My "Moove..ment"

"Movement" : a group of people working together to advance their shared political, social or, artistic ideas.

Most of us champion our ideas everyday, right from the breakfast table down to the company meeting room and even in the bedroom. We suggest, propose, coerce as well as argue to have our thoughts or ideas accepted and implemented.

Many do not understand the course that we are fighting for or simply WHY we do it? Living in the real world, "walking into the blank wall" frequently happens but some of us may not willingly "throw in the towel" when faced with such negative responses. Faith, conviction and perseverance are the motivating factor for anyone who has a course to fight.

So,
what's my movement ?

1. Saving our planet earth
It started 4 years ago when I brought back reusable bags from a supermarket chain in Melbourne and started using them everyday. I highlighted this concept to the newly opened supermarket in Bangsar and soon the ideas caught on like wildfire. They had replicated both the Coles bag and the chiller bag which I saw 2 years earlier in France.

I earnestly congratulate Bangsar Village Grocer for having the guts to pioneer and start this recycling movement. (Of course, all other hypermarket and supermarket started riding "pillion" on this recycle, reuse wave.) I wasted no time suggesting that they should also charge for plastic shopping bags as practiced in some European and one Asian country, though I did have to wait awhile for that to happen.

This August, they managed to surprise me with their "no plastic bags" campaign.
Well done !! Hopefully the lackadaisical but "kiasu"attitude of many Malaysian would change to make the earth litter free.

2. Live, eat healthy, organically.
The human race has never been so poisoned, ever. Polluted air, earth, water and food among all. We have to installed air cleaner, ionizer, water purifier, sanitizer, all in the quest to keep a pollutant-free home. So, shouldn't we have the same concern for what goes into our body? Unfortunately, eating organic food products seem to be unaffordable for many. In the past, mainly terminal illness patients were seen promoting the organic as well as the macro-biotic life-style. Not many of us were convinced. Unfortunately it has to takes the current surge of diseases, eg: heart, digestive, toddler allergy, wheat allergy, milk allergy and a host of other ailments to act as the wake-up call for many.

Modern medical diagnostic methods have also enable us to improve ill health otherwise tolerated by the sufferers for years.

A good example is my eldest who suffers from milk allergy which escalates to a severe sinus problems if unchecked. Although I have resorted to giving him organic oat milk I realized that milk alone may not be the culprit. Additives in processed milk, food fed to commercially- raised dairy cows and the environment could be one of the many reasons. With a series of medical test, a bit of food detective work (keeping food journal) and diet restructuring, my family now consumes about 80-90% organic food.

YES, they look and taste different....
Organic vegetables come with the hint of earthiness which many may have forgotten or never experienced. Root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, turnip, celery, parsley) simply taste deliciously sweet. What an incredible sensation to your taste bud as you bite into it. None of that unnatural sweetness of non-organic vegetables.
(eg: commercially grown carrots are genetically spliced to have a higher sugar content.) They may not look perfect but you do spend less time washing of all the pesticide residue. They are less wastage as you don't need to peel the skin of the carrots, apples, cucumbers where an incredible amount of nutrition is stored.
Kids can safely benefit from eating vegetable in its natural raw state.
but
Please don't take my word, instead do your research before making up your mind to go organic. The good news is, prices are coming down, becoming competitive compared to the mass grown produces and may be cheaper than imported vegetables. More outlets are being established in and around KL, PJ, Subang, offering discounts for regulars customers as well. Buying organic spices, fish or poultry, grains, flour, eggs, baby product, Chinese herbs, detergent right down to cosmetics are not an issue.

The organics lifestyle change, I admit is not for everyone at the moment. Regardless, do take a moment to consider the future we will be leaving for our children...

To Be or Not To Be .... Organic

Lately, the emergence of food safety issue has affected many countries worldwide, including Malaysia. Undeniably, there are many loopholes existing in our system which our government is trying to plug. As consumers, we are never sure what we will be getting in our boxes. I guess Forest Gump knows it better and said "Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get". At least he got a box of chocolate which have the FDA approval.

Malaysia have tons of natural resources/produces that we are proud of eg. petroleum, natural gas, forest timber, palm oil, rubber and others. Unfortunately we also rely heavily on imported goods such as fruits, vegetables, rice, wheat, beef, lamb, dairy and yes the list does go on. Second grade fresh produce are often sold in our "pasar sayur" while the best one are sent across to our neighbour which is Singapore. Stringent health and safety regulations in Singapore determine that only those that passed the test be sold there. There had been countless times when truck loads of produce has been denied entry into Singapore and there after many months of ban till a permittable pesticide level had been reach.

In any case, our relevant safety and health department is on the crackdown of all dairy- based food items in view of the SANLU Milk scare. Everything or anything made with milk is under scrutiny. We even receive SMS's warning us not to eat fruits or vegetables originating from CHINA. Fuji apples, Gong pears, Fragrant pears, peaches, Beijing cabbages, Baby bak choy, Pea sprouts, Snow peas, Hongkong kale, mustard .....

Obviously if you are a vegetarian, life has just become more difficult. Anyway, if you have read my last post, it would not be difficult to guess that my family have been gradually going organic.

It started with my son, Siddharth who could not tolerate cow's milk as it aggravates his sinus problem. Out goes cans of powdered milk, packs of UHT milk to be replaced with organic oat milk from Canada. At one point, we even tried RAW fresh milk delivered by our Indian Milkman ( Local indians and punjabis who are dairy farmers who supplies fresh milk and yoghurt to household ).

10 years ago, going organic would have been impossible and unthinkable. Now, we have a large organic section in our BV Grocer in Bangsar, Country Farm Organic , BMS organic, Justlife Organic and many well-stocked smaller ones all over Kuala Lumpur. I, especially like the one in Taman Desa called DE Health Paradise Organic where their prices are great and they have a good selection of ready cooked meals at fantastic prices.

In the end, we are ensured that what we eat and what our children eat has not been compromised. We, of course, grief with those parents who have lost their child due to tainted milk or contaminated food where officials have not acted to the urgency of their complain until it is too late.

As mothers, parents we do our best to protect our children. After all, they are our future.