O ye people! Eat of what is on earth, lawful and good ..............
3 weeks ago I happen to listen to an interview on the Radio with a doctor. While he is an expert in some medical areas, some I cannot remember except of children and mother care, the other specialities just pass by my uneducated (medical) ears.
Hence, I decided to summarize what he said over the air. Because I am a natural remedy buff, and subscribe to his medical principles.
He was talking about how food can affect our health. A lot of time we misconstrue about halal food. As Muslims, we eat halal food, but we must now move to eat halal and toyib food.
Before I go on, I have to qualify myself by stating that I have taken the salient points and expanded it with some research on the internet on the subject. You will find at the bottom of the page the sites I have visited.
Halalan toyibban means allowed and permissible for consumption with relation to Syariah law as long as they are safe and not harmful. In other words the food is pure, with nutrients and it does not harm the body.
We know that what we eat is what we are. We don’t realize that some food may be halal but it is not necessary toyib.
Take for example the chicken which has high protein and within price range to the masses . During the raring of the chicks, and to ensure fast growth, they are given hormones, which is not good for babies, children, pregnant women and others in general.
And the antibiotics given to the chicken to ensure it’s healthy may kill some bacteria but not all, as a result we get new strains of viruses or bacteria such as the bird flue.
I found an article which says:
“1Antibiotics are medicinal products that have an anti-bacterial effect - they either kill bacteria in the system or keep them from reproducing, allowing the infected body to heal by producing its own defenses and overcome the infection.
One - side effect of taking antibiotics for an infection is that it can leave the body defenseless against other (non-bacterial) types of infections......
Widespread use of antibiotics for non-medicinal purposes, such as in cattle feed and in antibacterial hand soaps, is causing concern in the medical and pharmaceutical industries, since it is responsible for the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria....”
So, the best chicken we should eat is ayam kampung, chickens bred in the kampung , which eats bugs and stuff growing on the land. These chicken are a lot of times difficult to cook because they are tough. Our parents and forefathers have managed, I think we should be able to do cook it ,with enough intelligence.
Then, there was a mention of cancer. I think this was because the radio show was preempting the Relay For Life event which was organized by the National Cancer Malaysia society.
The right food can help to reduce the possibility of cancer. Everybody has cancer cell and due to environment or food we eat which gives it the push for it to grow. Some factor like Stress, smoking, pesticide, chemicals and pesticide in vegetables enhance generation of cancel cells
Sometimes due to stress, the food we eat will enhance the cancer cells. But studies show that sugar or glucose in the body is the fuel for cancer cells to grow. In general grains such as white rice, a form of carbohydrate will turn to sugar after being eaten.
There are other alternative good sugars such as gula melaka, honey, gula kabung or leaves which can be made into sugar.
There was an article which mentioned about the medicinal value of lemon grass which says:
‘2However, of late researchers are discovering that the lemon smell in herbs like Lemon grass have the ability to kill cancer cells in vitro while leaving healthy cells unharmed. Citral, which gives the lemon aroma to Lemon Verbena and Melissa as well as Lemon grass, functions as a natural herbal remedy for cancer by instigating 'apoptosis' in cancer cells. Apoptosis, or 'cell suicide' is a programmed cell death that does not release any harmful substance into surrounding areas and cells.’
‘3There was another study which concluded that substances found in galanga, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves - the main ingredients in the spicy soup - are 100 times more effective in inhibiting tumours than those found in other foods. They have discovered a type of antioxidant, called 1'- acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA), in the soup's ingredients, which was 100 times more effective in blocking cancer growths’
Grain used by Prophet Muhammad is like unprocessed-barley, which was grounded as flour.
When ground ,it has high vitamins and roughage. Which can be bought from an organic food shop.
In the olden days, my uncle used to eat banana pancakes made from sticky rice flour or rice flour but never from wheat.
The flour we get at the shop is processed white flour which have been bleached with clorox, which is harmful to the body. We can get raw unbleached flour from organic shops.
There have been success stories from cancer patients, who go for chemotherapy, but they take care of food. There is a 30% cure rate or they can survive up to 3-5 yrs more.
Sometimes even a baby in the womb is at risk to cancer through the mother’s life style and the food she eats.
Mothers play a big roll in giving enough nutrients to babies. There have been many reports on how good breastfeeding is for her baby.
As Muslims we should realize the Quran, has already stated very clearly about milk for babies.
2:233 The mothers shall give suck to their offspring for two whole years........
Milk from mothers to baby is the best possible food for babies, which not only provide food but it is also a form of antibiotics.
We think milk is good for us but we can get more nutrients in other food. While drinking milk gives us some nutrients, it also kills other important enzymes. This is because we usually get pasteurize milk; the milk is processed by heating it at a high temperature to kill bacteria.
I found an article which says:
‘4Pasteurizing milk destroys beneficial bacteria along with the bad ones and destroys enzymes essential for nutrient absorption. Pasteurizing milk destroys all its phosphates; This is essential for the absorption of calcium, and calcium works with Vitamin D, (not only available through sunshine but is an essential nutrient in raw cream). Nature packaged a superb design for human sustenance in milk as it comes from the cow with all original essential nutrients — so long as it is not pasteurized. Heating any raw food destroys the active enzymes, so lipase (an enzyme unique to milk and needed to complete digestion of fats) is blasted along with many other essential nutrients that pasteurization destroys.
The process also involves the milk to be spray dried and on high heat which kills the protein and fat and only leave some nutrients. We get the bad fat and spoiled protein which increase our cholesterol.’
He also said, the best way to take cow’s milk is by making yogurt out of it, but the cow must not be fed with antibiotics.
We can get good minerals in other ways other than from milk such as nuts, almonds, ‘tempe’ , ‘dhall’, ‘tahini’ or ‘bijan’.
Based on the ‘sunnah’, Prophet Muhammad drinks fresh milk from goat or camel . It was just warmed up to about 60 centigrade. Which is same as mothers milk.
Food is a factor which is important to ensure good health. Living style is also important.
We are to sleep at night, because the growth hormone works only at night especially for the old and babies.
There are 3 factors for a baby to grow well, love, food, proper sleep. Working mothers are most affected because they work during the day, but will wake up 3-4 times to feed the baby at night. This will not only disturb the growth of the baby but also the mother who later will look haggard and unnecessarily grow older.
Working late into the night can also increase the chances of cancer, high blood pressure, diabetic and fat.
Getting organic food can be expensive. But alternatives such as ‘bubur kacang’ is good for the body, because coconut milk is good for the body.
Talking about coconut milk brings us to the subject of cholesterol which can be reduce by alternative means. ‘Contrary to popular belief, coconut milk which has coconut oil does not increase cholesterol because it has more of the shorter-length type of saturated fat molecules (known as lauric acid and myristic acid. Dr. Mary Enig MS (Nutritional Sciences), Ph.D. reported in her article that the effects of coconut oil on persons with low cholesterol levels was the opposite of persons with high cholesterol levels. Of persons with low total cholesterol counts, she wrote that "there may be a rising of serum cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and especially HDL cholesterol." In persons with high cholesterol levels, "there is lowering of total cholesterol (and LDL cholesterol)." The studies she cited showed that in both groups the LDL/HDL ratio moved in a favorable direction. And it is also a natural antibiotic for babies’.
Sticky oil means it has already been hydrogenated. This is because 5hydrogenation is the process of heating an oil and passing hydrogen bubbles through it. The fatty acids in the oil then acquire some of the hydrogen, which makes it more dense, hence sticky. Trans fatty acids are formed when vegetable oils are hydrogenated or heated to high temperatures. With high temperatures, trans fatty acids are fats that are twisted, which alter their natural "cis" shape.’
Another interesting point he said was, Olive oil is not supposed to be cooked and best taken as it is.
Finally, a caller enquired about his wife ,who is asthmatic, and breast feed her baby. The child will not be asthmatic due to the feeding unless the mother takes ‘outside’ milk , or the father smokes, or they burn mosquito coils .It is worse if they use a vaporizer versus mosquito coil. Asthma is also caused by rubbing talcum powder onto the baby because the powder is very fine and can go into the lungs.
It’s never too late to change our diet.
[1] http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-antibiotics.htm
[2] http://my.88db.com/my/Knowledge/Knowledge_Detail.page?kid=11068
[3] http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thai-Soup-Powerful-Antioxidant-t55945.html
[4] http://wewantorganicfood.com/2008/01/26/pasteurizing-milk-destroys-essential-nutrients/
[5] http://www.treelight.com/health/nutrition/PartiallyHydrogenatedOils.html
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