Look!

Have you seen these kind of warnings displayed in restaurants?

I’ve seen them a lot of times, and each time I wondered, what motivates us to ignore these warnings and consume such food?

This is what it says “Warning. Chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm may be present in foods or beverages sold or served here”

We were out having lunch this weekend, and I noticed the warning put up at the entrance of the restaurant. I pulled out my cell phone and took a picture. The irony was that the restaurant was bursting with people. Nobody seems to really care. Putting up these notices is a legal requirement in the state of California. A lot of restaurants display them. And we have all become so immune to these threats, we just pretend to not notice and binge on that favourite food of ours.

And even if we do care, can we really do anything about it? There are carcinogenic agents present in almost every single thing we ingest. Can we stop eating then? Sure we can cut down on the junk, but that doesn’t mean the non junky food is not adulterated. In India especially, the amount of pesticide present in fruits and vegetables makes them poisonous. It is scary.

This link says, “In the end what the consumers get is daily doses of a cocktail of deadly chemicals, in much higher quantities than safe limit.”

And this one that says, “Out of five internationally-banned pesticides, four were found to be common in vegetables sold in the Indian markets”

There is sufficient research to prove that we live in a very toxic environment. Neurological damage, kidney problems and cancer are on the rise. It is a terrifying reality and I don’t know what we can do to stop it. A lot of us remain oblivious to the fact that our daily consumption is poisonous. Our diet is toxic.

One of my goals this new year was to eat healthy. We can’t do much about the contamination around us, but I wanted to do all that I could within my means. I thought our diet was pathetic. No, we didn’t eat rice, we had absolutely no fried stuff, we didn’t consume too much of sugar, and yet, everything we ate seemed wrong. For one, we ate a lot of ‘chapatis’. We ate those with a good quantity of veggies and curries, but I wanted to do away with the daily consumption of rotis.

The past few days, we’ve been eating a lot of fresh salads, fruits, sandwiches, stuffed wraps, sprouts, greens, eggs, and other stuff. But that is dinner. Now that I am not working and I am home alone all day, I have no enthusiasm to eat right during the day. I have often wished Mint would come home for lunch. It would motivate me to cook a healthy meal, and most importantly, it would ensure I eat right, and at the right time.

Maybe it is just me, but the idea of having a solitary meal makes me feel devastatingly lonely. I always associate meals with good company. I do enjoy my own company during the day, but ask me to sit down on the dining table and eat a quiet meal by myself and the silence begins to prick me. It makes me feel like I am all alone. Since I have no interest in those lonely meals, I think of ways to get done soon. On most days, I eat quick, make do meals like Maggi or Mac n Cheese. And on some days, I don’t eat at all.

This is really not how I want it to be. I don’t know how long our healthy eating phase will last, but for now, I want to rectify my behaviour and make sure I eat something substantial during the day, even if I am all alone. I’ve made this resolve a number of times in the past, only to fail miserably in a few days. I’ve had grave fights with Mint because of this very attitude of mine. He says he feels most helpless when I don’t eat right and he isn’t around to make sure I do. I have made several promises to him in the past, and not lived up to them. This time, I want to give it another try, very sincerely. How hard can it be to take care of your own self? I will do it. I hope.