Our parting wish for our friends is always “stay well”. In Bengali we say bhalo theko.
Very often the older generation says the new generation is a weakling. We fall sick very often and have no stamina. Our eyes, our hair, skin… nothing can stand in comparison to the oldies.
They may be right. However our generation also faces unprecedented stress. An entire generation of Indian women here in the US is wasting away at home. Rotting. Having worked hard at educating ourselves we find ourselves exerting at dishes and laundry or at best carpet stains.
Men don’t know when they might be booted out of their jobs. They have to now work, help at home, look after the baby, and also forge ahead in life. Not easy!
What is easy is to pick up any food that is instant or readily available and gobble it up! In the name of nutrition a lot of companies are becoming fat and unfortunately the consumer is too. We now face a huge obesity problem. And it is huge!
I have seen countless kids greedily gobbling down junk and yet can’t be bothered to even touch a single vegetable. Even I was beginning to think like my dad’s generation: these kids don’t know what’s good for them. I myself have never ever skipped on breakfast. Generally I never ate any ready-made product for breakfast. It was all completely home-made except for milk. Somehow I thought everyone from my generation is very health conscious. I am talking about Indians. Do not know enough about others to comment about them.
I was wrong! I have seen women not eat anything for breakfast at all. Only running on tea or coffee. Eating their lunch at 12.30 pm somehow seems to make it alright for them. Even when they are pregnant! In at least 4 cases, I have seen their babies have a very high reflux problem. Always vomiting. Always. As much as 10 to 12 times a day.
Then the mothers keep trying various things to stop the babies from vomiting and to eat a few morsel. But it doesn’t work. In all of these cases, I closely asked them their diet. Now I am no nutritionist and yet I know drinking tea/coffee on an empty stomach isn’t good. How do I know?
My father was a tea addict. He would start with bed tea. One of my first duties in the morning was to make him tea. He sometimes had a cookie or bread with it. But most times it was on empty stomach. While he was completely healthy during his entire youth, consequences struck when he hit his 50s.
One morning he started vomiting blood and had to be rushed to hospital. The doctors kept asking us if my father was an alcoholic. And we kept trying to convince the docs that he never touched alcohol. After a detailed investigation, the cause turned out to be our humble tea.
While tea itself doesn’t harm much, what is harmful is its acidic effect on an empty stomach. The stomach lining is very soft so tea on an empty stomach is akin to pouring acid on a soft tissue.
All the women have argued that they have never faced acidity problems even though they are drinking tea/coffee since childhood. As an adult one may be able to handle acidity but a newborn has no such ability. All I can say: What is easier? To make a little sandwich for yourself with the tea or to clean up your baby’s vomit.
I know there has been no study on this topic. But then no studies have ever been undertaken specific to Indian habits. Yet it is too much of a coincidence to ignore. Besides any nutritionist worth his/her degree will tell you breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So pleaseeeeee…especially all you pregnant ladies ..stop drinking tea on empty stomachs and start eating a healthy breakfast.
Very often the older generation says the new generation is a weakling. We fall sick very often and have no stamina. Our eyes, our hair, skin… nothing can stand in comparison to the oldies.
They may be right. However our generation also faces unprecedented stress. An entire generation of Indian women here in the US is wasting away at home. Rotting. Having worked hard at educating ourselves we find ourselves exerting at dishes and laundry or at best carpet stains.
Men don’t know when they might be booted out of their jobs. They have to now work, help at home, look after the baby, and also forge ahead in life. Not easy!
What is easy is to pick up any food that is instant or readily available and gobble it up! In the name of nutrition a lot of companies are becoming fat and unfortunately the consumer is too. We now face a huge obesity problem. And it is huge!
I have seen countless kids greedily gobbling down junk and yet can’t be bothered to even touch a single vegetable. Even I was beginning to think like my dad’s generation: these kids don’t know what’s good for them. I myself have never ever skipped on breakfast. Generally I never ate any ready-made product for breakfast. It was all completely home-made except for milk. Somehow I thought everyone from my generation is very health conscious. I am talking about Indians. Do not know enough about others to comment about them.
I was wrong! I have seen women not eat anything for breakfast at all. Only running on tea or coffee. Eating their lunch at 12.30 pm somehow seems to make it alright for them. Even when they are pregnant! In at least 4 cases, I have seen their babies have a very high reflux problem. Always vomiting. Always. As much as 10 to 12 times a day.
Then the mothers keep trying various things to stop the babies from vomiting and to eat a few morsel. But it doesn’t work. In all of these cases, I closely asked them their diet. Now I am no nutritionist and yet I know drinking tea/coffee on an empty stomach isn’t good. How do I know?
My father was a tea addict. He would start with bed tea. One of my first duties in the morning was to make him tea. He sometimes had a cookie or bread with it. But most times it was on empty stomach. While he was completely healthy during his entire youth, consequences struck when he hit his 50s.
One morning he started vomiting blood and had to be rushed to hospital. The doctors kept asking us if my father was an alcoholic. And we kept trying to convince the docs that he never touched alcohol. After a detailed investigation, the cause turned out to be our humble tea.
While tea itself doesn’t harm much, what is harmful is its acidic effect on an empty stomach. The stomach lining is very soft so tea on an empty stomach is akin to pouring acid on a soft tissue.
All the women have argued that they have never faced acidity problems even though they are drinking tea/coffee since childhood. As an adult one may be able to handle acidity but a newborn has no such ability. All I can say: What is easier? To make a little sandwich for yourself with the tea or to clean up your baby’s vomit.
I know there has been no study on this topic. But then no studies have ever been undertaken specific to Indian habits. Yet it is too much of a coincidence to ignore. Besides any nutritionist worth his/her degree will tell you breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So pleaseeeeee…especially all you pregnant ladies ..stop drinking tea on empty stomachs and start eating a healthy breakfast.
