Update: World’s Heaviest Man Has Died at 48

May 26, 2014 – Manuel Uribe died today. He had slimmed down to about 867 pounds, well below his then-record peak weight of 1,230 pounds, which was certified in 2006 as a Guinness World Record. Probable cause of death is his heart condition and liver problems. He is survived by his wife Claudia Solis whom he married in 2008 (see below). May he RIP.

This was my original blog post from 2008 –

Lifebuoy – Wash your Hands

 

If this video doesn’t touch you… please watch again! (:

I don’t endorse any product in my blog and am not promoting this soap here. However, truth be told, like all budget conscious Indians, I grew up using the brick like carbolic acid smelling Lifebuoy. When I was a student living alone on a thinner than shoe-string budget in Delhi, I could stretch this soap to last me a month and a half. Here is the image of the original Lifebuoy (which has now been replaced by a fancier looking smaller soap).

Now living in the US, I no longer use the above soap. Heck, even most people in India rarely buy it as its considered a poor man’s soap from grandfather’s era.

This soap was featured in the classic movie A Christmas Story where Ralphie as the narrator says, “Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. Though my personal preference was for Lux, I found that Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor – heavy, but with a touch of mellow smoothness. Lifebuoy, on the other hand… (Yechh!)” . His mother makes him wash his mouth with this soap after he blurts out the ‘F’ word!

The above video is closer to truth in under-developed countries like India where lack of hygiene and clean water is the leading cause of Child Mortality (source: Unicef). Simple fact that shows nutrition alone is not what is deprived for third world children. Though I admit, as a kid I did not always wash my hands before food unless forced to.

Weaning to Almond Milk

I remember being forced to drink warm dairy milk every night before bed while growing up. I never enjoyed it. I could never understand why at times I was woken up after falling asleep to be forced to drink the milk. Wasn’t the purpose of drinking warm milk to help one to sleep? But I was already asleep… oh well! 🙂

While travelling with my parents across India on train or bus, I again had to endure this milk drinking at nights. The problem was even worse. The milk seller usually diluted the milk and added tons of sugar to hide the fact. Ugh! the sweet after taste and the loads of sugar was enough to keep anyone awake!

I was glad I didn’t have to endure it anymore when I was in boarding schools or went to college. Since breakfast cereals are not part of a staple Indian breakfast, I avoided milk except when it was an ingredient in coffee or tea which is perfectly fine with me.

When I came to the US several years ago to study, I just didn’t have the time to cook an Indian breakfast. So cereals was the easy way out. Reluctantly, I had them with milk. Soy milk wasn’t popular or easily available back then.

However, as I started working and living by myself, I discovered Soy milk and started using that for breakfast cereals. I liked it much better than milk. However, recently I had been reading some of the negative effects of Soy. Namely, how it increases the estrogen levels and especially for men can cause adverse effects. Soy also contains phytic acid which inhibits absorption of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc.

That’s when I found a healthier alternative.