UPDATE on June 24, 2009 @ 9.50 p.m. For those who have been asking about coffee alamid, please read My Civet Coffee Experience. And here’s a photo of the palm civet (alamid).
Last week, over cups of coffee alamid, a lawyer friend, Eric Santos, and I were discussing a syllabus for the Internet and Law subject that we used to co-teach and Eric mentioned that he wanted to include “information overload” in the outline. I couldn’t agree more.
Later, I would mull over specific examples of how information overload can be dangerous. I thought about all the conflicting health studies I have read and written about including coffee versus green tea, butter versus margarine, misconceptions about the coconut and its by-products, the “untold truths” about sugar and sugar substitutes, and how proponents of these health studies ought to be more transparent in informing the public as to which company or companies funded the studies – bias, or lack thereof, always a pivotal issue in determining the true value of any research.
Over the weekend, I received a fast forwarded e-mail from my friend Jet David, a nurse in California. The e-mail, a very irreverent look at health fads, cracked me up as it summed up nicely my own beliefs as to why health studies contradict and why we should be wary about information overload. I just felt it was too good not to be shared with you.
Note that the source of the Q & A is unverified, it is all over the internet as a “humor piece” but I do encourage you to go beyond the humor and start assessing just how many of your health beliefs are valid and how many were borne out of FEAR that unless you start patronizing certain products and services, you are likely to drop dead before you’ve lived a full life. Health, after all, is a multi-billion dollar business.
The full text of the forwarded e-mail is below.
Q: Doctor, I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it… don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.
Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!
Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.
Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can’t think of a single one, sorry… My philosophy is: No Pain… Good!
Q: Aren’t fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!!!… Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they’re permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.
Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans!! Another vegetable!!! It’s the best feel-good food around!
Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.
Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! ‘Round’ is a shape!
Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.
And REMEMBER: ‘Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body but, rather, to skid in sideways – Chardonnay in one hand – chocolate in the other – body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ‘WOO HOO, What a Ride’
AND for those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final word on nutrition and health. It’s a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.
he he, the writer is not American no? Anyway, if you will listen to all these health studies, wala ka na puede kainin
So the key nga is moderation.
This cracked me up! Especially the ones about what cows eat. This reminds me of my student days at IRRI, where lunch is usually multinational – our table consisting of two Filipinos, one Indonesian, two Indians, one Korean and two Chinese. We don respect each other’s food requirements but sometimes tease each other too. Like we ask the vegetarian Hindu student why he doesn’t eat beef when cows are vegetarian…
Gay
Dinah, “the writer is not American”… I don’t really know. But the writing does sound American. And I agree about the fear that many of these studies generate — with the able and willing media that love to sensationalize. Haaaaayyy…
Gay, I’d love to hear his answer to that one hehehehe
nice post! that really brightened my day haha. That coffee alamid looks really yummy, where can I buy that? I hope its available in leading supermarkets or something, otherwise I will be craving this forever!
Perhaps you or some of your readers here can help me regarding putting up a Twitter account. I notice you don’t feed your tweets to your blog, do you even have one? Other bloggers do this though. Pls look through my post.
The jar of coffee alamid beans was a present.
Sure, I have a Twitter account. And sure they are in this blog — maybe you didn’t look hard enough.
Hehe reminds me of Tatay. He used to count his calorie intake & said years ago that he will only eat 1 egg per week. Then years later he said he read a news report saying eggs are good and actually lowers cholesterol. He’s given up reading & counting
He’s still “conscious” about his health. In fact he’s taking supplements left & right. But he stopped listening to supposed new studies’ recommendation.
Smart man. hehehe Very smart. Grabe eh, almost everyday there’s a new finding that most likely contradicts one made earlier.
“speaking english is apparently what kills you”…
that line made my smile wider.. hehe… im sure one suffers a slow death especially when you feel like you are running out english when speaking to someone whose only language is english.. toinks!
My late grandfather’s philosophy was if your mouth wants it, then your body needs it. He never had any health issues and lived a good 78 years.
I think if you believe every single health claim on the web, you’ll be afraid to pick up even a glass of water.
“Speaking English is apparently what kills you.”
wahaha, sabi ko na nga ba. this is why i shouldn’t work in a call center where they speak nothing but bloody english.
the link to jet david needs fixing, hehehe
Gigi, I know someone who’s like that — he dies over and over hehehe
Juneruivivar, heard of the view that getting used to bottled water actually trains our body to lower its immunities?
Kotsengkuba, Oh, so that’s what happens when you forget the http:// part. Thanks LOL
This piece was sent to me sometime ago and still give me laughs.WOO-HOO!!!Eat,drink and be merry ‘coz no one is guaranteed of tomorrow. This was the philosophy of my father
and aunts who lived into their 90′s.The generation who can not
cook without MSG,whose table is always laden with fried something,who started drinking coffee in their toodler years
and while eating breakfast were already thinking and discussing
about lunch and merienda.
WOO-HOO..That’s life.
Now, that’s the kind of doctor I need. They make sense naman, right?
As a diabetic, parang wala na nga akong pwedeng kainin. Nakakalungkot naman at napakahilig ko pa namang kumain.
emyM, exactly. And I really think that it’s the WORRYING about whether we’re eating the “right” food that triggers stress that leads to high blood pressure and heart ailment.
Tito Rolly, parang de-formula lahat ano? De-numero? Part of it I think is to create fear so people would buy all those medicines. Considering the unholy alliance between doctors and pharma companies, in the end, tayo kawawa.
Hey! This is totally out of topic, but can’t help but ask… where do you get your coffee alamid?
Hi,Connie…Will you please allow me to say something to Yoru?
Hi,Yoru…Just a friendly advice.Etiquette dictates that one
should not use HEY to address a person. I suppose you can use
it to call a horse.Besides when you read someone’s blog, it’s
like entering her home.Don’t you agree?
I understand she got it us a gift.I’m a coffee lover too and
I’m interested on getting it one of these days.Let’s google it.
Have a good day!
Sorry about that, failed to read it in previous comment… About the use of “hey”, I should have used “hi” but I just felt really friendly towards Connie and this blog. Pardon if that offended your senses.
It’s a present from my brother, actually. He and his family visited a couple of months ago and they brought this still unopened jar of Coffee Alamid. I didn’t ask where he got it.
and it so happened that i just finished reading an article by a certain Mark Bailey (described as someone seen in Fast:Track on BBC World News) in a recent issue of Kempinski magazine. he writes: “…The truth is no single one food is fattening…Food is simply food. If you want to lose weight, it is the amount of a food that you eat, when you eat it and how you eat it that make the difference.”
there’s a coffee shop off banawe st that sells just that kind of coffee. we asked what it was all about and we’re told that the alamid eats the coffee beans but does not digest it and so the alamid excretes the coffee beans but somehow it’s no longer the same. sounded incredible but that was the story they shared with us.
Yep, that’s correct. I wrote a column about civet coffee (alamid) a couple of months ago, actually. My Civet Coffee Experience.
And here’s a photo of the palm civet (alamid).
Connie,
This is a great piece. Something to ponder upon. When I read this piece, I shared it to my friends. This post has the same context as that of Dr. Robin Navarro, the food guru.
So I definitely believe in this!!!