During my university time, whenever my mum called me, she would start out her conversation by asking, “Have you eaten your dinner, girl?”
“Yes, mum.”
“So, what do you have today?”
“Hmmpph, we went…Oh, my housemate is cooking today.” I usually cheated her to avoid her nagging on my eating habit.
However, she always found her way back to say, “Good, good! Apparently, you have stopped eating the outside food. Don’t always eat the food from the stalls and restaurants. The food providers always add in a lot of Ajinomoto. Besides, the meat and vegetable are not usually fresh...”
“Mum, I need to go now. My friends are coming over for a project discussion.”
That was how I usually save myself from my mum’s preaching on how bad the outside food is. Back then, I always evaluated convenience and times-saving are more important than a nutritious home-cooking meal. So, I ignored her advice and occasionally view her healthy food talk as an old folk’s over-worrying expression.
My disbelief in my mum’s words continued until one day.
That was the day I received a crying phone call from my best friend. “Hui Leang, I am so scared now…”
“What happened? Where are you, Julie?”
“I am … I am …”
“Calm down, Julie.”
Slowly, after catching her breath, my friend told me, “My mum fainted at home and lost her breath for a few seconds upon reaching the hospital.”
Later, the doctor diagnosed that her mum had a heart attack due to her kidney failure. After in the comma for two days, her mum managed to regain her conscious. However, she had lost her partial vision as well as the capability of walking at the age of 49. In order to keep her life going, she has to go for dialysis twice in a week.
After that incident, I did visit Julie’s mum at the hospital for a few times. During one of my visits, Julie told me to look for her mum and her at the dialysis center.
At the moment I walked in the center, I was shocked. The dialysis center was as crowded as another general waiting area in the hospital. Many individuals were sitting next to the hemodialysis machines irregardless of ages, genders and races. I was horrified further to find quite a handful of patients were around my age.
In the center, I observed that the patient’s blood was pumped through the machine and the cleansed blood was then returned back into the body. As the process can take up to 5 hour for one course, the patients seem to be prepared with their own source of entertainment, newspaper reading, chit-chatting with their neighbours or music listening.
While waiting for Julie’s mum to complete her course, I walked around the dialysis center and read the available posters emphasizing on balanced diet. It was not the first time I saw the food pyramid, but that was the one time I was really reminded to take good care of my kidneys for the rest of my life.
Fellow toastmasters, our pair of kidneys is like any machines. If they were always overloaded with unhealthy food, they would likely to break down earlier than they should be. As of myself, I had tried to cut down the occasions of eating at the outside gradually and tried to cook at home frequently with less sugar, less oil and less salt. Lately, I even tried to have at least one vegetarian meal weekly because the outside food usually supply a lot carbohydrates and fat, but way too little of fiber for a balanced diet.
Before I conclude my speech today, I just want to urge everyone again not to take your age or work as an excuse for not eating well. If you think it is difficult to juggle the time between cooking and working, you can always google up simple home-cooking recipe on-line. You may be surprised to find out how easy it is to cook for a delicious and nutritious dinner. Love your “beans”, eat well. It is always the best to prevent than to regret.
=====
My evaluation of myself for today:
I forgot my last two paragraphs and I was panic for a split of second. I basically spooked up my last two paragraphs and managed myself not to have word fillet in any part of my speech! I am happy for myself, especially with the improvement of my eye contact! Blink-blink...
=====
I will be on stage again by this coming 15th of June. Need to strain my brain juice for another *fun* topic because my topic for today is way too sad for the theme! :)
“Yes, mum.”
“So, what do you have today?”
“Hmmpph, we went…Oh, my housemate is cooking today.” I usually cheated her to avoid her nagging on my eating habit.
However, she always found her way back to say, “Good, good! Apparently, you have stopped eating the outside food. Don’t always eat the food from the stalls and restaurants. The food providers always add in a lot of Ajinomoto. Besides, the meat and vegetable are not usually fresh...”
“Mum, I need to go now. My friends are coming over for a project discussion.”
That was how I usually save myself from my mum’s preaching on how bad the outside food is. Back then, I always evaluated convenience and times-saving are more important than a nutritious home-cooking meal. So, I ignored her advice and occasionally view her healthy food talk as an old folk’s over-worrying expression.
My disbelief in my mum’s words continued until one day.
That was the day I received a crying phone call from my best friend. “Hui Leang, I am so scared now…”
“What happened? Where are you, Julie?”
“I am … I am …”
“Calm down, Julie.”
Slowly, after catching her breath, my friend told me, “My mum fainted at home and lost her breath for a few seconds upon reaching the hospital.”
Later, the doctor diagnosed that her mum had a heart attack due to her kidney failure. After in the comma for two days, her mum managed to regain her conscious. However, she had lost her partial vision as well as the capability of walking at the age of 49. In order to keep her life going, she has to go for dialysis twice in a week.
After that incident, I did visit Julie’s mum at the hospital for a few times. During one of my visits, Julie told me to look for her mum and her at the dialysis center.
At the moment I walked in the center, I was shocked. The dialysis center was as crowded as another general waiting area in the hospital. Many individuals were sitting next to the hemodialysis machines irregardless of ages, genders and races. I was horrified further to find quite a handful of patients were around my age.
In the center, I observed that the patient’s blood was pumped through the machine and the cleansed blood was then returned back into the body. As the process can take up to 5 hour for one course, the patients seem to be prepared with their own source of entertainment, newspaper reading, chit-chatting with their neighbours or music listening.
While waiting for Julie’s mum to complete her course, I walked around the dialysis center and read the available posters emphasizing on balanced diet. It was not the first time I saw the food pyramid, but that was the one time I was really reminded to take good care of my kidneys for the rest of my life.
Fellow toastmasters, our pair of kidneys is like any machines. If they were always overloaded with unhealthy food, they would likely to break down earlier than they should be. As of myself, I had tried to cut down the occasions of eating at the outside gradually and tried to cook at home frequently with less sugar, less oil and less salt. Lately, I even tried to have at least one vegetarian meal weekly because the outside food usually supply a lot carbohydrates and fat, but way too little of fiber for a balanced diet.
Before I conclude my speech today, I just want to urge everyone again not to take your age or work as an excuse for not eating well. If you think it is difficult to juggle the time between cooking and working, you can always google up simple home-cooking recipe on-line. You may be surprised to find out how easy it is to cook for a delicious and nutritious dinner. Love your “beans”, eat well. It is always the best to prevent than to regret.
=====
My evaluation of myself for today:
I forgot my last two paragraphs and I was panic for a split of second. I basically spooked up my last two paragraphs and managed myself not to have word fillet in any part of my speech! I am happy for myself, especially with the improvement of my eye contact! Blink-blink...
=====
I will be on stage again by this coming 15th of June. Need to strain my brain juice for another *fun* topic because my topic for today is way too sad for the theme! :)