Pa! Red Ox?

Dear Baby,

I have been reading a lot, lately. A lot. And during the course of my readings I came across a topic that is probably of interest to only women and nutritionists. Since you will one day be a woman, I am blogging about it.

I read about negative calorie foods, Baby. Imagine, the calories you gain from the food are less than the calories required for you to digest it! All this only because humans (and canines) are incapable of digesting cellulose.

But that is not the main reason I am blogging.

I was out on a walk, and I started thinking about this strange food group. I remember inhaling some strange fumes as we ( Dr. (Mrs.) Iyengar and I ) passed by that house where those friendly college students live and not feeling so well. Being the considerate woman your mother is, she brought me home. I continued to think about this and came up with the following scenario:

Imagine a man (or woman, or canine) who survives a plane crash or a shipwreck and ends up on a deserted island. Now, the island is uninhabited - there are no animals on it at all. What it does have, however, is an abundant supply of broccoli and celery.

Now the man (or woman, or canine) is happy. It seems that he / she / it has an infinite supply of food - at least enough food to last till they get found. But wait, Baby V! Broccoli and celery are negative calorie foods!

What happens now? Is the marooned one doomed? If so, how does he / she / it die?

- of starvation? Because one is (presumably) still hungry after eating negative calories

- of over exertion? Because it's too much work for the body to digest all of that cellulose ?

Does the marooned one break into a sweat, collapse and kick the bucket?

This one's a real puzzle, Baby V. I'm stumped. Help me out here.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Your pet,

Puppy Manohar

"Kyrie Eleison, down the road that I must travel" - Mr. Mister