We Are What We Eat

 

It is approaching half of the year. How fast the time travels, and how less time left for us to enjoy this temporary life. Year by year our age increases. That means we are going to be old one day, sooner or later. Some people are already in the middle age group although they are in their 20s.

Are you kidding me??

Nope. It’s because they are already hypertensives, obese, diabetics in those early and precious years. Something is wrong. Something needs to be done.

One of the respected ophthalmologist and motivator, Prof. Dr. Muhaya once said in her motivational talk that we should take care of what we eat. Avoid using the food seasoning like Ajinomoto when we are preparing the food. She also advised the restaurant owner and cooker out there to reduce or stop this kind of seasoning in their food. Sounds like impossible to practise as it rooted for a long long time and we cannot live without it.

 

Glucose is vital. But too much consumption may be fatal.

In addition, Dr. Muhaya herself told that if the older patient had diabetes and hypertension, just ask them what was their diet 10-15 years back. Only then we know who is the culprit in these problems.

By the way, did you know that World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April each year? Awesome, you know that already. So this year’s theme is high blood pressure or hypertension.

I did attended a conference last Sunday regarding the topic of  “Hypertension”. It is one of the serious problem in India besides the communicable diseases like tuberculosis. The presenter told that, as the country is changing to Western lifestyle, hypertension cases keep increasing every year.

Thus, it’s all about our diet and how we manage it properly to get the maximum nutrition required by the body.

Some of the important points including:

a) What to eat – emphasize more on fruits, vegetables, pulses, oats, reduce intake of oily food.

b) How much to eat – do not eat excessively, eat when we are hungry and stop before ‘full tank’.

c) How to eat – tranquility of mind while eating, no rushing, chew the food properly, swallow slowly.

d) Doing regular exercises – around 20-30 minutes per day.

e) Reduce salt intake.

f) Take good care of – diet, exercise, habit, attitude/thinking.

g) No smoking/ alcohol intake.

 

Generally, we have the knowledge regarding how to lead a healthy life. Sadly, we are lacking in practice. We are not practising the good habit properly and continuously. This is the main factor which retard our progress in maintaining a superb and healthy lifestyle.

What matters most is our desire to change our habit as well as our attitude. Yes it is very challenging and we faces so many temptation coming from all angles and sides. One question that we may ask ourselves is, in 25-30 years of time, which sort of life are we expecting. A harmonious life, or a life full of challenges. Let’s think about it for a while ok..