ARE ramen noodles dangerous to health?
FIRST,
all manufactured food or marketed produce (canned, packed etc)--or
even those that are seemingly "fresh" but transported from
a certain spot to the next--are somehow injected or infused with
agents for longevity (shelf life etc), flavor and/or whatever
marketing kick there is... A fact of life, especially in societies
where market economy dictates consumer consumption.
Example:
Gluten—a protein composite
found in foods processed from wheat, barley and rye--gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and
keep its shape and often gives the final product a chewy texture.
Why do we resort to gluten? No brainer. Mass production. Foods are
mass-produced in countries (like the US) where most people purchase
than produce themselves, yet most of these foods are thrown away or
wasted. Conversely, high volume of foods on the market clog consumer
brain, a subliminal marketing hook that works for huge profit.
HOWEVER,
there are still many villages somewhere in the world where canning,
packaging, chemicals-on-foodstuff madness etc aren't happening.
Communities farm and grow, breed and trade meat without knowledge of
gluten, organic, antibiotics contamination because of the simple fact
that they don't mass-produce their food, they just grow and produce
as per needs of their community. I saw and experienced these when I
was a child growing up in the mountains of the Philippines and during
my travels in small towns in many countries and cities. Hogs,
poultry, cows and goats were raised and sold, produce were farmed and
delivered/distributed—to exactly what the community needs for basic
survival. “Market economy” is literally open marketplace,
eyeballs negotiation between buyer/consumer and farmer/vendor.
Here
in America, we are over-consuming and still relatively undernourished
(or “overnourished”) because most of us are misguided and
misinformed—by mostly information that are fed by multi-million
dollar research that are funded by giant food manufacturers and
business conglomerates that we google everyday. Corporations chuck
huge dough on “research” to pitch more of their products (hell,
they gotta recoup the money somehow, right?)
FOOD
and eating are common sense, I believe. Basic human response to life
and living. A huge percentage of food in stores and groceries are
packed/manufactured (or “bad”). That is a given. So what are we
supposed to do (when we can't plant/produce our food ourselves)?
Freak ourselves out? No. We work around it... We should study
cooking, practice it consistently, mix “bad” and “good”
ingredients (since “good” and “bad” is relative, anyway), and
feed ourselves.
The
sad thing is, we are so obsessed with being “healthy,” so much so
that we are losing the inherent, natural gift of food and eating as
integral part of life. You see, we may be able to choose every little
bit of whatever we put in our mouth as healthy and good, but when we
go out there in the street, there is contamination in the air, the
gasoline in the car messes the lungs, the wind and sun bring cancer,
what about the water that we drink etc etc. What kills humanity is
our mental state that dictates the body. I can eat the best healthy
food ever, and then I may question where the hell this shit came
from? Mexico, China, Timbukthree? That is freakin' bizarre food, man!
There goes our food prejudices... And I will worry about it all day
and night, and all through my sleep.
BOTTOMLINE,
just chill and eat. The body is a temple, a personal temple—every
human individual must know how to worship the body, it's a personal
god. Dr Oz or whoever Dr No or Expert Yes will tell me what to eat
and be healthy? No way Hosay... I still believe in what my
grandmother yelled: “Eat, young man! You are lucky that you have
food to eat... It's a blessing. Eat!”
I
remember that funny incident when my sis in law in Las Vegas
accidentally sent a box of cat food to her relatives in an island
town in the Philippines. They knew it was cat food alright (yes, they
can read English), yet they ate them like crazy and were very
thankful as well. They mixed the cat food with ramen noodles, over
and over again... And then, at 5AM, they set out to the ocean,
muscles and brawn glistening under morning sun. Their way of life...
Their dads and grandparents died at age 92 to 101.
WHAT
will make people healthier? Balance. Moderation. Common grandmother
sense. Health isn't ushered by just the food that we eat. What we
eat, we eventually let them out of our body and some remain inside...
Burn the calories, balance our overall equilibrium etc. The mind is
very integral in this “production line” that grinds in a human
being's anatomy. But balance isn't easy. Yet we try...
I
eat ramen noodles, McDonald's burger and Twinkies. But I also cook
and prepare food my way, most of the time—and here I am with no
ailment that may bring me to monthly doctor's appointment, I am 53
this year...
The
Japanese and Okinawans eat a lot of fish that most of us say are
Mercury-infested, they also eat a lot of KFC fried chicken. But these
people live beyond 90s. As what an 86-year old active Japanese
fisherman once told me as I asked him what's his secret. He laughed
and said: “Sake, sushi and sex.” Then he kept on laughing.
There
you go.
