Thursday, January 14, 2010

Kundru Posto Not

Ok, so that 7 Day Challenge I was doing last week didn't work. I mean didn't work as in I fell off the wagon *THWACK* 3 days into it. Not my fault really, it was the hub.

He went and got goat meat on Day 4. Who does that, tell me ? If I am saying "lean meat" or "no meat" how does it point to this. But then again he did it for Baby A's nanny, who is going away on a vacation and so we wanted to have a special dinner for her before she left. On the aside, we also wanted her to cook that goat meat, 'coz she makes it real good. So long story short, I had goat meat with white rice on Day 4 which is a sacrilege if you are doing "7 Day of No Carb" and which thus declares the whole Challenge null and void.

But seriously we all need a lifestyle change. Boys in the age of 6 to 19 in this country, have an obesity problem and this year the data shows that though the obesity epidemic in the US had reached a plateau, boys in this age are an exception. Now why do you think it is ONLY boys in this age group are affected ? What about girls ? It is not that I want girls to go and eat junk and be obese but really what is the difference in their metabolism that is making the poor boys fatter ? I think teenage girls have a controlled weight more due to societal pressure than a healthier lifestyle and I really don't know which one is better.

One thing I have noticed though, other than the daily intake of unhealthy foods by kids here there is very little in terms of exercise in the schools, especially in the winter months. As a kid, our school had an hours recess and 2 huge playgrounds, not to mention the basketball court. Everyday after lunch we would play some game that required a lot of running and sweating.

In sharp contrast here in my daughter's school, the recess during the winter months is spent in the classroom doing sedentary work. There is little or no regular exercise at home either, now if you add McD to all this, what do you get -- OBESITY.

But all is not lost for the boys. The Y chromosome which appeared to be in "an evolutionary freefall" with just 70 or 80 genes left, is not receding. Even with the less number of genes that it has right now, Y chromosome is evolving at a faster and rapid pace. So Men do change, hmmmmmpf !!!!

I liked what one of the commenters said in this article "So, this means that female genes help us trace where we've been and male genes can tell us where we're heading to"

Now back to food. I had Kundru Posto in my draft today waiting to be posted . But I am not going to post it. Instead I will ask you to take a moment and spare a thought for Haiti. They need clean water, food and shelter. In short they need your help. If you want to make donations to charities involved in the earthquake relief effort at Haiti, you can select one from the list here.

To make donations to Haiti Earthquake Children's Fund go here

You can also donate for a shelterbox, more information at Jugalbandi.

The recipe, we will do that tomorrow. Oh and no pithe puli this Sankranti, maybe next time.

12 comments:

  1. So, is it difficult to find goat meat there? as opposed to lamb I mean...

    The lack of exercise for kids is growing to epidemic proportions what with multi storeyed apartments and no place to play.

    The variety of games we used to play as a child - lagori, hopscotch, hide and seek which lasted hours - are almost extinct now. I am lucky that we moved to Delhi from Chennai - there is a park every 1 km in our area and the kids really love playing for an hour each day. In Chennai, she used to be home for most of the week...

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  2. I understand the winter is harsh in east coast. Here, pretty much no winter (except few rainy days) kids play/eat outside everyday. Sad part CA is going out of budget "everywhere", so no PE/music/science teacher, but our healthy governor only signed the bill to ban the Trans Fat in Rest effective from this year! First quest asked by husb and son, could we eat more deep fried food outside? I feel it is all about metabo,I ve done one week no-carb diet but gained back the few pounds I lost :) even though I cooked for my family!

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  3. Good luck on the next try but looks lik with that meat and rice its hard to resist! I could see more obsity in India too because of the growing eating habits here. I make a concious effort to cook all the snacks for them at home. But still they come and talk about what their friends eat outside and they would ask me to buy very single thing they see in the advertisements. Somewhow I am cajoling them but not sure how long. Wishing you happy Sankranti too!

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  4. The new schools in India too don't have any place for play. The emphasis for the last 20 years has been on mugging and entrance exams, and that is what all edu institutions are geared to.

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  5. Here i have never sene goat mmeat and i think goat meat is the best.
    Hi hi and here i was thinkin you ant tomake a special meal for the nanay andyou waned to have her made the meat as it is the best.
    It is not just in US even in India they have a huge problem with wight issue with kids, even here too.

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  6. Personally, I know most middle school girls eat just fries(vegetable?) for lunch and some of them in high school even start smoking just to lose wt or not gain at all since smoking makes them not crave for food!!
    Trisha and her friends had to do a "intervention" for one of her friends who is already suffering from Migraine and Uterine Polyps as a 14-15 yr old, but she was happy that she fits into size 2 jeans! She did stop smoking after a year thankfully, has not gone back since.Most of Tushar's friends are also over wt, I think because parents are too tired and take them for junk fast often. One of my neighbors was building a empty food can Pyramid in her garage, she has 3 kids!! :D

    Mutton!! Slurp!! EAT some girl!! More meat, less rice is fine.

    I practically grew up on trees when I was young, used to walk miles to to a friends house. My kids idea of exercise is Gym at school and developing arm muscle playing Guitar Hero and drums!They have no clue how to climb a tree at all unless you pay and send them to camp or something.SAD.

    School system has improved in NC fortunately. It's lot better for Tushar than Trisha when she was in HS.

    Sra is right, Indian schools have become a huge business than teaching kids how to aspire to become what they want. It's always what parents want you to be. Hope they realize and change sooner than later.

    Have a great weekend Sandeepa. We have planned to go to Monster Truck Jam tomorrow and probably go to see "The book Eli" if anybody is willing to go with me! Heck! I will go alone if I have to.

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  7. Sandeepa, if you look at the FDA website you would be surprised to find goat meat listed as leaner than chicken!!

    DD2's school makes them go out and play for half hour cold or no cold, it's a tiny with a big play ground, one of the reasons I love the Montessori way of life .

    I heard a story on NPR about short sightedness (myopia) having increased 30% among kids. Studies show, no it is not watching too much TV or reading with their face stuck in the books(seems there is no scientific proof for that), it is kids not getting outside and playing, diminishing exposure to nature is the main reason sighted.

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  8. It's really sad that kids nowadays don't play outdoors. Obesity is a huge problem in the US isn't it? In the UK, I do find that people are fit - neither obese nor skinny. Now that makes me feel, well, pleasantly plump?!

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  9. LOL, that sounds just like my story... I survived the first week, then we went on a trip and after we got back home I really needed some comfort food. So white rice and chicken curry it was!
    It is fine, just get back on that wagon!

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  10. Miri

    I usually find it at Arabic stores not at American groceries.

    In summer it is really nice here and our community has a park and also the kids ride bike etc. BUt then summer is really short so you are stuck with mostly indoor activities in winter

    Cham

    The no-carb works for me, but then I try to continue the trend even after the week in a not so strict sense. Like I restrict carb only to dinner etc. Also try to eat more veggies and beans and dal to fill me up

    Nirmala

    That is really great. It also is due to more of computer games etc. and less outside play

    Sra

    That is sad :(

    HC

    Yeah I like goat meat too but we don't have it too often

    Asha

    See, that is what I thought. They are not eating healthy, just being anorexic
    About the school system in India, please please go and watch "3 Idiots", it is like they read your mind

    Indo

    S's pre-school did that too. Made sure every one had coat/mittens on and they played outside twice a day for half an hour.

    This older kids school doesn't do that

    Jyo

    I really don't know how much of a problem it is though they keep discussing it. I don't think the average American is obese, to me it looks like people from certain ethnicity are more obese

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  11. Sandeepa, DD's school has gym time other than recess time 3 times a week. By gym time I mean rigorous where they have to do running laps, rock climbing, basketball, games etc, the regular. Added to that for the past 2 years Texas has made a Fitness class compulsory twice a day(esp. meant for overwt. kids), but everyone HAS to participate. In fitness class they have to do push ups(as many as 50-75 sometimes), and other wt. control stuff! Sometimes I wished they had less activity since during summer, DD was getting sick with so much running etc. Besides that they have tons of incentive programs and prizes encouraging kids to eat fruits and veggies. I am happy tho'.

    Goat meat makes me drool anytime of the day and I can imagine how your thingy went void:-)

    We donated for the Haiti fund.

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  12. There is indeed a growing problem on obesity among children in the U.S. This is the reason why I always enroll my kids in sports clinics such as gymnastics and martial arts to keep them fit and healthy.

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