Onions and Flu — Beneficial or not?
Nov 27, 2009 Did You Know, Thoughts and ramblings
There’s no doubt that onions can be extremely beneficial for health when eaten. Some of the benefits are:
- anti-inflammatory
- anti-carcinogen
- anti-cholestrol
- anti-oxydant (they contain quercetin, an antioxydant, other major sources of quercetin are tea and apples)
- Aphrodisiac (in fact some sects in India don’t consume onion due to that reason)
- Can be used to treat blisters and boils
- Application of raw onions can be used to reduce swelling from bee stings
- Products that treat topical scars usually contain extracts from onions
- They can be used to treat sore throats (In fact, again in India they are used in a mixture with Jaggery as a remedy against sore throat)
- There are claims that show them to be beneficial against diabetes, osteoprosis, gastric ulcers, cataracts and cardio-vascular diseases (by being a potent blood-thinner)
- Source of Vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, folic acid, calcium, iron, have a high protein quality and are low in sodium and contain no fat.
There have been studies done that show that increased consumption of onions can be good to reduce the risks of head and neck cancer (http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/5/1027).
So yeah, apart from adding flavouring to your food, they have tons of beneficial attribu
te
s, so don’t say no to Onions.
So what about this email I received saying leave the onion open
Here’s how the email goes:
A friend of mine told me a story about when he was a kid he was in the hospital & nearly dying. His Italian grandmother came to the hospital & told a family member to go buy her a large onion & a new pair of white cotton socks. She sliced the onion open then put a slice on the bottom of each of his feet & put the white cotton socks on him. In the morning when he awoke they removed the socks. The slices of onion were black & his fever was gone. The following story that someone sent to me might have some truth in it & we are going to try it this winter.
In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died.
The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn’t believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.
Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work.. (And no, she is not in the onion business.)
The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu. !!!!!! !!!!!!!!
I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill…I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar…placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs…sure enough it happened just like that…the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.
Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.
One more thing, never store cut onions and consume the next day.
Is that true?
We can easily debunk the story, while I can’t tell you if that’s true or not, there are facts in this story that can be easily shown to be false.
Consider this:
1. In 1919, Electron Microscope hadn’t been invented, which means that the doctor saw the virus under an optical microscope. That is not possible.
2. Electron Microscope was invented in 1931
3. The Influenza virus itself was first shown and extracted in 1933 in United Kingdom.
So the 1919 doctor could not have seen the virus (not bacteria as said in the email) absorbed by the onion. It has to be impossible. So one story debunked.
The hair-dresser in AZ that placed onions in 
bowls all over her salon, though speaking in jest, this must have caused a lot of people to not user her salon, less people = less infectious agents. LOL
So what about leaving an onion open in the bowl and it becomes black soaking all the germs? Comeon!!! Leave an apple open and it becomes black, leave a banana open and it becomes black. This only happens because of oxidation as the vegetable or fruit reacts with the oxygen in the air and becomes oxidized. This in turn gives it a black or brown color. So no it doesn’t become black because it soaks up all the germs in the air. Onion is not a bacterial / viral magnet!
Look, the cut onions soaking up viruses and bacteria to ward off diseases is just a old-wife tale as they call it, nothing magical about it and it has been around for ages! Read this link to find more about how old this tale really is: http://www.snopes.com/medical/swineflu/onion.asp
While I can’t explain how the kid whose grandmother placed cut onions in socks got better the next day, I can confidently say that the onion got black because of oxidation. The last guy whose pneumonia got better because of onions that also (surprise surprise) turned black overnight, well that could be more of a psychotropic effect. Psychology has a huge role to play in sickness, the placebo effect is well documented and often seems miraculous. You can read more about placebo effect in the wikipedia or on the web.
Now lets talk about the last part of the email, eating a cut onion the next day… Now this is interesting. My research showed that onions, due to the fact that they have ground contact, could have bacteria on the surface which could go from the outside to the inside if the onion is not washed before chopping. Now of course if you peel your onions, you are safe in that regard. This can happen with other ground vegetables and fruit as well such as watermelon and cantaloupes and potatoes. Well anything grown in soil, the outside can be contaminated with fecal bacteria or other soil bacteria, so you should wash them regardless, in fact, wash any raw vegetable or fruit before you eat them is a good advice. As far as onions becoming toxic when left cut, I can’t see why they would become toxic! If you took proper care in handling it and then you are going to cook it later on, then they shouldn’t be toxic to eat, especially if wrapped and left in the fridge. If you are going to eat them raw after a couple of days, then they probably won’t taste so good as they would lose their pungency left open. There is no logical reason for the onions to become toxic when left open for next day in the fridge, if anybody can think of one or can show me a source, I’d appreciate it.
Till then, don’t believe everything you get in a chain email, do some research to find out the truth or take everything with a grain of salt.
Tags: Did You Know, onions
Thoughts and Thinking
Nov 24, 2009 Thoughts and ramblings
Here’s an interesting dialogue for everybody to consider:
Krishnamurti: “So where does silence begin? Does it begin when thought ends? Have you ever tried to end thought?
Questioner: “How do you do it”?
Krishnamurti: “I don’t know, but have you ever tried it? First of all, who is the entity who is trying to stop thought?”
Questioner: “The thinker.”
Krishnamurti: “It’s another thought, isn’t it? Thought is trying to stop itself, so there is a battle between the thinker and the thought … Thought says, ‘I must stop thinking because then I shall experience a marvelous state.’ … One thought is trying to supress another thought, so there is a conflict. When I see this as a fact, see it totally, understand it completely, have an insight into it… then the mind is quiet. This comes about naturally and easily when the mind is quiet to watch, to look, to see.”
– J. Krishnamurti (You are the World, 1972)
More about Krishnamurti by clicking here
Interesting thought isn’t it? No Pun intended.
2012 — What’s up with that?
Oct 23, 2009 Thoughts and ramblings
Three youtube videos on the documentary “Everything 2012″ sure do make you go “hmmm.”
So what is the truth and what is going to really happen, I guess we will have to see. Why is it that prophecies always tell us what bad is going to happen to the world, how about the good things?
Watch the videos to see what I mean, and do give your comments about what is going to happen in 2012!
Part I
Part II
Part III
Our perception of beauty
Oct 7, 2009 Thoughts and ramblings
Another video showing you the magic of information technology. Look at the girl carefully in the beginning and at the end.
Tags: digital manipulation, digitial age, fashion, videos
Heer-Ranjha — The BILZ & Kashif
Sep 30, 2009 Bollywood, Poetry, Thoughts and ramblings
The BILZ & Kashif have come out with two new tracks recently, one of which was written by me (the Punjabi Lyrics that is), so ideal to post the song here and .. voila:
You can go ahead and buy the tune on iTunes, in fact get on it right now and buy it! Oh and look out for more songs written by yours truly for The BILZ & Kashif… their next album “Breaking Barriers” is rocking!
Here are the punjabi lyrics for the song (I’ll have to ask Kashif to give me a copy of the English lyrics so that I can post them here as well):
tu hai meri heer tera ranjha maiN deewaana
roke saanu koi vi roke, tenu chak lai jaanaa
roke saanu koi vi roke, tenu chak lai jaanaa
mitro o mitro vekho vekho kuRi diwaani
kinna mainu taRpaaNdi kinna mainu satauNdi
soni hai phabbat oNdi akhaaN vi maTkaundi
turdi o geet hai lagdi nachdi oNdi jawaani
[Kashif's part here]
tu hai meri heer tera ranjha maiN deewana
roke saanu koi vi roke tenu chak lai jaanaa
roke saanu koi vi roke tenu chak lai jaanaa
sajno o sajno vekho vekho kuRi diwani
haNsdi jad khil khil rabba dil nu mere sataundi
nachdi jad naal mere ishq di chaldi aaNdhi
mitro o mitro vekho mere dil di raani!
[Kashif's part]
tu hai meri heer tera ranjha maiN diwaana
roke saanu koi vi roke tenu chak lai jaanaa
roke saanu koi vi roke tenu chak lai jaanaa
Tags: bilz, bilz and kashif, heer ranjha, music video, The Bilz, video
Fearless
Aug 19, 2008 Thoughts and ramblings
Some movies teach you a lot about life, although they are meant for entertainment, movies are a great way, in my humble opinion, to escape reality for a few hours, just like video games, and I believe everybody needs that escape, people have different ways to make that escape, some like to listen to music, read poetry, write poetry, read books, watch movies, play video games, etc. And some of these things have big lessons for life. Fearless with Jet Li happens to be one of them (a movie I highly recommend). The biggest lesson this movie teaches is that life humbles you. Indeed, arrogance, pride, get you no where, life has a way of getting back at you. Unnecessary tragedies and undesired events can make you so humble. There are better things then personal arrogance and personal pride.
The movie was binding. The lesson in the movie is, again, in my opinion, needed to be taught to newer generations and perhaps older generation as well, heck people in general need to know that humility is important. Arrogance doesn’t only harm you, as a person, but has effects on your loved ones, your surroundings. And then, out of nowhere, life bites you back, a tragedy strikes, and you learn that your arrogance has simply made you unhappy, taken the most precious things away from you. It is true what they say, you don’t know what you have till it’s gone and when that precious person is gone, the errors of your ways become clear to you.
We all need a lesson in humility I believe. The “I” is not all that there is. There is a bigger “I” out there, one needs to realize it. To realize it is to know it and to know is to know God perhaps? I say that with a question mark because, believing in a higher power really is a question of faith and faith is not an easy thing to acquire. It is really hard to have that faith but I digress.
St. Augustine said – The sufficient of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.
Don’t let life teach you a lesson and show you how vain it is to be egotistic or arrogant. Keep some humility. Be fearless, but be humble at the same time, find the balance.
Tags: Fearless, movies, Thoughts and ramblings
Future of Mankind
Jan 30, 2008 Thoughts and ramblings
An excellent movie to watch:
A line that caught me was a question from a reporter directed towards President Bush Jr.
“Is US credibility on line with respect to the WMDs in Iraq?”
Reply: “I’m not exactly sure what that means”
LOL
Tags: future, Thoughts and ramblings, videos
Merry Christmas
Dec 24, 2007 Thoughts and ramblings
Merry Christmas to all my friends out there who do celebrate it 
(lets not be politically correct and say “Happy Holidays”, what a bunch of bull-crap that is, it’s Christmas and even though we are not Christians, I don’t get offended if someone says “Merry Christmas” to me).
Here have a laugh:
Tags: funnies, funny video, jokes, videos
Iran and Ahmadinejad
Oct 8, 2007 Politics, Thoughts and ramblings
Read an interesting editorial in the October 1st issue of The Gazette, Montreal about Ahmadinejad and Iran. The article written by a professor of International law at Mcgill University, Montreal definitely craves attention from all those who are offended by Ahmadinejad’s recent appearance in US. While I invite those interested in world politics to read this article, I did want to voice a few of my own thoughts and pointless ponderings on the topic.
I have been listening to the radio, especially as I’m driving, I love to listen to 940 News and it is really interesting to hear all the diverse opinions that people in my city have to offer about this issue of Ahmadinejad. The consensus seems to be that the Iranian prime-minister is pure-evil, and his outrageous comments about Israel, Holocaust and nuclear capabilities of Iran are all at fault. However, one should let him talk because of “Freedom of speech” and welcome him to the US as a speaker, if not for nothing, just to ask him questions about his evil comments and policies.
The article by Payam Akhavan puts in perspective all of Ahmadinejad’s comments confirming that Iran’s real power is with the “Council of Guardians” that are behind Ahmadinejad. So why is western powers and media misguiding their anger towards Ahmadeinjad? Shouldn’t we be talking about Khamenei and his hardline stance about all these? If Ahmadinejad is not the real power in the country, then obviously the real power is the one that is letting him say all these offending things. I wonder though about the fact that our media seems to be very ignorant about the inner politics of Iran, and therefore, is it really right for us to comment on these things when we know nothing about them? I never see any mention of other political powers in Iran, at least not in the mainstream media and it seems that people equate the voice of Ahmadinejad to the voice of Iran! I doubt that a leader of a country, be it any country, whether democratically elected or not, speaks for the whole populace. He may represent a section, perhaps even a majority (though according to Professor Akhavan, the desires of people of Iran are far from what Ahmadinejad talks about), but he can not represent the whole country. What’s unfortunate is that when super-powers in the world start noticing these things, start getting offended about these things and want to take action against such leaders, the whole country suffers.
When Ahmadinejad came to power, I remember reading in the newspaper about how a lot of Iranians were not happy, if the voting was “democratically” held, he should not have been elected. There must be something deeper that Ahmadinejad stirs in the people of Iran that had him elected as the prime-minister. Professor Akhavan is perhaps ignoring that in his editorial though he did mention that Ahmadinejad is relying on the nationalism in Iranian people. In either case, Ahmadinejad is there, he is staying, perhaps a better understanding of Iran’s inner politics can show us how to handle such political personalities.
Tags: ahmadinejad, Iran, Politics, Thoughts and ramblings
