Eating hazard

It's durian season. And everywhere you go these days you see durians. And everyone seems to be crazy about durians.

I, however, do not eat durians - not anymore. I can stand the smell and I even used to eat them up till I was about 16 or 17 (which feels like eons ago). Then I started having bad migraines everytime I eat durians. That was when I stopped - completely. Interestingly, after nearly two decades of going without durians, I somehow don't have any craving for the thorny fruit.

Now, what I want to blog here is based on two actual stories - one that happened in my office, while the other happened to one of my wife's friend's neighbour.

The first story involved one of my staff. When he came in to work yesterday, he was virtually flat. He had to lie down for half of the day. The reason? He ate 16 durians at one go the night before. Yes, you read that right. Sixteen, count them... sixteen, durians. Fortunately, he is still young and has more strength to recover, which he did, eventually. Although when I came down to see him, I could see that he was still somewhat dazed.

In the second story, the person involved wasn't as lucky. The elderly lady ate four durians at one sitting. Because of her age, the number of durians proved too many for her body to tolerate. She got a stroke, and is still in the hospital recovering from said stroke.

Durians are delicious, no doubt. But many people forget that we cannot go crazy when consuming this king of the fruits. Eat in moderation. Don't let your taste buds dictate your senses. If you ask me, something as delicious and exotic as durians should be savoured in small quantities, not gorged like there is no tomorrow.