We are what we eat

Ever heard the phrase "you are what you eat"?

Of course you do! It has become a universal phrase to this day that everyone have atleast heard it once. It's a notion that to be fit and healthy, you need to eat healthily. Really. This, is believe to originate from an essay written in 1826 by some French guy named Brillat-savarin who wrote

"Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es." [Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are]

And of course a few other brilliant writers was reported have also wrote it in a different manner in the 19th century. Though I've never actually read the essay, I couldn't agree more on the phrase.

When I lived in Msia and first arrived in the UK I couldn't be bothered on what I eat on a daily basis. Deep fried food, mmm yumm! I eat when I'm hungry and sometimes worst, I only ate junk and processed food. I dread cooking. Because of this I've had very sensitive skin. Constantly sick and more often than not I'd developed rashes and I never really had deep thought about it let alone fathom the reasons behind it.

Then after a year living with 5 girls in a flat near London bridge, each of them from different continents, I've noticed about something that the western pay attention to more than us. Apart from other things food is one of them. They eat a lot of raw and steam vege. Sometimes grilled poultry and they cook all the time. When buying groceries they choose wisely. Nobody ever tell them what to eat and what to drink and such.

Once I was on my way home on a train, I saw a young guy eating. I can see that he was hungry since it was already 7pm. So he was eating. But you know what he ate? A plastic bags of fresh vegetables. So consumed that I think the vege was like his big Mac.

And once I was back in Msia, just got married, it was the time prosperity burger came out. I love prosperity burger to death, I ate it every single day for a month. It was horrible. I found out this is what fast food like McDonalds do to you, I gained huge amount of weight. I felt tired constantly, emotionally unstable and I felt that I was so ugly I couldn't bare looking in the mirror. My husband did what was a very very wise decision. He registered us in a gym with a personal trainer in a package.

For the first time I had meals diary. Noted what I ate and what time I ate. It was a small thing but it sure does have huge effect. For once we realized how unhealthy we were. We consumed a lot of sugar and fried oily food. After we got scolded by the trainer, we went on a detox. Nothing major. A lot of plain water to flush out all the toxic. Eat brown rice. Grilled chicken. Something boiled or steam. And no sugar after 11am. And lots and lots of exercise.

Honestly, it never felt great! Waking up in the morning seems easy and energized. And since then I've never had any rashes on my sensitive skin. And my brain is able to learn and understand more easily. Not exaggerating. I'm being very serious. See my face  ^_^ ? Ok, maybe not that emoticon. But you get what I mean.

And then I had more realization (I had a lot..haha). It's not just how we feed our body. It's how we feed our brain and heart. I realized we have to take care of what we have. Allah s.w.t gave us this body to live in and it's our responsibility to care it as best as we can.

Apart from healthy food for the body, reading books and learning new knowledges everyday is the food for the brain and reading Quran everyday is the food for our heart. Our prophet (pbuh) said:

"Verily in the body there is such a piece that if it remains alright the whole body keep well but if this piece of flesh develops some defect the whole body becomes unhealthy. Behold, - this piece of flesh - it is heart." (Bukhari, Muslim..)

I pray that all is well and in the pink of health. Love yourself. Love Allah.


Toodles.