Food for Thought - Dos and Don’ts on Food-Safety

These simple and inexpensive food-safe practices help a kidney specialist in Taiwan, keep toxic elements away from his diets.

Dr. Chi-Liang Lin, a survivor of a fatal infectious kidney disease himself, believes if we are not diligent on what we eat, foods like the air we breathe and the water we drink, can be harmful to us. So he is very careful about what him and his families eat. He ensures he and his family maintain a diet that is low in salt, sugar and oil. The family does not eat out. They brown-bag their meals when away from home.

He and his wife buy their green grocers when they are aplenty in the market. The fast-growing vegetables during the peak growing season cost less. They are also likely with the least pesticides. Of course, they wash all vegetables and fruits thoroughly before using them.

When eating pork sometimes, they buy quality ones with CAS rating*.

Fish is a constant item on the doc’s menu. He prefers palm-size fish to the large ones. The reason is that the bigger the fish the more toxins they may carry. And the wild saltwater fish is always the doc’s choice.

To retain the nutrients of their foods, boiling and steaming is the family’s preferred mode to prepare their meals.

The doc has no uses of preserved or pickled foods like cured meats or sausages either. He also avoids soy sauce. Some fermentation process in making of this tasty condiment may sometimes contaminate the final products. - Ayee

*No details on this rating system.