The Power of the Media

Prior to this, I had never cooked bamboo shoots because I never thought of it. I saw this can in the JUMBO supermarket by chance and decided to try it out.

I have never heard of Taksan Noodles. Yet its texture seemed a little like the Indo Mie instant noodles. So I got this. It contains no colouring at all. When I shop now, I avoid all E colouring if possible.

Our lunch for today was hubby's favourite. I am glad he liked my noodles. For an extra oomph factor, I had added in a spoonful of sambal while cooking. 

Today my Dutch class spent nearly three hours exclusively on the issue of media, hitting bulls’ eye on the television and its effects in distorting our impression on real life. In the end my teacher had dismissed the research article. He said that television enhances our daily life and we humans are not that stupid to be influenced by everything aired on the black box.

Yet to a certain extent I believe that the television is a mighty tool for brain-washing. To rephrase it nicely – to put us in awe – hit me straight in the tummy…

I had watched Jamie Oliver on telly just three days ago and now I was either brain-washed by him or he had put me in awe on living a healthier lifestyle. Note that I believe that I am already healthy but of course, there is always room for improvement and wacky jump-starts. His programme had people as voluntary guinea pigs. Each person’s food preference, intake and fitness were measured. One volunteer said that she always indulged in a small cupcake daily, believing it to be no big deal. After all, she was eating healthily.

Our good (or maybe not so good now) Jamie Oliver listened to her. Then he said that it was her choice naturally and there was nothing wrong in having a small cupcake (maybe it was not cupcake but a little snack) daily. Yet he had to go one step further. He had a computer programme which took a full body mug shot of her from the front and side, like a criminal. Then he calculated the amount of calories the cupcake contained and included it in her mug shot data. He multiplied the calories taken with 365 days – exactly one year from now on her mug shot.

Perhaps he did it for dramatic effect. The woman’s size ballooned quite drastically and she became obese. Jamie pointed out that an extra cupcake a day would have a long term effect on the body. So even if we believe we are not doing ourselves any harm short term, we might be well growing seeds of obesity in the future.

This woke me up…I have indulged sometimes in the occasional snack a few times a week. Perhaps it is now time for less is more.

I told this to dear hubby who said that Jamie Oliver did not take into account exercise as a source of losing weight. If that woman had exercised, she would not have been obese with just one cupcake a day. Hubby’s ever rational reasoning makes sense. Jamie Oliver was not 100 % correct!

Perhaps hubby had wanted to justify himself with his chocolate eating habits; I am not sure. Yet since Monday, I tried to avoid any food stuff in the market with E colouring or preservatives. Although I was craving for Indo Mie instant noodles with healthy salad, I forced myself to cook healthier noodles without any E colouring at the very least.

So this was what I had for lunch today. Noodles with bamboo shoots and salad vegetables. The tin of bamboo shoots only contained bamboo and salt as its ingredients. Hubby liked it a lot but I found the bamboo shoots to be a tad salty.

Good lunch; it filled the tummy and now I am hungry again! But no, I am not going to eat unhealthily. I am going to eat my two apples per day…by the way, apples really fill the stomach.

So moral of the story – the television is indeed a powerful tool for brain-washing in a nice way! Now, perhaps I should join his fan club…

1814, July 20^th, 2012

On an unusually late warm evening