IF OUR STOMACHS ARE FINE, WE ARE FINE













“I saw few die of hunger;
of eating, a hundred thousand.”
- Benjamin Franklin

I saw Kannan in our Tai Chi class after many Sundays. “All is all?” I enquired.”Seeing you after a long time.”

 “Oh yes, all is well,” Kannan replied in his gung-ho style, “September-November are my months of hibernation… I go into my cave… They are less productive. In November, I come out.”
 Today, Kannan and I were discussing about the food habits… “If our stomachs are fine, we are fine,” Kannan said, “as they say, we are what we eat.”

The habit of eating light, putting less strain on our stomachs is a habit, like all healthy habits, we need to cultivate with discipline. What works for us at our young age doesn’t work for us when we grow old… Heavy food at night, particularly late in the night, is a major cause for most of our health issues. Kannan shared with me the way he had brought about changes in his eating habits. He emphasized on the time-tested principle of ‘one-third/one-third/one-third’. “Our stomachs should be filled one-third with food, one-third with water (liquid) and the remaining one-third with air,” he explained, “‘Air’ means leave it empty.”

Normally, our habit is to fill our full stomachs with food… Liquid is an overload… Air is out of question. “On Saturdays, I just live on lemon juice… Some nights, I take simple kanji,” Kannan said. “You won’t believe, I look forward to a Saturday… The experience, the next morning, is just refreshing!”

I was telling Kannan about my own eating habits. Food is my weakness… I still eat at nights as though I am still in my twenties. “No Gerry, it takes some determination in the beginning… but, once you form this habit of healthy eating, you will not even know you are abstaining from what you are craving for… You will simply not get tempted.”

“I used to smoke about twenty cigarettes a day  when I was young… I couldn’t live without smoking. But, one day, on 19th November, 1985, I got up and said, “I will not smoke any more’… and, I didn’t,” Kannan said with a great deal of pride, “Now you know why November is one of my most productive months!”

I think, filling our stomachs with toxic food can be as harmful as filling our lungs with toxic smoke. “All labour troubles in the factories have their origin in their canteens,” Kannan described, “Likewise, all our health troubles have their origin in our canteens, here…”

Kannan gently rolled his hand over his stomach, just the way they do it in ‘Madras’ after a sumptious saapadu (meal)!

I couldn’t agree with my friend more.


GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: Internet

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...