Superstitions That You've Heard Which Have A Scientific Basis?

One of my favorite topic .., sorry OP lot to write but feeling lazy .
The topic can go beyond and beyond and can unravel so much . I personally feel for most of the customs / belief there were for reasons suited for that time of era . Elders have this habit of saying don’t do that but not explaining why ! Especially Indian I think things are changing by the way ...

 

Even here we have the same belief. For instance my mother told me not to touch plants or prepare food, particularly preserved one like jam or pickles, during menstruation. She never told me the reason why, probably because back in the days it was a way to give women some days off from house working (in the garden or kitchen). But I've never followed these rules and no plant has ever died or food gone wasted anyway.

 

One reason why women were restricted from entering the temple those days was, mostly in the olden days temples were in jungle and open places, and lot of wild animals roaming around....
That when a menstruating woman comes out, since the wild animals had good sense of smell from a distance, women might have been easy prey, and hence the restriction part.... but it nowhere says she is impure and hence cant enter....

 

Staying alone and not touching anything during menstruation was a kind of rest for women, which otherwise in the olden days, women didnt have....

To think of all the work they did from sunrise to sunset, they definitely needed that rest for 3-4 days in every month...
Again, by taking rest, she isn’t becoming an impure being....

 

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Nandu, my darling just one point comes to mind. What if the menstruating woman , who isn’t allowed to touch anything at home is too frustrated & ventures out . All the more trouble ha? Animals eating her up! Would it not be better to allow her all freedom at home so she stays indoors & doesn’t put her life at risk by going out in wilderness?

I would rather she be given an option to rest vs forced ‘untouchability’ , remaining isolated etc etc.

Not to mention that does sound like a hellish situation, no touching anything at home, no going out, what is the poor woman supposed to do?

 

Not everything should be written off as superstition. I don't think it's during pregnancy that we are advised to eat such high calorie food ( don't confuse it with high nutrient food). It's mainly post partum that we are given such calorie rich, nutrient dense food. And it's not like they are consuming globs of butter and ghee in isolation. What they eat is a concoction of super foods like methi, sesame, gond (resin), nuts, ajwain, millets, turmeric, hing which not only provide medicinal benefits but also promote digestion, lactation and better post partum recovery. Don't we add these ingredients in our daily cuisines for health benefits? Leading dieticians like Rujuta Diwekar has been talking about the benefits of ghee and these post partum laddoos and I am sure she knows much about nutrition than us. In the US, many post partum moms consume mother's milk tea , lactation cookies , lactation pills , fenugreek thistle, fennel seeds extract. People have made a fortune by selling these cookies and books on post partum diet. We don't know what goes into the making of these products but we will happily buy them but question our age old grandma's recipe.

Now, for the high calorie laddoos, we can customize them as per ingredients of our choice and make them with very less ghee or reduce the intake so instead of 2 laddoos , maybe eat 1 but why reject it completely calling it superstition. It's just the few weeks post partum that one needs this diet, not all your life. Like everything in life, we can take the goodness, customize it as per our lifestyle and reject the bad , not necessarily write it off.