Be the coolest Mom on earth

Being a mom is the toughest job on this planet. There's nothing like the love surge of a full-body hug or the amazed pride you feel when your toddler takes its first steps! But all this comes with those inevitable pains of feeling exasperated, unnerved, or just surprised. You're ready and willing to do anything in the world to make your child safe and happy. But you see your charm and control slipping away with the growing years.

Going through your child’s adolescence years can be stressful (I agree that is an understatement). Not only do their escapades give you heart burn, you are also worried about what is giving them acidity. Eating junk and unhealthy food, sadly, is what kids equate with cool. No amount of telling them will drive the point home. And a little more telling will drive them to rebellion and you to the nearest mental hospital. Every time they tell you they are “hanging out with friends” you feel like hanging yourself, right?

Now that we are speaking of ropes, let me suggest a better use for it: The tight-rope walk – a fine act of balancing. Many a wise men and women have raved about the virtue of balance. It sure comes in handy. If you think about it you will not have to worry about your children eating unhealthy junk once in a while if a large part of their diet is healthy.

Feeding them organic food regularly will give them a healthy enough lifestyle to combat the occasional evil of temptation. Organic food lends more nutrition to the body helping it develop a better immunity. Not to mention the fact that it is tastier and will help build your reputation around the kitchen simultaneously.

Now let us imagine a scenario. You are telling your children, “It’s been a while since we ordered pizza. How about we order tonight?” Your children are looking at you with a wave of elation in their eyes before breaking into shrieking excitement. Next day the Facebook status of your kid reads, “I have the coolest Mom on earth!” Isn’t it paradise?

Could eating organic be the best kept weight loss secret?

Let’s embark on a myth busting session today. Often, people distraught with weight issues will look at all possible solutions except hitting the gym and sweating it out. Amongst the other internet surfed “short cuts” opting for organic is one of the solutions people zero in on. Pardon me for shattering your hopes but eating organic does not make you lose weight. What happens is this.

The most important contribution of organic is giving you a healthier lifestyle. The other side of the spectrum, however, is recent research pointing to the growing production and consumption of genetically modified foods as the root cause for the current weight problem across the globe.

If you ask how that is harmful, then you don’t watch enough Discovery!  Pesticides, growth hormones, artificial flavoring, herbicides, and any other man made chemical that we ingest are to an extent responsible for the obesity scare plaguing God’s earth. These have already been linked to cause cancer, now they are being blamed for obesity throughout various studies.

You know what is scarier? That humanity has only expanded its knowledge base and should know better! How it is that obesity has only skyrocketed despite the introduction of healthier, on-the-go, low fat foods?  Weren't these products made to help lower weight gain? Is it a coincidence that obesity and cancer rates have grown in unison? Why?  How? (Writer calms down and resumes writing)

Fifty years ago, hormones, preservatives, and pesticides were not used to beautify the food we now eat. Our bodies were never designed to either utilise these for energy or get rid of them. The easiest thing for the body to do is dump all this in the fat tissues. These dumped toxins can then even alter the natural properties of the fat, making it harder for your body to burn it off (God does have a nasty sense of humour).

Eating organic prevents this deadly cycle to begin by eliminating the fat-depositing demons from even entering our bodies. Naturally higher in nutrients, organic food is not only easier to break down by our digestive system but are also substantially tasty. They also aid the fat to be metabolised into fuel and not add to the hip size. In simple terms, eat real food. If money is a concern and you simply cannot afford to buy organic groceries, follow one simple rule – “If you can’t pronounce the ingredients, don’t eat it.”

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Question: What is that one thing which is common between Queenie Dhody, Kareena Kapoor and Angelina Jolie? They all eat organic food! (That is when they decide to eat of course). But I often wonder why organic food is always associated with the size zero, swanky, red carpet walking, air kissing celebrities. 

Is it the health factor or the expense or the exclusivity or all of these? Frankly all this is really in the mind. Health is a universal cause of concern, not meant only for the rich and famous. Don’t blame organic for being expensive. We have so blindly adopted and accepted the pesticide and chemical laden food that the farmers do not see value in growing organic. A premium has to be paid at every level to reach organic food to you. So now you do the math. Coming to exclusive, anything that is pure, labour intensive and yet trying to elbow its way into the market to grow from niche to popular will be exclusive.

Now that I have reasoned with you let us take a mental journey back to your childhood. Didn’t the food cooked by your mother, in the yester-years of un-corrupted life, taste better? Get my point, organic is the way food is meant to be in the first place! And now when you sing praises about “something being different” about your mom’s cooking and crib over unsatisfying food at home, don’t blame the wife, blame the produce used for cooking.

I know this is where you scream in exasperation, “But organic food is so expensive!” So since you are taking a journey to your childhood, stop by the Economics class and rerun the concept of economies of scale in your mind (and rest your agony in peace). It is you, the consumer, who has to help organic build the brawn in the market. Understand your right to safe and original food and bang your fist on the retails desk asking for more. Just as you would like organic to be cheaper we would love to flex muscles with all the middlemen to bring the cost down.

Let’s cut a long story short and think of ourselves as components to a watch, working together to bring in the good times.