EATING HEALTHY CAN HEAL

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 7.20.2023) What do you do when you know you have a physical problem but you really don’t want to deal with it? Before you respond, let me give you some advice: do something about it now, not next week, next month, or next year Don’t procrastinate or pretend it does not exist. I did all those things and I’m regretting it now. My situation got so bad (this was pre-COVID) that I finally had no choice but to go get myself checked out. Sure enough, I was informed I had a condition. The diagnosis took sometime and speculation on the MD’s part. After multiple tests and x-rays, they finally found a name for it. But it went by a set of letters that disguised esoteric medical terms that I didn’t even know how to spell. Finally, I was told I had an auto-immune disease. A what? That’s a disease that basically is an admission of ignorance on the medics’ part. I say that because it doesn’t get close to specifying what the problem is, how it came about, or how it can be cured. I was left with my five letter, C-TEPH and an assurance that it wasn’t COVID-related. It started long before that. But as I said, I waited a long time to address my situation, and it got worse as a consequence. In any case, I was left with several prescriptions and told they would help but not cure my chronic condition. Chronic, I discovered meant it would never go away, meaning there was no cure, according to medical science. That’s when I got down to researching foods, especially as the hematologist told me I could no longer eat my beloved greens, my spinach, sikuma wiki, and terere. After that, I realized I had to figure out what was good for me to eat and what was not. I also discovered that the right kind of food could help to improve my condition, and maybe even cure it. I have learned to love researching foods and finding out what they contain. I even discovered I don’t need to eat red meat or lots of carbohydrates or processed foods. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes (like ndengu) and beans are generally the best things to eat. Not everyone will want to become a vegetarian, and even I occasionally eat fish or chicken. I know eating proteins is essential to staying strong and making sure my immune system is being fortified. But one doesn’t need to eat red meat to include protein in your diet. Meat eaters won’t want to hear about how beef, mutton, and even mbuzi aren’t the best foods for you. So I can only tell those nyama choma lovers that their lives are likely to be longer if they slow down on those foods. But I can eat veggies until they are coming out my ears, I love them so much, and I know how healthy they are. I believe many Kenyan communities had very healthy diets in pre-colonial times. For instance, the Kikuyu love their githeri (maize and beans) and also their mukimu (potatoes boiled and mashed with peas, maize, and greens of all types), both of which are extremely healthy foods. The Luos eat lots of fish which is also extremely good for the protein and all sorts of vitamins and minerals. Every Kenyan community learned what vegetables and fruits were edible and restorative, which herbs to take when they had specific maladies. But Western food habits introduced all sorts of fattening, processed foods as well as sugary drinks and even chewing gum which are so destructive to teeth. In any case, many of those indigenous and ancient food practices have been lost and forgotten, displaced by Western eating practices, some of which are delicious, but some are expensive, and non-restorative to the body. One of the discoveries I have found is that simple spices and delicious flavors can be found in natural foods that are also nutritious. You may already be consuming them, but again, I must advise that the use of too much cooking oil can destroy the progress one might be achieving. I confess, I am an extremist when it comes to eating fats. I don’t, as a rule. I boil and bake and cook with various spices, starting with garlic and ginger, tomato and onion. They go into all my hot meals. There is much more to say. Just get started eating and enjoying healthy foods.