheat, then you can have it ground. I know of people who do so.

Have only whole grams. Soak them overnight, strain and soak again in hot water. Take out the skin and its ready to be cooked. Substitute sugar, for honey or Organic Jaggery. Regular Jaggery most of the times is adulterated. And depending upon your body's iodine intake decide on iodized or rock salt.

Packaged cows milk is the most adulterated. To Quote Shirley Lipschutz-Robinson
Once upon a time, milk was teeming with life forces. Today, supermarket milk is a brew of hormones, chemicals, DDT, fungicides, defoliants and radioactive fallout, produced by artificially inseminated creatures forced to stand around in muddy feed lots all day long...

Read why we should eliminate pasteurized milk from our diet.

And how can I forget Rice? All the major brands available are polished leaving no nutrients. Switch to parboiled or brown rice.

It all boils down to matter of choice, however increasingly difficult it may get to be. But we must say NO to GM foods, MSG Foods, pesticide loaded foods and adulterated foods.

*If anybody has any more grandma remedies do let me know will update it or link it here.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Happy Burday to you... :)

hey everybody

I'm back and its my b'day today, so people wish for me ok...

now lets get down to business...

Did I or didn't I tell u my mum's a meanie. first she weans me off, second she gets a new maid for me and the worst... she has put me in school, though she is calling it day care...

hurmph...

of course I might now react when I see my home or the familiar route home but I do hold on to my mum tightly as soon as I see that lane where that horrendous school is. Doesn't she feel sad in spite of me crying, she doesn't even come back when I cry, just turns the other way around and goes off...even on my b'day!

Meanie nah...

But the good part is that she lets me sit on her lap when she is driving, does it matter that I refuse to sit on anybody else's lap on the way to school..

Mothers I tell you, esp mine is totally techno defunct...she can't even get to play the dvd and the television, the remote always stops working.. I think blaming the remote or the power cut is just an excuse to get me to stop watching songs.

I no longer get conned by her to drink up my milk. Ha! I will drink only if it is cold. yup I love anything that is chilled. My mama got me this amazing teething ring, which had to be chilled and its simply amazing chewing on it. Mum says now I'm too old for it and is refusing to get me another one, so what if it would be the third one!

I have very strong hearing powers, so even if the TV is in a low volume and I hear my songs, from Jab We Met, Welcome, Partner and Sing is king I come running from where ever I am, eve if I am sleeping. No body has the right to close the main door, it is MY job. I get up from my sleep if I hear them closing the door. So now I have everybody trained just right, call me when you have to open or close the doors. Call me when the dogs have to be fed, else there is hell to pay.

Thank god my mum doesn't get excited these days when she hears me say a new word, man she can get soooo embarassing, I tell you!

OK so I will admit the day care is not soo bad, once I stop crying. They have rabbits, birds and dogs. And the aunties are so good. There are even small babies. But there is one boy who loves to play with my bow-bow more than his and he is always gunning for my bow-bow. They even have lots of blocks and puzzles for me to do, nursery rhymes..it is fun, but I still want my mommy there. She was there for the first 2 days, dunno why she cant be there all the time. She should just get a job there!

I mentioned earlier that I love to look at snaps right, and I also luve to get my photo taken, I'm always posing :D but the paranoid mum that I have she just refuses to put them up on her blog. She can talk about me but she cant put up my pics? Double Standards I tell you!!

These days I like to do everything on my own, but my ever controlling mother just does not let me eat and bathe on my own. But she wants me to sleep on my own. Yea right like I am ever going to do that. That is my revenge :D sweet sweet revenge :P

Like mum, I love lights too and I esp loved the Dasara lighting in the whole city. Couldn't get enough of it. I kept directing mama to where I wanted to go and the sweety pie that he is, he relented. Mum is going to put up the pics soon, just as soon as I give her the time to do it, that is :)

And Ooh..Before I forget, mum is taking me to the orphanage, to celebrate my birthday. She says it will keep me grounded (whatever that means!!) and I will also get new friends. And yes I am waiting to cut and bite into my cake tonight, mum says its a special strawberry rice cake. Last year we had a chocolate cake and I wasn't allowed to eat that, but this one mum says I can have as much as I want. Ain't that grand :)

Bye for now, hugs and kisses to all ... muah... :)

p.s in case you are all wondering why the title reads the way it does, simply because that is how I wish everybody including me :D

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Time for MeMe and Thanks again...

They say a picture speaks a thousand words...does it really and that too with rules?

Tagged by Apar
, here are the rules

a) Answer the questions below, do a Google Image search with your answer, take a picture from the first page of results, and do it with minimal words of explanation.

b) Tag 5 other people to do the same once you’ve finished answering every question.

1. The age you will be on your next birthday

I thought it was bad manners to ask a woman her age!

2. A place you woulds like to travel to…



the world actually but starting with Venice...

3. Your favorite place

Mysore from atop Chamundi Hills

and one pic does not do it justice :) just love the symmetry of lights seen from above...


4. Your favourite food


5. Your favourite pet


In their natural environment..

6. Your favourite colour combination


7. Your favourite piece of clothing

the most comfy thing ever made!! can live in them, only if my mum can understand that :P

8. Your favourite TV show


9. First name of your significant other



10. The town in which you live



11. Your first job


12. Your dream job

this a straight lift from Apar's answer, simply because it fits :)

13. A bad habit you have

reminded me of a long forgotten post.. :)

14. Your worst fear



15. What would you like to do before you die?



p.s: it looks really easy, but it is not. Its really painful, I'd much rather write but, that would just take the fun away.

The rule says to tag 5 people, me adhere to all the rules? Nah....Santosh, Raji, Manpreet, Mystic Margarita, Priyanka, ThoughtRoom, IndianHomeMaker, Suki, Roop, Koopmandook you are all tagged :) and of course anybody else who wants to take this up, please do.. just let me know so I can come and see your answers..


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apar also gifted me the most wonderful gold card ever.

Thank you lady! It means a lot, through this blog I have made so many wonderful friends, Santosh, Manpreet, IndianHomeMaker, Priyanka, Roop, MysticMargarita, Suki and ThoughtRoom.

It truly has made the world flat for me and what a great way to make firends. And I hope to make some more.. :)

Friday, October 3, 2008

checko-slow-wakia bolo

So we're watching the ads on television, yes we are not allowed to see anything else, ads with kids totally rock! And a fairly new ad of a Unit Linked Plan, comes up. It has a toddler with excited parents, trying to get the child to say daddy, mummy and Czechoslovakia. the kid manages the firs t2 beautifully but shows his tongue out at Czechoslovakia. The parents go back to reading the newspaper and some other stuff, and the child slowly says checko-slo-vakia..

Now my Imp is watching this ad, transfixed. My bro decides to have some fun.

Mama: Imp, checko-slow-wakia bolo

Imp:
Giving a side glance holds out her left palm, like the cops stopping you at the traffic signal, and says Mamaaaa....with a drag..meaning why are you disturbing me? And yes her expression and tone says it all. Few seconds later, as if to explain what she is doing, since mama was reading the paper, says haathi and points towards the television... an ad with an Elephant being given a bath is on...and just like the earlier ad, here the mama goes back to the paper shaking his head and mommy has a nice laugh...