CARING ABOUT OUR LIFE

By Ryhaan Shah

I read in the news, with some dismay, that a recent medical outreach in New Amsterdam found that the scourge of Type 2 diabetes and hypertension are among the most prominent health issues in our population. While the outreach dealt with patients of all ages, these diseases, which may become symptomatic in middle age, simply continue into our senior years and negatively impact our health and longevity.
None of us wish to live with persistent and prolonged illness, and the fact is that both conditions can often be reversed if taken seriously. There is no magic to it: it’s diet, exercise, and taking our prescribed medications regularly.
The outreach conducted by the Shalom Full Gospel Fellowship was part of the church’s annual activities, and Dr Shellon Tappin, who is attached to the New Amsterdam Hospital, reported that many of the patients examined were suffering from high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar levels, gastritis, and lower respiratory tract infections.
She noted that some patients discontinue their medications in favour of “natural remedies”, which they then find do not really work, and they also fail to maintain a proper diet and a regular exercise regimen.
“For hypertensive patients, we advise less salt and fats, and for diabetic patients, we further advise less starchy and sugary foods,” Dr Tappin said. She advised a balanced diet, regular exercise, and sticking to your medications as prescribed by your doctor.
A number of my earlier columns dealt with these issues and advised on using fewer carbohydrates such as white rice, white flour, sweet drinks, heavily sugared fruit juices, cakes, pastries, packaged foods, and alcohol. Type 2 diabetes can often be reversed with a healthier diet that cuts down on sugars and fats (like butter and oil), using brown rice, using whole wheat flour for breads and rotis, and adding more vegetables, salads, and fresh fruits, which we have in abundance.
High blood pressure can also be better controlled with a similar diet and with an eye to consuming less salt and more lean protein, like fish and chicken, while consuming less red meat, like beef and mutton.
Your best health comes with diet and regular exercise. Working in the garden or doing housework alone will not always be the best solution to losing excess weight that comes from a bad diet. Various muscles and joints are better targeted with proper exercise, which depends on your ability to move safely without straining or injuring yourself.
Simply going for a walk three or four times a week will do wonders. Get yourself a pair of good sneakers and start to walk at a comfortable pace for as long as you feel able. Lifting weights, no matter how light, and doing squats and stretches will benefit your workout and make it varied and more interesting.
If you can have a friend or friends join you, it would help you all stay motivated, especially since you can keep a check on each other’s gains and progress.
As I stated in a previous column, the Caribbean diet depends too much on large amounts of carbohydrates: that’s the large mound of white rice, large white-flour roti, slices of white bread, cakes, mithai, and buns, all washed down with heavily sugared fruit juices or sweet drinks.
None of it is good for a diabetic or hypertensive condition. It’s a small sacrifice to make to cut down on sugars, starch, and fats in order to stay healthy and enjoy a longer life free of much illness and pain.
Just recently, I wrote about our cultural perception of ageing being more negative than positive, that we expect old age to make us weak, ill, dependent, and even useless. Buying into this image of ageing can make us give up on helping ourselves to a healthier and longer life.
Our health care system is improving, and there is much good advice available to help us stay healthy and able well into our senior years. However, if we fail to heed all medical advice and prefer to take “natural remedies” over prescribed medications, refuse to give up sweet drinks and heaps of white rice, and remain sedentary and unmotivated, then we will most likely not enjoy good health.
“Life is holy and every moment is precious,” said American writer Jack Kerouac, and there is nothing holier than honouring the gift of life by taking care of our health and well-being as much as possible and caring about life itself.