Wax Coating Apple Fruits-Healthy or Unhealthy

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. May be not, especially if the fruit shines. Rather avoid eating a shining apple keeps doctor at bay. This is because the shine comes from wax coated on the apples. When I am eating freshly picked juicy and mouth watering apple, my taste buds explode with the goodness of each bite. Some days back I was eating an apple with the skin on and my mom was like," eww you should have peeled it, apple skin contains bad chemicals" I think she is just crazy though. Now I realize why she yelled on me? Previously, I was unheard of possible effects of apple waxing thus I was unable stop myself to buy the fresh apples whenever my eyes fell upon them. But nowadays, I have been pondering how safe is the wax on apples? What bugs me is the wax that covers the apples; to supposedly preserve them. How safe is this? What actually is it? Apples have natural wax coating on their surface. You can observe this when you pluck an apple from a tree and rub it with your hands. If there is natural waxing then what is the need of artificial one? Who asked for a shining apple? Everyone wants an apple which keeps us healthy.

Apple waxing is the process of covering apple with artificial waxing material. Waxing materials may be either natural or petroleum-based. The prime reasons for waxing are to prevent water loss and thus retard shrinkage and spoilage, and to improve appearance. This practice is very common, especially in supermarkets. Thin layer of wax is coated on apples, either by dipping, brushing or spraying with waxes. If an apple looks very glossy and shiny, it is to be suspected. Herein I have listed few steps to remove wax from apples:

Step 1: Fill your sink with five inches of lukewarm water

Step 2: Add one tbsb lemon juice and one tbsb baking soda

Step 3: Soak your apples in the water for ten minutes

Step 4: Use a veggie brush and brush the outside of apples

Step 5: Then, you will see the wax disappear and the water becomes cloudy

What Remains: Are you the same person a minute a minute ago??

Close your eyes and clear your heart and think a while ---- Are you the same person a minute ago? What a juvenile question. Obviously you are. You have the same physiological process – the same skin, the same bones, and the same muscles, the same (more or less) neurons, the same synapses, the same blood vessels and connective tissue inside your skull. More overpoweringly, you have the same memories. And unless something alarming happens to you, like an almighty thwack on the head, you have the impression of an uninterrupted range of consciousness.

               The more you think about it, the more you recognize that you are not the same person you were even a couple of second ago. On a molecular and atomic level you are not somewhat the same person you were a couple of second ago.

And it is not just the material structure of our body that changes, every year, every hour, and every second. I am moving, constantly and unstoppably. If we sit as still as we can we are still rotating at about 450 mph around the Earth’s axis, and at 66,000 mph around that of the Sun. Every microsecond we occupy another wodge of space–time. Our makeup and position is changing all the time.

This is the point to ponder. I am delving into this topic nowadays. It’s an introductory part. I am gonna post final part ASAP. 

Are Animals Smart??

Defining intelligence and smartness is not easy. Is it ability for abstract thought: communication, reasoning, or problem solving? It's a troubling concept for humans because we know we have it but we're not so sure what, exactly it is. And traditionally, humans have considered their intelligence to be superior to that of the rest of earth's inhabitants.  Human cognitive abilities are remarkable. Our mental agility has allowed us to adapt to a vast range of environments, and even to adapt our environments to suit ourselves. We've been clever enough to eradicate most of our competitors and to spread over most of the earth .Animals, it has long been thought, have a degree of intelligence but certainly nothing that could compare to humanity's proclivity for innovation and emotional understanding. Animals are the multi-cellular organisms that have well-defined shape and usually limited growth, can move voluntarily, actively acquire food for survival and have sensory and nervous system that allow them to respond to stimuli. Animals have several characteristics that set them apart from other living things.

Some animals have certain sets of skills and smarts that are mind-boggling. Recently, however, a series of observations have challenged this idea. Some of the creatures intelligent and smart like humans found by observations are pointed below:

·        Apes: Well, apes are creatures which show same kind of affinity to human beings. There has been extensive and well-documented research that has found evidence of some key elements of high intelligence in ape species including self awareness, emotional understanding, problem solving and reasoning, culture, and language.

·        Elephants: Another animal that has, upon closer examination, shown signs of higher intelligence is the elephant. Recent research, however, revealed that elephants a capable of working together to solve problems. 

·        Crows: Crows exhibit high-level of intelligence just like humans. These clever birds have been observed crafting and using specific and specialized tools to gather food. However, their amazing capacity for fast adaptation and ability to live in cities show they could be a lot more than they are today. And who knows, one day they might top us.

·        Dolphin: Dolphins are among the most intelligent animals. They are always friendly and take delight in playing with people. Dolphins have a cerebral cortex which is about 40% larger a human being's. Their cortex is also stratified in much the same way as a human. Because of their lovely appearance and high intelligence, many people began to keep them in a zoo or at sea world.

·        Dogs: Dogs have been trained to guard/protect, herd, hunt, search/rescue, assist (e.g. guide dogs for the blind) and perform circus tricks, obedience or agility classes. This makes them smart as well.

In my opinion, although animals are smart, intelligence, creative and emotional like humans, the problem is they can’t express their feeling. In this sense, we can’t call them dull or unfeeling. We humans have the ability to learn, to reason and solve problems. We're self-aware, and we're also conscious of the presence, thoughts and feelings of others. We make tools and practice the art of deception. We're creative. We think abstractly. We have language and use it to express complex ideas. All of these are arguably signs of intelligence. Thus, one of the most obvious things that prove that humans are smarter than animals is the things that we have invented nothing more than that.

                                                                                       

J J J J  Those Infamous Pad J J J J 

                        J J J J J

 

How Much Money Do We Have? Why Do People Die?  Why do I have two eyes if I only see one thing? What is God? Where did I come from? Stop asking. Be quiet. Don't bother me. Responses like these may tell a child that curiosity is unimportant or annoying. But in fact, young children are naturally curious and it’s the way how they learn new things. The world of a young child is full of new foods to taste, new people to meet, new games to play, new words to understand, new places to visit, and new concepts to master. The infant and toddler will touch, taste, smell, climb over, poke at, take apart, watch, listen, and learn more than at any other time in life. It is, simply, how we learn.  However, sometimes a young child's style of exploration can be quite side-splitting.

We are exposed to thousands of advertisements a day. They come at us in many different ways, and we should know what they're trying to doing to us. We all enjoy catchy ads mainly because of pleasing visuals and short interesting plot. But not always would one grasp the meaning or application of the products, trying being sold. Women’s sanitary pads were, for long an item of closed book to guys. I mean as a boy child who watches TV and therefore exposed to whole lot of ads shown. Like sanitary napkins, there are ads on chocolates, shampoos, soaps, cold drinks, chow- chow (instant noodles), and cars and so on, which one could make sense quite easily. They made sense because one knew stuffs like- you eat chocolates (or chocolate overdose spoils one’s teeth), shampoo is to wash your hair making it silky shiny and what not, cars are moving automobiles and you drive them and go to long ride on them. Most probably I was nine in those times that I may have first seen one or two ads on those mysterious pads. Being a girl also those advertisements were completely strange for me as every parent is not comfortable talking to their children about sanitary napkins. When a child ask a question only parent are hasty to switch the television. Sounds quite baffling! But it is the bitter truth. I had no clue about those pad’s ads. ‘’What the hell are those?’’- used to be my possible reaction. See what type of advertisement we all used to encounter at those times. There would be a girl riding a bicycle or playing tennis...and then two pads would pop out on which a gel would be poured and later one of the pad would absorb it completely while the other would not. And at the end the girl would have a big smile and then would ride bicycle or play tennis more comfortably, confidently and aggressively. I hadn't figured out about any correlation between the pad and the girl’s confidence level like some weird internet research claims positive correlation between I-pad owners and luckiness.  Or in some other ads girl would say something like ,’I can now go out for the party tonight.. Thank you pad’’ (I am not naming any pads, because they aren't paying me for this one). You dare not ask...I don’t think anyone would volunteer telling it to you. So those notorious ads bemused me and I hope you guys too have had similar experience at some point. May be it was; ads of some other products that bewildered you. Only because I had no knowledge or information about their applications as I had for chocolates, shampoos or cars (which also figured in the ads). But repeatedly seeing only girls being shown in its ads, I had made a wild guess that they should be for girls but how and why they use it, was still far fetched idea for me in those times.

 The reason I am writing this plot today is , just few hours ago I got to see yet another  similar add- it had girls in it too but only difference was-it had ground breaking concept. Girls were on a boating spree and accidentally one of them drops the pad from her bag into the lake…guess what, that soaks whole lake and  dries it to desert. What follows is weird smile in their faces….RIOTOUS isn't it. Girls for your pad’s sake don’t ever go boating with that pad in your bag (laughs).

Note! Advertisements (or ‘ads’ as I have used herein) indeed, are forefront Marketing tools. And often they create unintended impression and undeserved hype.

Food politics: What's on my food?

You are wandering down a busy thoroughfare, when your eyes fall upon the delectable laden trolley of a fruit vendor. Instead you know well that you are already late for home, and yet you don’t think twice about stopping near the fruit seller to buy a dozen, especially in summers. But think twice before you buy because it may be a sure-shot ticket to hospital for you and your family. There is a familiar saying –All that glitters is not gold. The same holds true for fruits and vegetables sold in Nepalese markets —all that looks green and fresh are not secure for public. Shocking cases of vegetables and fruits sold in every nook and corner of the country being injected with highly dangerous chemicals to make them look fresh, colorful and shiny have become matter of distress for us. Nowadays, the basic food issues: adulteration and artificial ripening have come to light.

Artificial Ripening:

Fruits and vegetables are highly nutritious and key food of the human. The best way to stay healthy is consuming seasonal fruits when braving scorching summer days. Fruits are a necessary part of a healthy diet as they are a great source of vitamins that are needed to maintain your body. Naturally, ripening begins with the dissipation of chlorophyll in the plant. The starches turn into natural sugars and the acids are broken down. The fruit’s hard exterior begins to get soft and the aromatic molecules begin to fill the air.  The tree’s hormones release ethylene gas which is what causes the ripening effect. In recent times, there is great concern about artificial ripening of fruits. Ripening is a process in fruits that causes them to become edible. Ripening is done through gas emission systems or ethylene generator systems, depending on quality and shelf life desired. The chemicals or agents are used to ripe fruits as early as artificially. Nowadays, several artificial ripeners are available and used such as calcium carbide, acetylene gas, carbon monoxide, potassium sulfate, ethephon, potassium dihydrogen arthoposphate, putrisein, oxytocin, photoporphyrinogen, etc. Though fruits like mango, banana naturally ripen in trees; some chemicals are used to ripen them artificially which speed up the ripening process. All the distributors and retailers use certain methods to increase their shelf life and earn more profit without thinking of effects of chemical on human health.  After countless studies, ripening agents are toxic and has been linked to a wide range of human health hazards quite often death-defying to a person's health. Chemicals used for artificial ripening of fruits can cause cancer. The IARC (International Agency for Research of Cancer) has listed a number of chemical agents that can cause cancer. Even serious health problems such as heart disease, skin disease, lung failure and kidney failure can also crop up. Scientists have also reported that regular consumption of artificial-ripened fruits may cause dizziness, weakness, skin ulcer and heart related diseases. Shocking cases of chemical injection is that cucumbers are injected to look attractive red and bigger. Thus, this practice has been going on for ages and has very pathetic and feeble upshots to public health.

Common practices of artificial ripening

• Lady’s fingers are dyed in copper sulphate to make them look greener

• Brinjals treated with condemned oil for that shiny look

• Tomatoes injected to look attractive red and bigger

• Calcium carbide and ether are used to artificially ripe Bananas

•  Most mustard oil brands contain iron beyond permissible limits.

• A host of rice varieties available in the market are artificially whitened using the toxic fertilizer

• Carrots are dipped in red water
• Bananas is ripened through scientific ways will have uniform color, good taste and longer shelf life

  Chemicals used in Artificial Ripening:

Adulteration:

What's in our food? Quite often, reading the list of ingredients or the nutrition facts label may not let know the real story. When profit in business is more important than morality, food adulteration has become rampant each and every food items such as water, milk, edible oil and ghee, substandard noodles, biscuits and soon. Food adulteration, also known as "food fraud," occurs intentionally either by the admixture or substitution of inferior substances partially or fully with something or by the removal of some valuable ingredient- without the knowledge of the consumer. Adulteration has not spared anything in our kitchen shelf. According to recent report there is various adulterated food items used in our daily diet. For instance, mixing turmeric with yellow metallic powder, chili powder is mixed with brick’s powder and talcum powder and mixing ghee and butter with vanaspati are some of the old tricks. Similarly, take a look at some sweets like jalebis and boondi—they are unnaturally yellow. Adulterated food is impure, unsafe, or unwholesome food as its consumption affects our health and in a way may be termed as a slow killer which may turn out to be worse than death. Food adulteration with poisonous chemical can cause diseases cancer like colon, peptic ulcer diseases, and chronic liver diseases including cirrhosis and liver failure, electrolyte imbalance and eventually kidney failure. Heart diseases, blood disorders and bone marrow abnormality are also detected. Chance of malignancy increases and neurological impairment or brain functions, skin problems are frequently seen including allergic manifestation. It creates health hazards and can kill human being; even then we forget everything just for business interest.

 fig. Fish dipped in formalin to keep fresh: very harmful for human health.

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fig. Some common adulteration examples and their effects on health

We are very unfortunate that we all are missing naturally ripened and fresh fruits and vegetables. The artificial ripening and adulteration has opened a new era on promoting disease. The ill practice to loot consumer in the name of fresh food items has been going on for ages. On the other side it has also cropping up various health problems and degrading human health. The best way to avoid these health problems is prevention. There are many steps we can take to ensure this.  We should create awareness in the local community on the ill effects of food adulteration so that when it happens the public knows when to seek help. The concept of green consumerism should be implemented. Thus, the concerned authority should be made responsible regarding these quality assurance.