Beauty, indeed, is only skin deep

India has an undeniable affinity towards all things shiny. If you don’t believe me, check the quantum of revenue generated by gold jewelry in India or the fact that the fairness creams were the only recession proof products in India. Have you noticed how, even when you shop for groceries, you automatically move towards polished and uniform looking products?

As a result all pulses shine, all grains shine, all fruits shine, even vegetables, you guessed it, shine. But that is not how Nature designed it. Pick anything fresh from the field and it will not dazzle your eyes with polished awesomeness. But beauty, indeed, is only skin deep. Today we pick one such unfortunate basket that lost its sheen to the race of superficial beauty – unpolished wheat products.

It is sad that only well-heeled Indians switch to unpolished food when they are on a diet. Few realize that, apart from the lower fat content, there are many compelling reasons to eat this way. Quoting from a story published in The Hindu, a doctor once asked his students, “What was the single most important factor for the health of the nation at the beginning of World War II?” The answer, “Raising the amount of the grain used to make bread flour from 70% to 85%.” His next question was, “Who do you think made the most complaint about it?” The answer was, “The laxative companies.”

In 1880 the English flour mills began to produce a very fine white flour consisting purely of the endosperm of the grain, sans roughage, vitamins and minerals. The introduction of this very white flour and its very white bread was eagerly taken to by the masses of the country, as it was only the well-to-do who had white bread heretofore, it being very expensive to sieve out through fine muslin.

In 1900s, some twenty years after the introduction of this special white flour, there was this interesting new illness, coronary thrombosis, along with constipation, gastric ulcers, diverticulitis, varicose veins, gall-bladder problems and general ill-health. The one section of the community who knew something has changed was the grannies of English society who could not understand why they were now constipated. So worried were they that colonic washout clubs were formed to deal with the problem.

The other wonder product from the family is brown rice. Brown rice basically refers to unmilled and unpolished rice that we used to eat before rice started coming packed almost to our doorstep. Only the outermost layer, the hull, is removed to produce brown rice. This makes the rice retain all the natural nutrients. The most important benefit is that it prevents heart diseases because it tackles obesity, diabetes and cholesterol. Since the bran is never removed, it is also rich in essential oils and also helps maintain insulin levels.

Coming to the laxative properties, it prevents food from just sitting in your gut and letting the poisons and toxins to be produced by unhealthy anaerobic bowel bacteria. If you allow that to happen it can cause illnesses from acute appendicitis to bowel cancer especially of the large intestine and rectum.

Off late we also see a lot of effort to add the leached original goodness back to the products and sell them under “fortified” or “added fibre” categories. But that is, and can never be, as good as the real thing.

Coming back to beauty being skin deep, brown is rice is great for the skin. It is rich in vitamin E and the bran layer contains zinc and magnesium which can make the skin glow. Oh boy, I love irony.

Are you going organic for the right reasons?

It is great to see that a large number of people are now opting for organic. But what we also see is a trend in the way organic consumers are perceived by the non-organic consumers (we will now refer to them as non-believers, just for the kicks). Non-believers are probably running out of excuses and so they turn to the age old “grapes are sour” syndrome. And here is what they tell themselves whenever they see a happy believer.

They classify you in to the:

The Do-Gooder

For them the Do-Gooder, buying organic food is like being a tiny, lame super hero with a wallet. They jeer at the idea that your buying organic lends support to the humane treatment of animals, conservation of healthy soil, and sustaining a healthy environment. They are also in denial of the fact that buying "conventional food" means participating in the problems associated with it, like pesticides running into rivers and lakes, or the creation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains from animals consuming daily antibiotic-infused feed. They do not want to accept that you are right and dismiss you as someone with a “holier than thou” attitude.

The Blessed Rich

They not only associate the consumption of organic with only the rich and famous but are irrevocably convinced that organic is expensive because some companies want to con us out of our monies, just because they have nothing else to do. They honestly believe that occasionally spending a few grand or more on expensive restaurants, expensive clothes & accessories and/or expensive holidays is so much cheaper that going organic. And you are just showing off your wealth. Oh and did I also mention that they believe all organic consumers own a Ferrari or two.

The Health Junkie

According to the non-believers if you do yoga, have treadmills at home, run the marathon (they are generally irritated with marathons because it obstructed them on their way to KFC), then naturally you eat organic! They can’t understand why you like reading health tips or trivia on how even trace elements of chemicals can harm you. They will give you typical excuses like, “I am very happy the way I am”, “It’s hereditary, not my fault” or ‘I’ll look really out of place in the family photo”. They smoke because they think they will give cigarettes cancer. Actually to sum it up, your inner peace makes them feel fat.

The Afraid. The Very Afraid.

Chemicals are generally scary. But the non-believers imagine you picturing a barrel of fertilizer with a "do not ingest" warning, and laugh at your lack of guts to challenge the might of chemicals. But most non-believers don’t want to admit that they are aware of its long term effects. Of course they know that we as a species were never designed to ingest chemicals that do not occur naturally. Their voice booms through the room when they tell their children about their herculean capacity of digestion and smirk at the thought of your chest hair committing suicide at the sight of their gastronomic strength.

So now you know what they are thinking. I am rather convinced that no one really chooses to go organic because they belong to a certain stereotype. They choose it because they want to. It tastes better, it makes you more active and it allows you to indulge when your heart calls for it. So don’t bother what the world thinks and just enjoy what nature has to offer.

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?

Read beyond Page 3

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.

Mining For Mineral Facts

So you’ve heard that organic food is more nutritious than conventionally grown food. You’ve also heard that it tastes better. But you still have your doubts. Today ProNature aims to dispel them to a certain extent by giving you a small sample of data to ponder about over the weekend.

Image Credit: chiron.valdosta.edu

In a survey conducted among 175 people, 117 preferred the taste of organic food. Clearly in that sample space, organic food came out the winner as far as taste is concerned!

In a study conducted by Rutgers University, USA, the mineral content of organic and non-organic food was compared and the results are here for you to see. You can see how significantly more nutritious organic food really is.

Percentage of Dry Weight			Quantities per 100 Grams Dry Weight				Trace Elements. Parts per million Dry matter
Vegetable:	Mineral Ash	Phosphorus	Calcium	Magnesium	Potassium	Sodium	Boron	Manganese	Iron	Copper	Cobalt
Snap Beans   Organic    Non-organic	10.45 4.04	0.36 0.22	40.5 15.5	60 14.8	99.7 29.1	8.6 0.9	73 10	60 2	227 10	69 3	0.26 0
Cabbage   Organic    Non-organic	10.38 6.12	0.38 0.18	60 17.5	43.6 13.6	148.3 33.7	20.4 0.8	42 7	13 2	94 20	48 0.4	0.15 0
Lettuce   Organic    Non-organic	24.48 7.01	0.43 0.22	71 16	49.3 13.1	176.5 53.7	12.2 0	37 6	169 1	516 9	60 3	0.19 0
Tomatoes   Organic    Non-organic	14.2 6.07	0.35 0.16	23 4.5	59.2 4.5	148.3 58.8	6.5 0	36 3	68 1	1938 1	53 0	0.63 0
Spinach   Organic    Non-organic	28.56 12.38	0.52 0.27	96 47.5	203.9 46.9	237 84.6	69.5 0	88 12	117 1	1584 49	32 0.3	0.25 0.2

It would be a favour to our bodies, which are already under the onslaught of urban living conditions and pollution, to pamper them with nutritious organic food. Clearly demonstrated above, though in a small sample, is the superiority of organic food and how it is perfect for our health. We hope that this mining exercise on mineral facts has helped to make you a little more curious about organic food than before. Have a great weekend!