Lifestyle : Are you enslaved by your food?
Sad as it may be, many people frown upon good advice that seeks to prevent them from eating the bad foods that they are used to eating. They sometimes cheat on their diet even in the face of life-threatening diseases and conditions.
There is only one reason why people behave this way; they have become used to those bad foods and/or being addicted to such foods.
In a resource-limited country like ours most people lacked foods in adequate quantities when they were younger and now that they are grownups and have become rich or richer than their parents were, they feel that it is now time to eat what they could not afford in the past.
This is one of the reasons why people find it very difficult to avoid eating bad food; they must eat what they can afford.
Who are you to tell such people to stop eating their hard-earned food or stop taking expensive alcoholic beverages bought with their own money? Dieticians may not have the audacity to command that you stop eating bad food, or we may not have the wherewithal to order you to desist from such bad habits.
We may not even have what it takes to follow you home to see what you are doing. What we can only do is to advise you not to eat the bad foods. You are the one who will benefit from such advice.
Doing the same thing over a long period of time also leads to strong addiction or strong disbelief that there could be other ways of doing that same thing. The foods you eat all your life will be so difficult to stay away from in a twinkle of an eye.
The kinds of food you feed your children are the kinds of food they are very likely to prepare in their own home when they grow up and live on their own.
Taste sensations are learned and once acquired, not easy to do away with. That is why people get used to eating one kind of bad, unhealthy or junk food and think that they would be incomplete without those foods.
The best way to deal with this is to just start learning how to eat healthier meals. With time, chances are that one would get used to these foods and be able to eat them all the time.
Remember, just as you got so used to eating that bad food through several years of repeatedly eating them, if you start eating healthier options, little by little, you will get used to that too.
It is a good thing to get used to eating at good times throughout the day. Eating breakfast before 8am; lunch between 12noon and 1.00pm and then supper between 5.30pm and 6.30pm is proven to be the best for all people.
However, some people are not able to respect these golden meal times due to so many reasons. So many people are just not used to eating three meals throughout the day. It is just not their thing if you ask them why.
Studies have shown that people who skip breakfast repeatedly end up developing high blood cholesterol after some time.
It is so easy to try and live by fixing convenient mealtimes due mainly to life’s busy schedules. In a similar fashion, you can also infuse good mealtimes into the busy schedules of the day. Just give it a try.
We can be enslaved by our food positively rather than negatively. This way, it works for our good. Allowing negative attitudes to food to take the centre stage of our lives is just one way of allowing those bad habits to steal our good health and joy.
Gratification and happiness derived from eating bad food only prepares you for some painful experience later in life. Set yourself free from bad food habits; stop being a slave to those bad habits. Choose food well, eat well and stay healthy now and always.
• The writer of this article is a Dietician at Trust Hospital & Clinics. He is the founder of LETS Consult Diet Clinic. Email:
