Quotes

Tags

animal lovers, broken, broken heart, confidence, Death, dog haters, dog lovers, goodbye, health, heart, heart break feelings, lies, life escape, life goals, life reality, love, love story, peace, quote, strength, truth, wealth

Advertisements

The Dark Side of Paalak Paneer

Tags

food, green leafy vegetables, health, restaurants

Don’t we all love the yummy paalak paneer? It’s too good a food to resist and more often than not, guests scramble to get another dose of the yummy greeny gravy of grounded paalak with doses of pieces of paneer floating in it. It’s almost the same scenario irrespective if you’re a guest at a wedding or a restaurant or for that matter eating your favorite dish in your own home.

So what goes in the making of this sinful dish? Obviously the answer will be – paalak & paneer. Well that is elementary my dear Mumbaikar! But do you realize that in most cases, the green leafy paalak and the white yummy paneer are adulterated?

We Mumbaikars living in a highly populated, cosmopolitan and overcrowd city consider the Mumbai Railways as the lifeline of the city. Lakhs of commuters travel by the Mumbai locals daily to reach their destinations whether it’s to reach their workplace or back home. These local trains don’t real give the best of views of the surrounds as it races across the tracks. But ask those who travel on the thresholds of these trains. What they see are not just cultivating fields bordering the railway tracks at almost every inch of its way but also some open air toilets that are visible in these fields or on the periphery of it.

So what do these cultivating fields grow? Yes, your guess is good as mine… our favorite leafy green vegetable who we lovingly call Paalak. Such vegetables which our teachers have taught us to eat regularly for a healthy mind and body. Alas, that is not the case to be. What the teachers taught us can take a walk in the park. Because these vegetables are cultivated using gutter water that gushes out of our homes and passes through the rail tracks through nallahs or gutters. And if that’s not all, these gutter waters are even highly toxic and contain deadly chemicals that finds its way to these gutters from scores of small factories and small scale industries that dot Mumbai.

And still you’d think these green leafy vegetables would be good for our health?

And we were told Milk is good for health. It is as long as we have the right Milk and not an adulterated one. Milk is an important port of Paneer that makes up the other half of our favorite dish. Just like a husband compliments his wife and vice versa, so does a good Paneer compliment a good Paalak. But alas, not all Paneers are good like not husbands are. There is a possibility that your favorite Paneer might not even have an ounce of milk in it. What comprises of such paneers are fertilizers like urea and other hazardous chemicals which can be harmful for your health.

So a combination of Bad Paneer with Bad Paalak or a Good Paneer with Bad Paalak or Bad Paneer with Good Paalak is as harmful for your family as a Good Father with Bad Mother or Bad Mother with Good Father or Bad Father with Bad Mother.

The take is yours. Next time you buy either the raw Paalak or Paneer, make sure you have the healthiest of the choices. And next time you go for a wedding or visit a restaurant, don’t forget to ask your host if they have a healthy Paalak Paneer served. Maybe you might not be welcome at the place anymore but like the saying goes, ‘Forewarned is forearmed!’.

Well, it’s time for me to indulge in some tasty Paalak Paneer! Teachers please excuse me!

Laughter – The Best Medicine

Tags

health, love, mental-health, relationships

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone. Which of these two sentences wins hands down? It’s all about the laughter and the art of living with a smile. Research has proved time and again that laughter is good for health. A healthy dose of laughter helps the body’s immune system, boosts your energy and sets you going for more. Psychologically, you are relieved of your stresses, helps your body relax and gets you ready to face the world. Doctors frequently advice people to laugh regularly as our brains can make us happier and healthier because of laughter.

While the feel good factor is always there due to regular laughter, it also helps in increasing the blow flow which in turn protects you from heart attacks and other cardiovascular ailments. So a laughter a day will keep heart ailments away. As laughter increases your blood flow, it also leads to burning of calories which is a good sign for overweight people. A healthy laughter towards a healthy living!

One can’t help but notice that those who laugh regularly spread a positive energy around them. Their laughter is contagious and makes us too lead a good and healthy life. Study has shown that such people create special bond and positive relationships with people around him. Laughter most easily is the bandage over hurt and resentment in the real sense. It covers the deep anxiety and fear and the hurt someone or something must have caused.

Also the adage, ‘when you smile, you use just four muscles but when you frown, you put to task 35 muscles. In this case, it’s far easier to smile then to frown. Today, we have lot of laughter clubs across the world and more are mushrooming everywhere each new day. And with laughter, you land up on a completely different plane altogether. The view from there is more positive, brimming with energy, brings out the colorful aspects of the world and also helps you perceive the world in a more relaxed manner. This is one of the easiest and least expensive way to lead a healthy and a happy life. No wonder, more and more feel good comedy films are making it to the theatres. So any takers for a good laugh?