得理要饒人的啟發性故事

一位高僧受邀參加素宴，席間發現在滿桌精致的素食中，有一盤菜裡竟然有一塊豬肉，高僧的弟子故意用筷子把肉翻出來，打算讓主人看到，沒想到高僧卻立刻用自己的筷子把肉掩蓋起來。一會兒，弟子又把豬肉翻出來，高僧再度把肉遮蓋起來，並在徒弟的耳畔輕聲說:“如果你再把肉翻出來，我就把它吃掉！”徒弟聽到後再也不敢把肉翻出來。

宴後高僧辭別了主人。歸途中，徒弟不解地問：“師父，剛才那廚師明明知道我們不吃葷的，為什麼把豬肉放到素菜中？徒弟只是要讓主人知道，處罰他。”

高僧說：“每個人都會犯錯誤，無論是有心還是無心。如果讓主人看到了菜中的豬肉，盛怒之下很有可能當眾處罰廚師，甚至會把廚師辭退，這都不是我願意看見的。

“待人處事固然要“得理”，但絕對不可以“不饒人”。

.留一點餘地給得罪你的人，不但不會吃虧，反而會有意想不到的結果，厚德載物！

人不講理是缺點；人硬要講理卻是盲點；

理直氣和比理直氣壯，更能說服、改變他人。”

.

一部高檔手機，70％的功能是沒用的；

一款高檔轎車，70％的速度是多餘的；

一幢豪華別墅，70％的面積是空閒的；

一屋子衣物用品，70％是閑置沒用的；

一輩子掙錢再多，70％是留給別人花的。

.

生活，簡單明瞭，享受人生，守住30％便好！

(Courtesy of forwarded mail from Kerwin Lim)

Danger in Fruits & Veggies

Ever since we were little kids, our parents have been drilling it into our heads: "Eat your fruits and veggies, they're good for you." We can't even count how many times we've heard the saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."

But what if we told you that some of these produce items might be dangerous? While eating an apple may give you much needed vitamins, the seeds could actually make you feel sick.

We're not telling you to stay away from the very nutritious fruits and vegetables. And we're not trying to fill you with fear or make you wonder if every meal that's on your plate is safe to eat. But we do want to better inform you on which foods you should be cautious of when preparing, and which ones have leaves or seeds you need to steer clear of.

Yuca

Yuca, also known as cassava, is a starchy root and a major source of carbohydrates in subtropical areas. It should never be eaten raw because yuca contains linamarin and lotaustralin, which is very toxic. Improper preparation of yuca can also lead to cyanide intoxication, which in some cases affects one's ability to walk.

Kidney beans

Kidney beans have the highest level of the toxin phytohemagglutinin (PHA) than any other bean. And they contain enough of this toxin to cause acute symptoms, even if only a few raw beans are consumed. To be safe, the beans should be soaked for a few hours first, the water discarded and then cooked for at least 10 minutes before being consumed.

Cherry Seeds

As you probably know, the flesh of the cherry fruit is not harmful, but the seed inside the pit, when crushed, chewed, or even slightly injured, produces prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide). With this in mind, try to refrain from chewing on the seeds.

Green Potatoes

It's true, our favorite starch can make us sick. But not just any old potato, only green potatoes. Green spots indicate that concentrations of solanine, a nerve toxin, are present. If ingested in large amounts, it can make you feel sick and can even cause paralysis of the central nervous system.

Elderberry

The flower of the elderberry isn't poisonous, but the leaves, stems and seeds are. They contain a bitter alkaloid and glycoside that can make you ill. Be sure to stay clear of the bush, just grab the flowers to make some soda syrup.

Apples Seeds

There's a reason that you don't eat the seeds of the apple (besides the fact that they don't taste good); it's because they're poisonous. Those little seeds contain amygdalin, and if you consume enough of them (which is pretty unlikely considering the quantity you'd need to ingest) you could be in trouble.

Lima Beans

Raw lima beans contain limarin -- only a handful can be enough to make some people violently ill. These beans are very nutritious otherwise, just be sure to cook them through before adding them to your next meal.

Tomatoes

While in the 1800s, the entire tomato was thought to be poisonous, it's now known that just the leaves of the tomato plant should be avoided. The leaves and stems of the tomato plant contain a chemical called "Glycoalkaloid" which causes extreme nervousness and stomach upsets.

Rhubarb

It's known that the leaves of the rhubarb plant are poisonous, yet it's still unclear as to what exactly makes them dangerous for consumption. The leaves contain oxalate and anthraquinone glycosides, so it's thought that the combination of both compounds could be responsible.

Peaches Pits

There's about eighty-eight milligrams of cyanide in the average peach pit. But luckily, if you did swallow a peach pit, the hard shell covering the seed would protect you from ingesting the poison. And if you were to become contaminated from a seed, it would give you a stomach ache at worse.

(Courtesy of forwarded mail from David Chen)  

Comments from Dr. JB Lim:  

Thursday, 24 January, 2013 7:42 PM

Thanks for giving me a lesson on Food & Nutrition Toxicology.

Correct, I give my nod on these info, except that the toxin in tomato leaves is called tomatine which is actually an alkaloid conjugate with glycosides (glycoalkaloid).

This toxin is little bitter in taste, but this is only found in the stems and leaves of tomato plants, and not in the ripe tomatoes. It is safe to eat even uncooked, but ripe tomatoes which is rich in lycopene against prostate cancer.

Even then, tomatine is heat labile (destroyed by adequate cooking), and should not be a problem.

Another misinformation in this article is that amygdalin containing cyanide is not exactly eighty-eight milligrams of cyanide per peach pit. This is just an average. The levels can range from 5 - 100 mg per pit, but again this depends on the variety of the peach, ripeness, and length of post-harvest storage.

Other than that, I can give an 'okay' to the rest of the information.

Thanks for your nutrition advice.

jb lim

Formerly, Research Food and Nutrition Toxicologist

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Former Member, Expert Technical Committee on Food Standardization, Quality Control and Food Safety

SIRIM - Ministry of Health Malaysia

Your Duck Is Dead????

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest.

After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, "I'm sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away."

The distressed woman wailed, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead," replied the vet..

"How can you be so sure?" she protested. "I mean you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."

The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a Labrador Retriever.

As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck's ass.

He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.

.

The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat.

The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.

.

The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."

The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman.. The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150!" she cried, "$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!"

The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $150."

(Courtesy of forwarded mail from Cheong Siew Chyuan)

Why Worry?

(Courtesy of forwarded mail from Dr JB Lim)

一笑悟人生

1.  兩只青蛙相愛了，結婚後生了一個癩蛤蟆。

公青蛙見狀大怒說：「賤人，這怎麼回事！？」

母青蛙哭著說：「孩子他爹，我本來是癩蛤蟆，認識你之前我整過容。」

→ 缺乏充分瞭解的愛情，就要承擔所帶來的苦果！

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2.  小驢問老驢：「為啥咱們天天吃乾草，而奶牛頓頓精飼料？」

老驢嘆到：「咱爺們比不了，我們是靠跑腿吃飯，人家是靠胸脯吃飯！」

→ 各有前因莫羨人， 生活需要忍耐，更要認命。

3. 鴨子和螃蟹賽跑， 一起到達終點，難分勝負。

裁判說：「你們來個剪刀石頭布吧！」

鴨子大怒：「媽的，算計我！？我一出就是布，他總是剪刀。」

→ 競爭需要天賦，也需要機遇。

4. 狗對熊說：「嫁給我吧，嫁給我你會幸福。」

熊說：「才不嫁呢，嫁給你只會生狗熊，我要嫁給貓，生熊貓那才尊貴呢！」

→ 挑結婚對象一定要有理智和有理想。

5. 老鱉調戲河蚌，被咬，老鱉忍痛拖著河蚌來回爬。

青蛙見了敬佩的說：「乖乖，鱉哥混大了，出入都夾著公文包！」

→ 老大在出醜，做小的也要說點門面話賣乖。

6. 一壁虎誤入鱷魚池，喪命之時，壁虎急中生智， 一把抱住鱷魚大叫：「媽媽！」

鱷魚一愣，立刻老淚縱橫：「都瘦成這樣了，你就是不聽我的話，不讓你炒股吧，你偏要去，看看股市縮水都把你縮成啥了！」

→ 投資是一定要小心的！

7. 蜜蜂狂追蝴蝶，蝴蝶卻嫁給了蝸牛。

蜜蜂不解，問： 「他哪比我好？」

蝴蝶回答：「人家好歹有自己的房子，哪像你住在集體宿舍。」

→ 這年頭，無房一族要找結婚對象是難上加難！

8. 母雞跟鄰居正在聊天，看到公雞無精打采的回來了。

母雞說：「怎麼啦？」

公雞：「做個買賣給累的。」

母雞問：「做啥買賣累成這副德行？」

公雞臉紅低下頭說：「賣點雞精。」

→ 做老婆的要體諒老公在外邊賺錢養家有多辛苦！

9. 餐廳蒼蠅對廁所蒼蠅說：「你整天追腥逐臭，我整天吃香喝辣，過來吧！」

廁所蒼蠅：「道不同不相為謀！吃再好有啥用，光屁股美女你見過幾個？」

→ 不要坐井觀天只顧眼下的利益，外面的世界可能更精彩！

(Courtesy of forwarded mail from David Chen)

As You Believe So You Achieve

A business executive was deep in debt and could not see any way out.

Creditors and suppliers were demanding payments. He sat in the park, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.

Suddenly an old man appeared before him and asked, "I can see that something is troubling you seriously."

After listening to the executive the old man said, "I believe I can help you."

He asked the man his name, wrote out a cheque and put it into his hands saying, "Take this money, meet me here exactly one year from today and you can pay me back at that time."

Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

The business executive saw in his hands a cheque for $ 500,000 signed by Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world.

"I can erase my worries instantly," he realized.

But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed cheque in his safe knowing that it might give him the strength to work out to save his business and to use this only in case of dire emergency.

With changed thinking he negotiated better deals, restructured his business and worked rigorously with full zeal and enthusiasm and got several big deals.

Within few months, he was out of debt and started making money once again.

Exactly one year later he returned to the park with the uncashed cheque.

As agreed, the old man appeared.

But just as the executive was about to hand him back the cheque and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.

"I’m so glad I caught him," she cried.

"I hope he hasn’t been bothering you much. He always escapes from the mental hospital and tells people that he is Warren Buffet," saying this she took the old man away.

The surprised executive just stood there, stunned!!!

All year long he had been dealing thinking that he had half a million dollars behind him.

P.S. It’s not the money, real or imagined that turns our life around. It is our newly found self-confidence that gives us the power to achieve anything we want....

(Courtesy of forwarded mail from Yong Yew Khoon)