Skyline to love

Skyline to love

Monday, April 29, 2013

Who's Third World Now?

I've been meaning to write about how strongly I feel about the 'health & wellness' divide between third world countries and the developed nations. Agreed third world nations have:
  • more occurance of fatal diseases
  • severe health & sanitation issues
  • limited access to and availability of medical aid & advanced cures
However, for the relatively well-to-do, an apples-to-apples comparison will find they were better off in the developing country they came from. There is a new wave called the diseases of the rich & affluent and your guess is as good as mine, they come from the advanced "developed nations".

I was a healthy adult. Never visited the doctor more than twice a year (the regular flu and one other open ticket which ranged from a severe sinus attack to stomach cramps). A year and some into my NY stint and I have developed vitamin deficiencies (not enough sunlight apparently), lactose intolerance to regular milk etc.

I was spooked because every winter morning I'd wake up with a dull ache in my knucles. I thought it was perhaps arthritis until I heard every third person was complaining of it. See, turns out that not enough sun equals not enough Vitamin D and D drops are needed to help absorb calcium. So its a little cycle.

What ticked me off though is the state of callousness subjecting people to synthetic chemicals, hormones etc. I'm a milk lover. I have a big hearty mug of milk every morning. Suddenly, I felt bloated and uncomfortable after my morning milk ritual. And turns out that only 'organic' non hormone injected milk (which costs 3x) suits me. What hurts is not the money but the fact that you're basically screwed till you read the fine print! (Oh but that's after you at least know what to comb the fine print for)...

Another candidate was 'high fructose corn syrup' which the U.S. uses in everything ranging from bread to baby products and everything in between.

I could go on...but I'm not starting an anti-nation campaign. Just needed to vent my disappointment with a nation that thinks of the rest of the world needs to learn from it! 

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