FOOD FOR THOUGHT

We first ate food raw, discovered fire, learnt to cook food and finally, now, eat fast food. Hell! Now-a-days some of us dont even eat! This I believe, is the very fashionable latest...

Food is considered so important in France that the Primary School menu is a much respected and well thought out topic in Government circles. As per their 1971 guideline, there should be very little fat in the menu and meals must contain vitamins and minerals. Menus are posted for parents and the menu varies each day. Children are taught at a very young age about the importance of good food and eating right. And rightly so. The Meditarranean diet is considered to be one of the healthiest in the world and its little wonder that they are also amongst the healthiest people in the world, full with leisurely siestas thrown in for good measure. Ditto the French. I dont even want to talk about the wily Japanese for whom fresh has always been a national obsession. Little wonder then that the sushi came out of Japan. Im sure it had its origins in a fisherman eating the fish he caught as is, with rice, the local, easily available staple and washing it down with saki. Dont ask me about their longevity index. The highest on earth? Im not even checking....

Contrast this to the U.S of A. Think America and slim, svelte women jump to the mind. These slim and sveltes, unfortunately only account for a miniscule 1% of the U.S population?? Sure, they are the single, biggest economy in the world, even post the wonderful economic crisis they created. Theyre STILL rich. However, our fast - food loving buddies are also the most obese people in the world. Uncle Sam apparently houses the most obese people in the world in terms of numbers. It was an alarming 74.6% a couple of years back and growing. Rapidly.... Heck, even the kids are obese 17% way back in 2008. How important is food to you? Do you sacrifice food to take that important phone call, to meet that important person, or even to help that deserving someone? How often have you sacrificed lunch, dinner or God forbid breakfast(?) for these very reasons? Do we realise that the very thing that we aim for a good life is being sacrificed while you are trying to acheive it? After all, taking that important call,

meeting that important person, helping that deserving helpless person all of it is supposed to get you a better job, a better post, to acheive some success we want, which will in turn make you feel good... Now what use would it be if you sacrificed your health, and thus your comfort, to achieve some comfort in life? Think about it the continuous cycle of irregular unhealthy food eating ends up with you falling sick and having to take time out anyways to tend to your sickness Ulcer and other life long gifts hypertension and diabetes, which have rightly been called lifestyle diseases, thus nullifying all the gains you notched up with those extra hours. Is it really worth achieving some success, hell, ANY success, if it means giving up a few days of your life? Even a few hours? Because diseases do tend shorten your life. I noticed that the maids near my house scrimp and scrape they dont eat properly so they can save money, which unfortunately ends up being spent anyways for medicines, as they fall ill very frequently, due to the bad and irregular food they eat. The drug stores (note the plural please) in their slummish area does breath-takingly brisk business. They give year long discounts, and one of them is air-conditioned 24x7! Do you really want to work your ass off to make a lot of money and hit the grave early so that someone else can spend it for you? That would be REAL philanthropy, but Im guessing its not what you had in mind? Now theres some food for thought..............