If you are the kind who looks forward to Friday because you will be drowning in some froth at your local in the good company of your friends or in solitary amusement, pay attention because lifestyle diseases might want you to be a friend too.
If you are busy planning for an out of town drive to indulge in some serious nyama choma in Kitengela or wherever, come closer. You are even budgeting how you will take away some for baby-mama because she doesn’t quite know how to make the kind of sizzling choma that ‘unites’ you and your taste buds. The kind that makes you salivate by just imagining it is possible to indulge in such mouth-watering goodness. If this describes you, then you too need to pay attention.
Are you the kind that eats ‘what you want’ and cannot even take the stairs to your office? The one who has given Uber serious business because you don’t want to get all sweaty walking to your office? The last time you moved your body from point A to point B was when you sneaked out of your car to make a dash to your ATM or Supermarket or office. I say sneak because you were walking briskly as if tou are scared of the dust. You need to hear me out.
If soda is bae, chips and chicken know your scent please be my guest. Oh and those ones who go to a restaurants and ask for African tea with milk and three sugars please, I am talking to you.
You are part of a crusade that is contributing to the rise in the number of people suffering from lifestyle diseases. We are talking quantity and quality.
To the Kitengela guy who loves his sizzling nyama choma?
Two names you can read here perhaps for the first time and do not need to cram them; polycyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These are the devils agents in your sumptuous plate of nyama choma. That moment when your choma is sizzling and oil dripping from the high temperatures these two chemicals are formed. Studies show that they can change your DNA thus raising your risk of getting cancer. The science is here and it is not kind to your lot.
Besides, red meat has high levels of saturated fats.
The kind of fat that raises your cholesterol to worrying levels. The kind that makes your heart sick and your hands knock at heavens door. Unchecked, it is the kind that will make your heart stop. When that happens you become part of the statistics. You will have died of a Cardiovascular Disease, joining millions of others who have fallen. In 2015 according to WHO, 17.7 million people died of CVDs. It is currently the leading cause of death in the world.
Cancer of the lung, colon, prostate, breast, rectum and even uterus have also been linked to saturated fats.
Sugar Love
Just thinking about a coke or a milky cup of tea with 3 sugars makes you high with want.
Here is your dose of truth sugar-love. Sugar increases the risk of all manner of lifestyle diseases. From obesity to diabetes to even heart disease.
Next time you are cuddling that bottle of soda or drowning in the first sip of your milky tea, just remember, lifestyle diseases like the ones named above thrive on sugar too.
And do not wait until you cannot fit in your favourite pair of jeans to know that things are going south.
Even when you are not over-weight, according to studies, the risk of especially heart disease is high.
Because sugar is becoming a global nightmare, the UK has been campaigning hard to aid families reduce their sugar-intake. There is even a sugar smart app that will tell you how much sugar is contained in drinks that you purchase from the supermarket. How is that for technology driving change in health and lifestyle?
If your tastebuds are the kind that need sugar or savoury nyama choma, you may need to train them otherwise.
