Skip to main content

MY VERY OWN COCONUT OIL- Organic Please

Guess who is making waves on the internet, OUR very own coconut oil. Remember when your mom, grand mom told you to use coconut oil on anything and everything and you would scorn thinking “old school”?Apparently they were right (like many other times). This “super food” slows down ageing, is easily digested, has anti bacterial properties naming just the few of its innumerable benefits. Turmeric has a similar story. It has anti cancer properties besides providing many beauty benefits. And this list goes on- brown rice, lentils, bananas and so on. 

But its not just any coconut oil or simply turmeric powder or plain brown rice it has to be organic. What with all the adulteration! To say you need to pay more to get ethical food (that's a term). Now what was that? We just need to word hard to earn a living? Oh no.. now we need to work hard and some more to earn enough to buy organic. But shouldn't all food be organic like always?

You see, I was stuffing my face with the sparsely available avocados and drinking green tea by the gallons (must confess enjoying it very little) when I learnt about all this. And this immediately brought to mind the following situation. Now remember that one person in school/college that you weren't great friends with and how this same person went on to make it big in life leaving you wondering about why You weren't close to him/her. But this never stops you from dropping his/ her name to anyone and everyone referring to them as your friend. This is the kind of grudge I hold against myself about these food items.

Now for all the questions; Haven't these ingredients always been part of our diet? Then why are we slowly giving up using them? Didn't we always know about their benefits? Did this knowledge get lost over generations? Is it because of colonialisation,commercialisation, competition, corruption, adulteration? So is this also how we lost our extensive knowledge about science, astronomy, medicine and thereby our system of education?

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for global integration and embracing the good in everything. But like we dress according to season and region, shouldn't we be more careful about what we eat? Like what is staple to that particular region, things that are easily digested by the body, more suited to the weather, according to the work that we do and most importantly what the body has been used to eating over generations- the food of our ancestors? Its our life after all that is at risk here.


I feel the answer to all this lies in research- not into the future but into the past for a healthy future. So much for history being bunk eh!! 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Contemplation

It’s quite impossible to explain the impact some incidents in life have on you. Suddenly, the things that seemed the most important till today become insignificant and man begins to appreciate and reconsider his stand. So unaware a being has Providence made Man that he lives every day without having the slightest hunch of what might happen the very next minute. That makes him adept at complaining, fighting and hating another. Be it on a larger level- terrorism or at a more identifiable level- being jealous of a friend. We know how it is all going to end and baffling enough don’t know when. Then why do we put ourselves (me included) through all this drama of love, hate, sorrow, anger? Why is it that we crave for appreciation? Why is it that we want to have it all when we very well realize it’s not for keeps? Why is it that we always feel that we deserve more? Why is it that even when a friend or a relative is going through a bad patch it’s still ‘I’ that matters? Why is that the...
11 comments
Read more

Once Upon A Time when I was ashamed of myself

It happened a few months ago when I was attending a training session for the job I had newly got. There were 3 Americans, 1 English, 1 Austrian and of course 1 Indian (me) attending the session. The task was to write down the names of all the things that we could find in the room we were sitting in, in our mother tongue. Sounded easy enough at first, but led to extreme embarrassment when I could name just 17 and everyone else in the room came up with 70 in a minute’s time. I always took pride in the fact that my English was good. But what a slap in the face it was, when for the life in me, I couldn’t figure out what we called a table in Tamil! While recuperating from the serious damage caused by this incident I began thinking… Most people associate culture and history with India. It is incredible that we have so many different religions, traditions and values. And not to forget the multitude of languages. I have often heard that what scientists in the west discovered years l...
8 comments
Read more

So what do THEY think about it?

To hell with what they think!! I simply admire people who base their life on this principle. But easier said than done. Yes, I belong to the unfortunate other half who are not so brave. It’s a routine that sort of grows on you. An uncontrollable need to please people as Monica (of F.R.I.E.N.D.S fame) says. I have noticed how this chivalrous segment sails through life even in troubled waters without taking life too seriously. I understand that that is the secret- Don’t take life too seriously. It’s only when everything has to be perfect and you want to get noticed and appreciated, that things get ditzy.  After all, the world is not a perfect place. Being self-conscious and crunched up all the time is another common trait. That’s when everything wrong about you come into focus and the soldier that’s confidence takes a big blow.  When so much is going on, what me and my fellow miserables don’t realize is that the people who point fingers are in no way better than you are. If...
6 comments
Read more