The trip to India has left me emotionally very weak and paranoid.
I heard too many incidents on cancer, tumor, vital organ failures and many other fatal diseases. Surprisingly, this is affecting people in my age group, which makes the impact harder. As Priyanka put it right during a discussion yesterday, few years back Cancer was a disease which affects people whom we do not know.
PS : This gets a special mention here coz this is the First ever sensible statement from her, from the time I met her !
But, these days every other person has lost a relative or friend to these chronic diseases.
I have given a lot of thought to it and came up with some actions to execute ASAP.
• Make more people aware of these, and hence the post.
• Grapes - The first fruit we always pick up while shopping. But, seems it is the crop most sprayed with insecticide. So, at home, Mom soaks it for 4 hours in salt water and rinses it. I plan to make Manu do those, if he ever buy grapes!
• Just out of curiosity, I soaked the apples in water over night. I notice a white colored substance sticking all over the the peel! I have decided -Am always gonna carry a peeler whenever I carry apple for snacks. I still don’t know how to remove the wax coating from apples. So, I always choose the apples from the not-so-beautifully polished basket, sitting next to the Red-delicious shining ones.
• Cabbage always tastes delicious with brown rice & Mom taught me an easy recipe. So, it appears very frequently in my kitchen. I heard a shocking fact from Raigon. Since cabbage grows layer by layer, each leaf will be sprayed with the pesticides! My budget is still not big enough to allow me to go to organic shops. So, I decided to reduce cabbage consumption. And even when buying, I should buy the small ones, rather than gigantic ones. Also to wash each leaf thoroughly.
• Chemical reaction which plastics have with warm food never occurred to me until Manu’s Dad explained to me. So, all those beautiful containers are tucked away in the cabinet and we are using only glass or porcelain dishes to microwave/ store/ reheat the food. I find it challenging to bring lunch in glass dish though. Maybe should go back to the old style steel containers to pack lunch.
• I have started cooking regularly- you must understand that it is daily. This gives me control on the ingredients, how many times I wash them, no re-use of the oil, cook hygienically. We had more than enough street food, the snacks fried in zillion times reused oil combined with the dust and dirt from the polluted road side . Aah.. How delicious they are!!
• We have decided to have dinner from home every day, at least on week days. Probably we should schedule dates like once or twice a month to eat out. Lunch is still a challenge, coz even if I cook extra for the dinner; somehow we are left with nothing for the next day. I should improve upon my estimate. I have decided to stop my take away lunch, from Monday on.
• Most of the patients I heard are neither drinkers nor smokers. So, I am going to investigate on the positive effect of alcohol and tobacco to fight against these diseases. I believe in the theory “Innocent until proven guilty”.
• Travel more frequently and actively. What if I die before visiting Grand canyon, Puerto Princesa , Manarola village & the Jaisalmer desserts. And do whatever else I have ever wished so hard.
• Re-visit my insurance options. One friend’s insurance money ran out by the first phase of treatment & he is still pending the Liver transplant :-(
• I am still debating with Manu on Why should we have savings .
What if we save money & still get some disease. Will have to give whole load of money to doctors, which in turn won’t be enough and then I would still die of the pain. Then, what’s the point?
• And the ultimate question. What if I am actually diagnosed with the disease? What should be the next step?
• Think further, what are the critical points I have missed out until now.
I heard too many incidents on cancer, tumor, vital organ failures and many other fatal diseases. Surprisingly, this is affecting people in my age group, which makes the impact harder. As Priyanka put it right during a discussion yesterday, few years back Cancer was a disease which affects people whom we do not know.
PS : This gets a special mention here coz this is the First ever sensible statement from her, from the time I met her !
But, these days every other person has lost a relative or friend to these chronic diseases.
I have given a lot of thought to it and came up with some actions to execute ASAP.
• Make more people aware of these, and hence the post.
• Grapes - The first fruit we always pick up while shopping. But, seems it is the crop most sprayed with insecticide. So, at home, Mom soaks it for 4 hours in salt water and rinses it. I plan to make Manu do those, if he ever buy grapes!
• Just out of curiosity, I soaked the apples in water over night. I notice a white colored substance sticking all over the the peel! I have decided -Am always gonna carry a peeler whenever I carry apple for snacks. I still don’t know how to remove the wax coating from apples. So, I always choose the apples from the not-so-beautifully polished basket, sitting next to the Red-delicious shining ones.
• Cabbage always tastes delicious with brown rice & Mom taught me an easy recipe. So, it appears very frequently in my kitchen. I heard a shocking fact from Raigon. Since cabbage grows layer by layer, each leaf will be sprayed with the pesticides! My budget is still not big enough to allow me to go to organic shops. So, I decided to reduce cabbage consumption. And even when buying, I should buy the small ones, rather than gigantic ones. Also to wash each leaf thoroughly.
• Chemical reaction which plastics have with warm food never occurred to me until Manu’s Dad explained to me. So, all those beautiful containers are tucked away in the cabinet and we are using only glass or porcelain dishes to microwave/ store/ reheat the food. I find it challenging to bring lunch in glass dish though. Maybe should go back to the old style steel containers to pack lunch.
• I have started cooking regularly- you must understand that it is daily. This gives me control on the ingredients, how many times I wash them, no re-use of the oil, cook hygienically. We had more than enough street food, the snacks fried in zillion times reused oil combined with the dust and dirt from the polluted road side . Aah.. How delicious they are!!
• We have decided to have dinner from home every day, at least on week days. Probably we should schedule dates like once or twice a month to eat out. Lunch is still a challenge, coz even if I cook extra for the dinner; somehow we are left with nothing for the next day. I should improve upon my estimate. I have decided to stop my take away lunch, from Monday on.
• Most of the patients I heard are neither drinkers nor smokers. So, I am going to investigate on the positive effect of alcohol and tobacco to fight against these diseases. I believe in the theory “Innocent until proven guilty”.
• Travel more frequently and actively. What if I die before visiting Grand canyon, Puerto Princesa , Manarola village & the Jaisalmer desserts. And do whatever else I have ever wished so hard.
• Re-visit my insurance options. One friend’s insurance money ran out by the first phase of treatment & he is still pending the Liver transplant :-(
• I am still debating with Manu on Why should we have savings .
What if we save money & still get some disease. Will have to give whole load of money to doctors, which in turn won’t be enough and then I would still die of the pain. Then, what’s the point?
• And the ultimate question. What if I am actually diagnosed with the disease? What should be the next step?
• Think further, what are the critical points I have missed out until now.
1 comment:
Vattayalle?
:-)
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