This is a very long piece. If you want some tips on how to maintain good health, post your 50s, it is a must-read...
Life expectancy in Nigeria is a paltry 52 years. It is one of the lowest in the world, one of the lowest in Africa. People die young everywhere. There are certain causes of death that are beyond our control as human... Death is eminent but... I mean but... There are a few things we can do as soon as we hit our 40s and 50s that can help prolong our lives. Our lifestyle and diet. What we put in our mouth, and how and type of exercise we do. You do not need a gym membership to exercise, nor do you need to spend tons of money to eat healthy. You need information that will guide you. I am not an expert dietitian or an exercise specialist. I am in my 50s, and I am a food professional, so, I write from a position of knowledge and experience.
Beyond a certain age, you need to refrain from certain types of foods if you want to live long. Sugary foods (coke, Pepsi, sweetened Zobo, many cubes of sugar in your gari/tea/cocoa beverage) – STOP eating these foods or significantly reduce their intake. Consumption of high cholesterol foods - especially palm oil with its high level of saturated fatty acids (not that you should not eat red oil but reduce its content), too much salt - adding salt after cooking is not good. Focus on balanced diets that are rich in vegetables - leafy vegetables (efo riro and egusi) so long they are not overcooked and warmed too many times, you will reap their benefits. Carrots, raw tomatoes, and all kinds of less sugary fruits with lots of soluble and insoluble fibers. Serving size of foods like carbs (eba, fufu, lafun, iyan, semo, amala, white bread from refined flours, cake, meat pie, fried plantain) MUST be reduced in your diet. Three, four, five, or six raps of semo or iyan is danger. Soup with red excessive red oil showing on its surface is death, “iku”. Why, a lot of the carbs we eat are high glycemic. That is, they are broken down easily into absorbable sugars that quickly get into your bloodstream. Too much sugar in your system at old age (> 50) is a recipe for all kinds of diseases as mentioned before – arteriosclerosis that can cause heart failure due to high blood pressure. Good and bad activities within human body cells are powered by sugar. Less sugar will not stop good activities because the energy it provides for the cells can be sourced from other less harmful substances in your body like proteins. Some may want to know about honey. Honey is not too different from sugars – its main constituents are two types of sugars, fructose, and glucose, but it also contains other good compounds from the shewing of plant nectar by honeybees. Too much honey is like taking sugar, so be informed. I teach this in my bio-process engineering class.
Plant-based foods, especially proteinaceous foods are good for you. Lots of nuts (groundnuts, cashew nuts, pistachio, etc.) and legumes are good for you – cooked beans, fish, and bird meats instead of beef or mutton, or goat muscles (limit red meat because of the high content of bad cholesterol and adipose fat). There is a genetic predisposition to some common diseases in old age which are usually beyond anyone's control. Both situations can be controlled to some extent by lifestyle and choices - the type of foods you put in your mouth and certain habits... exercise... You do not have to go to the Gym to exercise but go if you can. Brisk walking that makes you sweat every time you have the chance to walk or intentionally like every other day for a few minutes is good for your health; a few stretching in your room like those primary school exercises that we took for granted in those days. Not sitting at one point beyond 2 hours. Stand up and walk for a few minutes. Also, seeing your doctor regularly to check vital signs - pb, prostrate check, mammogram scan for breast cancer – the hand checks for lumps, and being up to date with your vaccination – yes, there are vaccinations for adults to prevent some old age diseases like Shingles, etc...
Any food with a natural color is good for you. A lot of foods with pigment/color are fruits and vegetables. Any food with yellow (some type of garden egg), pink, red (pepper, tomatoes), purple (zobo), orange (carrot), green (leafy veggies), etc. are the king of food-medicine (nutraceuticals). Eating them is medicine for your system. They contain what are called phytochemicals or phenolic compounds that have anti-bacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic capabilities. They have transferable benefits from the plants they are sourced from to humans. Zobo without sugar is good for you. A lot of our herbs (agbos) in solvent (water and alcohol) contain similar healthy compounds. The only problem is that there has not been enough research on our agbos to determine dosage.
Drink a lot of water. At least, 1.5 to 2 liters daily. Why is this necessary? Water is the medium for several biochemical activities within our body cells. In fact, our body is mostly made up of water. There are several metabolites (cells excreta, in Yoruba, cells’ “Igbe”) that need to be flushed out of our body. Drinking enough water will allow you to flush these metabolites out quickly before they harm your body. This, among other benefits of drinking enough water daily. Water depletion in cells leads to the formation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) increases. Excessive ROS produces other compounds that are injurious to your body cells. Mind you, some types of water can harm you. Water in PLASTICS often contains leached chemicals that are harmful. I do not know how NAFDAC is controlling the quality of plastics used for bottled water in Nigeria. There are good plastics and there are bad ones. Having said that, any water in any plastic bottle that has been exposed to the sun for any extended time or stored for too long in the plastic container would probably leach harmful chemicals into the water. So, you want to be discreet as to how you drink water. Sachet (Pure) waters are often dangerous – the production, the handling during and post-production predisposes them to the chemicals from the plastic containers.
Beware of all these imported turkey and chicken. Even frozen fish. A lot of them had been treated with dangerous levels of food preservatives. If you can afford it, eat locally-produced fish. Avoid catfish though, they have high levels of fats that are not good for you.
I teach some of these topics in my classes, so, this is different from some of the things you read online where some self-appointed experts begin to lay claim to the medicinal impact of certain foods without any explanation. Foods can be nutraceutical, i.e., foods can be medicine for our bodies if we choose them right. At the same time, they can injure us if we just eat anything.
Here is the deal. In the end, God’s grace is important – but please, don’t run away with this alone though. It is not all about God, you have a role too. You increase your chance of a long life if you can do some of these things. The rest is completed by God. There are several other factors in our environment (pollution of all kinds, contamination from food manufacturers, exposure to radiation at work – during your travels, through gadgets that we use, etc.) that predispose us to all kinds of diseases that we do not know of…. God ordering your steps not to be a victim is important BUT you must do your part in controlling what you can – what you eat and your lifestyle.
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