The Way I See It

By:Curtis Morton
The way I see it, health is important and lack of good health will always weigh heavily in the negative, on society.
Many years ago, a friend of mine gave me the acid test, to determine whether or not I was carrying too much of a belly.
He said I must place my hand on my forehead and let it slide gently down onto my belly and if my hand hit my belt, then I was in good shape and if it bounced over my belt, then I was in trouble…
Needless to say, my hand bounced over my belt!
Well I newa!
I was definitely carrying a bit of a pouch—not a huge one by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to cause some concern.
During that period, as I am an avid beach lover, I kept on my under shirt, whenever, I went to the beach.
I was ashamed of my pouch.
However, it caused me to do some introspection.
My research revealed that one of the major things that I was doing wrong, was making it a regular habit to eat late evenings, into the night.
It was revealed to me that whenever we eat late, the tired body may go to sleep but the stomach continues to work overtime, on the food that had been digested late into the night.
The poor stomach does not get enough rest.
That is why it is also recommended that whenever we have eaten a major meal, we should allow at least four hours to pass by, for proper digestion to take place, before eating any other substantial meal.
Little habits like drinking while you are eating and constantly snacking between meals, are also detrimental to good health.
As a matter of fact, my research taught me that in reality, our meals should be guided by the following:
• Eat your breakfast like a King or Queen—it should be your biggest meal of the day and should be nutritiously ordered
• Eat your lunch like a Prince or Princess. It should not be as huge as your breakfast and must also be nourishing
• Eat your supper like a PAUPER. As the day nears its end, the less we should eat and so this particular meal should be eaten, as far as possible close to 6 pm. It should be a small meal and also nutritious.
Thereafter, the stomach should be allowed to rest for the remainder of the day.
That is why when you eat your first meal the following morning, it is called BREAKFAST, because you are indeed BREAKING the FAST!
In the interim, you should of course take your necessary intake of pure WATER-your eight glasses, if possible and don’t use the useless argument that I used sometime previously, by debating that they did not say how big the glasses should be and so that gave me an excuse to pick the SMALLEST glass in which to pour the water—Not good!
Another reality that our Nevisian community faces, is the fact that we have become overly SEDENTARY.
We SIT for most of the day: Be it Taxi drivers, bus drivers; office workers…you name it, we spend most of the day sitting. As a matter of fact, if it was at all possible, there are some persons who would drive right to their office desk and then drive right to their bedside, without walking a muscle!
When I was going to the Charlestown Secondary School, before the days of the renowned JOHNNY GRANT and the invention of school buses, WE USED TO WALK FROM GINGERLAND TO CHARLESTOWN and back– when school was over.
Nowadays, I see parents allowing their children to catch public buses from Chicken Stone to go to the Gingerland Secondary School or the Joycelyn Liburd Primary School!
Small wonder, we have so many cases of OBESITY and nowadays there is an increase in the number of hypertension and diabetic cases at primary school and teen years.
In Antigua and Barbuda, the Minister of Health is making a move to excite the people there, to become more active and involved in exercise programs.
It all comes down to us as individuals. We have to conscientiously make healthy choices.
My understanding is that there are some persons who walk and run regularly, but as soon as they get back home, they eat off a whole pot of food by themselves.
Well I newa!
We have to choose diets that will enhance good health; we need to avoid putting toxic substances into our systems; we need to eat at appropriate times in appropriate and healthy amounts; we need to have a regular exercise program; we need to find time for proper and adequate rest from our days of hard labour; we also need to get enough water and sunlight and above everything, we need to have the right connection with our God.
I am not saying that change will be easy but like every other good thing, it will take work and sacrifice.
I will have to keep working on it and you dear reader need to start the program. God loaned us a wonderfully created body and one day we will have to give an account to him for how we took care of it, or DID NOT TAKE CARE OF IT.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?