Why Not a Total Ban on Plastics and Not Just Carry Bags?

Municipalities and corporations have enforced laws to ban plastic carry bags and shops have been directed not to provide such bags to customers to carry the purchased goods. Instead of plastic, jute, cloth or other biodegradable quality bags are to be used.

Now this puts lot of pressure on shops and establishments to conform but this will not reduce plastic consumption unless companies are also directed not to use plastic for packing their edible or non-edible or even consumer durables.

Biscuits, soaps, edible oils, tea, coffee powder, milk, candles, fried foods, consumer durables, even car seats are covered in plastic when it is delivered to the customer,

When companies use plastic to package their goods, it reaches more homes than when a shop keeper provides plastic bags to carry the bought goods. There has been no effort to curb the use of plastics by companies.

Or is it because they have huge backlog of designed plastic wrappers and boxes that would go waste if plastic ban is implemented or is it that extra costs will be incurred in shifting to a biodegradable quality packing?

I think policy makers, consumer activists and regulatory officials should think of a total ban on plastics and not just carry bags.

Chicken Puffs for Rs 250, the Economics Actor Anusree doesn't know

Some news sites reported about Actor Anusree’s shock and anguish over paying Rs 250 for chicken puffs, black tea Rs 80 and Rs 100 for Coffee at a restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. When she posted this on her Facebook, several netizens protested against the Kitchen Restaurant that charged such high rates for snacks and beverages.

A Member of Parliament (MP) from Kerala is expected to raise the issue of this fleecing at the airport in Loksabha.

Actress Anusree's profile pix in FB and below her post related to Chicken Puffs

Those who have read Freakonomics, the best seller by Stephen J Dubner and Steven Levitt will understand that such premium pricing in some locations is not unusual and is quite universal. The places where you may have to shell out such premium prices for mineral water, food, beverages  are in cinema theatres, railway stations, airports, on flights,  beaches, tourist centres and five star hotels.

In these places, the seller has a monopoly, there won’t be any other seller offering at a competitive rate and the nearest seller may be a few kilometres away. Those who are thirsty or hungry need to pay higher rate at such places but if they can hold on and take the trouble to go a few kilometres they’ll get more variety fare at cheaper rates. It’s your choice.

There may be other factors behind the higher prices. The vendor who runs the restaurant at airports or railway stations may have paid a huge license fee to get a space there and may be paying higher rent compared to a similar place in the town or city. Remember, not many people will buy huge quantities of snacks or beverages in airports or five star hotels or inside flights.

In a flight you may have to shell out Rs 500 for a sandwich supplemented with ketchup or assortments whose actual value may be hardly Rs 50 or 75/-. Once a co-passenger in a Kingfisher flight from Bangalore told me he never thought food is not given free in budget flights but he chose not to buy despite being hungry as he was not willing to shell out Rs 500 for a small pack of food.

In Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, if the particular restaurant sells 100 pieces of puffs daily (quite unlikely), their earnings would Rs 25000 and sells hundred 100 cups of coffee(Rs 10000).  A business outlet in such a place needs to have atleast such volumes to justify their existence there – after all they need to meet A/c, higher rental, employee costs, raw material costs and their potential is limited to number of passengers who may choose to buy at this rate.

My wife who checked in at Taj Hotel in Chennai the other day said Idli, Vada and Tea for breakfast costs Rs 500 and she chose to go to a nearby local restaurant and got it for less than Rs 100. In fact, many people who stay in five star hotels don't eat from there unless it is sponsored by their company or somebody else.Why pay more if you can get better quality at very reasonable price from a way side dhaba?

Price is not cost + reasonable profit

Many people think, price of a product is just cost plus reasonable profit. But most often that is not the case. It is basically about how much the customer will be willing to bear and uniqueness of the product. Value rests in the mind of the buyer. You are the king, not the seller. 

Pricing (Price theory)  is an important topic in micro-economics and it is difficult to go into the nuances of it all in this blog.  I don’t expect Anusree , a talented actress of Diamond Necklace, Mahashinte Prathikaram and Oppam fame to know all these things related to economic theory but going by the huge number of shocked people who reacted to her FB post, I am worried a large majority doesn’t understand it at all- despite the fact that we are all consumers in one way or the other. 

Tailpiece: Anusree comes from film industry where super stars get crores of rupees from a single film and ordinary people who earn below Rs 500 per day queue up to watch them do all sort of stunts and drama!

  

How to fight Obesity among kids?

If you randomly look at the kids coming out of school buses in any city, you are likely to find more oversized girls and boys in skirts and shorts than normal ones. Dr Abraham Paul, a renowned paediatrician in Kochi warns that rising obesity poses huge health risks later on in life including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other life style diseases. In a recent interaction titled 'Know Your Child' with parents of Rajagiri Public School, he underscored the need to be vigilant against health hazards, learning disorders and inability to adjust with daily challenges that growing kids may face in the modern era.

I remember in my childhood days after a hard days study at school, we would come home, have some thing to eat and then straight away go to play—it could be badminton, cricket, kho-kho, or a game called ‘seventies’ or just run around catching each other. All the fancy fried foods now available in bakeries and super markets were unheard of those days. Obesity at that time may have been confined to less than five percent of the kids and that too because of genetic or hereditary factors than lack of physical activity.

Dr Abraham K Paul said that colas, samosas, burgers, fried foods, biscuits are all high calorie stuff that require heavy physical exercise to burn it out. For example, a samosa may require one hour cycling to burn the energy generated while 3 biscuits at a time would require one hour of swimming to neutralize it.

Good food habits: Start Early
Dr Abraham Paul warns that undesirable food habits are learned from early childhood when parents try to force feed a child who refuses to eat. He advises parents to introduce vegetables, fruits and cereals at the age of nine months to one year. A child may not agree to eating fruits or vegetables at higher ages say, five, seven or ten if he or she hasn’t introduced to such food by the age of one. Parents have a tendency to force feed a child who refuses to eat there by creating stress. Slowly, the child learns to eat whenever it is stressed, thereby causing fat build up in the body.

In infant years, parents have a tendency to grind five or six food items into a paste and then push it in their throat. This will only lead to the child not getting a sense of taste for food and ability to chew food properly.

The rapid decline of play area, more emphasis on class room learning, more time in front of television while munching fried snacks all add to the unnecessary fat build up in kids, according to Dr Abraham Paul.  He suggests schools should provide four hours of physical activity every week and they should maintain a height, weight chart and look for obesity signals in children to initiate remedial action.

In many play schools and kindergarten, milk and biscuits are provided as snacks during first break in the morning and in the afternoon. This becomes habit forming and lead to fondness for refined food which are unhealthy because of preservatives, oil content and fat.

My daughter Diyah had the habit of asking for biscuits every day and now I told her about Dr Abraham Paul’s advice and atleast for a day she didn’t ask for new biscuits. We are not sure when she goes to another house, she may be offered biscuits and might eat.

The Solution
In the absence of play area and physical activity, kids can be prevented from becoming obese by avoiding calorie rich junk food and reduce TV watching. They could also be provided opportunities in indoor play, learning music, encouraging reading and so on.

Let’s not make  promising citizens of tomorrow end up popping pills, using insulin or going for early cardiac surgeries. Time to act is NOW.
(Please mail your suggestions/comments to sreekumsree@gmail.com or post it here itself)

Twin objective of exercise- building body and mental muscles

By Aswathy Visweswaran**

Early morning scene in cities- stadiums, parks, and roads are all alive much before the rising sun. You will find young men, women, old men and women either walking, jogging or do stretching excercises. If you quiz them you could get some common reasons why they have all hit the road early in the morning:

-High Cholesterol
- Blood pressure
-Blood sugar
-Over Weight (Body Mass Index -BMI over 26)
-Belly fat, thigh fat
-Knee Pain, back pain

Still others rush to the nearest gym – do cycling, treadmill, bench press, take the dumb bells, take weights and so on. Their intention most probably could be to build muscles and keep fit.

Why do Excercise?

It is a fact that with more mechanization, computerization many of us are glued to some computerized device, forced to sit for more hours and leading a sedentary life even at home. Not to forget the high fat, high cholesterol, high protein diets, oil foods that clog your arteries or high fat deposits on your tummy. No wonder many succumb to first minor heart attack before 40's. Without exercise you are likely to be unhealthy and witness some of the symptoms given above.

Contrary to popular perception exercise is not only for building body muscles but also mental muscles. According to Chris Paley, author of Unthink (Coronet, UK ,2014). exercise is also beneficial for self –restraint. It helps in dealing with distractions, less TV watching, willingness to wash dishes at home and so on.

Is Exercise alone enough?

If you do one hour of exercise and increase your food intake especially sugar, oily foods, and fat, whatever gains made are quickly offset.  Health and fitness requires moderate exercise and balanced diet as opposed to dieting or starving. Balanced diet- is a mix of vitamins, proteins, minerals, fat,anti-oxidants …

There are others who are lazy and try out quick slim formulas sold either as capsules, powders or compounds from over the counter (OTC) in medical shops and super markets.  They are marketed as herbal, ayurvedic or natural products, whatever it means.

The harm created by dieting need not be over stressed- it leads to deprivation of essential nutrients in the body, lack of oxygen flow to cells, and overall weakness. Their role models are the the ones who appear on TV, banner ads in newspapers and magazines.

NB: If you are excercising or doing regular workouts, it is better to get the advice of dietician or nutritionists on what to eat before and after the workout.

#Advantages of Exercise
- lowers heart rate
-lower blood pressure
- lowers probability of cancer in women (endometrial cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer,bladder cancer, blood cancer)

-improves physical and mental alertness
-helps in weight management
-helps in toning of muscles.

The popularity of Dance-Fitness
Many people get lazy with morning walks and jogging after a few weeks or months, gets disappointed with workouts in the gym, still others who shell out INR 15000 to 25000 to have exercise machines or treadmills at home, only to give up after the initial enthusiasm is over. In many homes, they become the favourite hanging place for your Tees, vests and briefs in bedroom and balacony!

It’s when many people give dance –fitness a try. Zumba has emerged as one of the top favourites as it appeals to all age groups from Kids to old age – Kids Zumba (7-11), Jr Kids Zumba (5-7), Zumba (18-50), Zumba Gold (50 years and above), Zumba Toning (to keep muscles in shape), Aqua Zumba. Zumba is a Latin American dance-fitness program that integrates the best of dance forms Salsa, Cumbia, Regaetton, Merengue accompanied by entertaining global music. Beto Perez is the creator of Zumba Fitness formula that keeps your mind, body agile and brings an amazing change in your lifestyles. Zumba burns upto 800 calories an hour. Aerobics continues to appeal to all age groups due to its scientific methods and music based workouts.

Wishing you all success in health, wellness efforts!

(NB: Those having heart, asthma, ortho or other medical problems needs to first consult a doctor before joining for any fitness program).

(Aswathy Visweswaran is a pharmacist turned Zumba Fitness instructor well-versed in diet and nutrition. She is the co-founder of Beats 'n' Steps, a dance fitness studio in Kalamassery, Kochi and mother of two children). For any suggestions and queries- write to beatsnsteps@gmail.com or call Prasanth-9895611537)

**(Edited by Sreekumar Raghavan)

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Why people are consuming more salt?

First the news came from USA, Americans are consuming double the recommended daily intake of salt. Result: more people susceptible to high blood pressure and heart attack. Then came the news from Canada and now comes the report from Sweden.

The culprit is processed, convenience foods available off the shelves or in upmarket restaurants. The solution is to curb daily intake and substitute with spicy flavours which have beneficial health effects, according to medical experts and nutritionists. If the present trend continues, globally salt could be in short supply
http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=74957

.http://www.vancouversun.com/health/means+hold+salt/2433510/story.html