I have put out my thoughts on nourishing the mind and the soul. Let me now express my thoughts on nourishing the body, the vehicle that we use to achieve our life goals, our dreams, our ambition and anything that we want to achieve. Clearly this vehicle has to be kept in tip top condition always.
Principally, our body needs various types of nourishment. These can be grouped into air, food and water, specifically clean air and oxygen, good food and clean water. Many people would say eat a balanced diet and exercise to keep healthy. I can’t agree with them more. But I would venture into more than just a balanced diet and exercise. We cannot take these for granted anymore, especially in this modern age of computers and cyber technology. Technology has changed a lot of things in our life. Even the basics in our life have changed. Technology is supposed to make life much easier, much simpler and pleasant but yet it has created a lot of other effects that works counter to the intent.
The air we breathe, is it clean? Even if we live in the remote area we cannot take for granted that the air we breathe is always clean. Some industries have taken to move their operations to the remote areas. I have seen factories in the remote areas spewing smock out of their stacks continuously. They are away from the cities and big towns and hence away from the authorities. Away from prying eyes and they proceed with their activities unhindered. Animal rearing is also done in the remote areas at commercial scales. Modern methods of animal rearing use a lot of artificial processes, chemicals and additives. Check what these are made of. A majority of them are from synthetic and inorganic stuff. Somehow these will get into the environment and pollute the surroundings. Thus air and water cleanliness can be affected.
Let us now look at the food that we eat daily. Eat a lot of fruits, they say, a lot of vegetables is good for you. Yes it is true they are good for you but what type of vegetables, what types of fruits? Those that have been grown commercially, chemicals, insecticides, pesticides and what have you having been applied copiously on them to make them look fresh in the market and entice you to buy them? The insects will not eat them and we happily buy and eat them? That is the sad situation in this time and age.
When we are hungry, our body yearns for nutrients and a little carbohydrate. But when we eat we consume a lot of carbohydrate and very little nutrients. That little nutrient is soon used up and you are hungry again. The stuff that we buy from the market, whether it is the wet market or the supermarket, are almost always commercially grown or propagated and harvested. These processes reduce the amount of nutrients. As an example the fruits that look inviting, nice and shining, is not really what they appear to be. It was harvested when it was still young and not ripened yet. It was allowed to ripen in a box in the warehouse. To prevent it from deteriorating, some coatings are applied to it. The coating makes it look nice and shiny. But when it was harvested when still young has it got enough nutrients in it? Certainly not. Hence when we eat it we not only eat the roughage if that is what it is made of but we also eat the additives, and the coatings and the chemicals that come with it. Have we got the nutrients? No, there are not enough nutrients in it. So, what value has it got for our body? Deteriorating value. Take another example, the nice fried chicken you set on the table for dinner. Where did the chicken come from? It originated in a chicken farm where the chicks grew to be chicken and all the while see the lights from the light bulb in its cubicle that it shares with many other chicks and chicken. Throughout its life it does not get to see sunlight. It leads a stressful life in its cubicle. Under these stressful conditions the chicks will not grow up to be meaty and sizeful chickens. Oh no, we just add vitamins, and additives and hormones and what have you, to make the chicken grow and ready for the market or supermarket but with low nutrients and full of the artificial additives and hormones and the what have you. This is what we eat nowadays.
There are more to the above. A lot of the commercial foods we get now are processed food. Processed foods lose its natural nutrients and are replaced by artificial ones and usually full of carbohydrates and sugar. The value of these foods is questionable. Our body needs natural nutrition more and fewer carbohydrates but we get food of the reverse. Any wonder now why we see more people on the heavy side, obese and oversize. Even school going children have grown heavier in comparison. I also noted kindergarten children are getting heavier and fatter too. Check the statistics, this trend is increasing.
So we need to nourish our body well. Not just balanced diet but balanced lifestyle. Be conscious of the food we eat and for what we put in try to put it out as well. What I mean is we eat and we must also exercise. It does not matter what or how you exercise, as long as you work the calories out you are doing it right. Organise and plan your time, to include these healthy practices. Done regularly, you will notice the difference in a matter of weeks. Feel the energy in your body, the glow in your face, the smoothness of your skin and you are then well on your way to a good life…… may you be blessed with good health and happiness always…… and with that achieve your dreams and ambitions…….
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Bintulu
There are several Malaysian students in the college, all at pre-U level, and one celebrating his birthday, is the son of a close acquaintance of all the families while another was a relative of one of the families. This trip was planned as a surprise birthday visit.
The two of us from London met up with the families at one of the rest areas along the highway. Ram, Najla and Fahrul came in one car and I joined them from there. It was about 10am and the weather was fine but windy and cold. On arrival at the college and after meeting up with the two students we spent some time touring the sprawling and hilly campus grounds, after toilet service of course, and located a nice picnic spot somewhere in the lower grounds of the complex. 
The birthday boy was really caught by surprise with our presence and with the little kids running and playing gave that added family affair to him. The weather too changed for the better as the day progressed on and we could shed the thick coats we had on in the morning. With the children running and playing it was merriment all round. 
There was food and more food that day. The families agreed earlier on 'pot luck' but when each family prepared food more than enough for four families we ended up having food more than enough for 4x4 families. By afternoon we had most of the Malaysian students in the college joining us and there were still more food left. I think all of them had something to 'take away' at the end of the day!!
