Food – arguably, the most essential requirement for existence of life on the face of Planet Earth. Food is the most ubiquitous and integral part of our lives. Each day, we gobble up countless quantities of food items, savoring the taste, barely remembering to have a neat look at the stuff we ingest. For most of us, the experience of ‘food’ goes solely by the taste it gives. 😛
How wrong!
Taste is just one facet of food – it’s all about the health and calories you get from each morsel of what you eat. Many of us fail to realize that when we eat tonnes of junk food by the day – a habit that will actually pronounce death for a major chunk of humanity in the foreseeable future. No, I’m not exaggerating. The fact is: You are what you eat, period.
CC credits: Cayusa
Surprised? Skeptical? Incensed? I’m not done yet, buddy. 🙂
First – the origins of the phrase. What began as a random mention in the essay: “Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante” by French Author Brillat-Savarin in 1826 acquired great fame by the release of the book: You Are What You Eat: how to win and keep health with diet
by nutritionist Victor Lindlahr in 1942. The hippie era of the ’60s saw a craze for healthy food sweep in, giving the phrase a cult aura of its own! 😀
Needless to say, the food you eat goes a long way in modifying and altering yourself. It’s proved that Junk Food is a silent killer – the more crap you eat, the more are chances that you’ll die an early death! There are clear links between junk food and cancer too!! So the next time you savor on that packet of ‘Lays’, beware – you’re shortening your lifespan! 🙂
And it’s not just junk food – many studies and analyses have proved that the phrase has staggeringly literal implications. 🙂 To cut a long story short – you are often what you eat, literally. A case in my point would be people living in the seashore. Their staple food is, no points for guessing, fish. Go live among the fisherfolk and you’ll know better – seashores have the biggest incidents of violence! Check out any seashore in any part of the world – life would be turbulent there for reasons more than one. Wanna know why? What happens to a fish when you pull it out of water? It dies a violent death. And these people eat so much fish! 🙂 Those of you from India might know a lot of Brahmins – the caste known for their strict vegetarianism. They’re among the calmest people. Rarely do you see them in a fight. There’s this brahmin friend of mine who actually breaks down in tears if someone’s mock-fighting with him! A lack-of-aggression and calmness caused by stringent intake of vegetarian food. 😀
Some of you might think this is pure blasphemy or even downright crap. You have all right to freedom of expression and interpretation. 🙂 But I just have one thing to say – the next time you eat something, make sure that you eat it for the nutrients – not just for taste! 😛
P.S.
I recommend Vegetarian food. 🙂 Yes, I’ve turned veggie, thanks to Art Of Living and Prasanth. More on the ‘transformation’ later. 😀
P.P.S.
Of course, you wouldn’t be nuts once you start eating ’em! Eating nuts is good! : P 😛
I am a 100% non-veggie and proud of that fact. Why eat s**t and live two more years when you can eat well and live life. It’s life that famous quote “It’s better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees”
Beg to differ 😀 I havent eaten meat till now, touchwood, but I'm far different from your stereotypical brahmin.. Ask anyone whom I've got into a fight with! Heck, ask my dad!!
PS: Disgusting pic!!
I used to be a Vegan, after subjecting myself to a freebie DVD from PETA.
After a year of non-eating meat I decided to go back.
If I eat bull, and have the opportunity to become one, why lose on that?
to reinforce the point i made on facebook… i am not moved by the 'inhumane' treatmant of the sad creature that finally ends up in somebody's stomach anyway… i say, eat it, put an end to its misery… and i am a humanitarian non-vegetarian inasmuch as i don't eat fish, so i deserve extra red meat in compensation 🙂
u said it dude.. we are what we eat.. nice post.. n btw m a veggie too..
I beg to differ.. 🙂 You are what you eat, only if you don't supplement it with the right exercise regimen…
Is this post targeted at the poor IT junta out there who are stuck behind a desk from 8 to 8? 😉
PS: I am a member of PETA-People who Eat Tasty Animals 🙂
not very convincing…stop trying to be funny..let 'funny' take its course… keep bloggin …
ciao
Ya….. really a good one man…. i have also heard about this…. 'You are what you eat'…. and by the way who is that brahmin friend of yours who cries if someone mocks him?….
even though being a veggie myself, i dont find the non-vegetarians at fault. The aggression and calmness, I do not think can be related to the diets. There maybe soothing and aggression increasing foods n all, but you cannot generally say veggie's are better. There are good things available in non-veg foods items too.
Many of the points you mentioned are far far away from truth. First, you must understand the meaning of "staple" food[:D].
Staple–basic ingredient of diet: a food that forms the basis of the diet of the people of a region .
Eg-Rice is the staple food of Kerala.
The Fisher folk eats as much rice as a brahmins or nair does[:-|] .People cant survive on raw meat. If they eat all the fish they catch then what will they sell???
Secondly,Japanese have the largest per capita consumption of fish in the world . Are they more violent than an average veggie north indian??[:-P]
Thirdly,As per your argument fisher folk are violent because """"What happens to a fish when you pull it out of water? It dies a violent death""""
.
Then minority communities who regularly eat beef and mutton ought to be monsters if u take into account the gruesome and gory way in which cows/buffaloes/lambs are slaughtered for beef/mutton.[:-|]
Finally, The famous german vegetarian and "aryan" Adolf Hitler was responsible for the deaths of over 6,000,000 innocent Jewish men,women and children .So do we really need more "calm" ,"peaceful" and "non-aggressive" Hitlers?
Surya Narayan had told everything which I had in my mind after reading your post. I was a vegetarian from 2002 Dec till 2009 Jun (I still remember the day we met at Abhi's house – paavam Abhi's amma :(, prepared special veg curries for me). What ever food you take, be in fish, beef or paneer, it is broken down into the basic fatty/amino acids, glucose before getting assimilated into your body. So your stomach or brain doesn't have any idea about the source of these amino/fatty acids.
Thanks Surya Narayan for mentioning Adolf Hitler – peaceful Aryan and a veggie too!! 😉
btw… this Art of Living is CRAP!
Beg to differ with you bro!!!.. Veggie and calmness always don't go together.I can point out numerous exceptions. I even have a blog post which touch upon this issue on a different note..
Well written 🙂
What is with the fierce 'vegetarian' wild animals??? 😀
My non-veg content has a large proportion taken by sea food….but why am I not violent? Or am I? 😀
Sea food has a lot of nutrients not found for the same quantity in veg foods 🙂
"you are what u eat"!!!
really funny….
caste,food and character doesn have any relationship at all!!!