THE World Health Organization (WHO) has five health advisory, how about you? It is at this time of the year when some, if not most of us, dread to step into a weighing scale because we don’t want to see a true and very honest number. Or look at the mirror to see a double chin or if it were a full-length mirror, a reflection of an apple-shaped abdomen or thighs so big they can compete with the prized hams in Spain. Of course, blame it to all the feasting and eating and drinking done in gay abandon to almost Bacchanalian proportions that are parts and parcels of the Happy Holidays, whether it was a Merry Christmas, Passover as in Hanukah or in other joyous rites.
The first advisory is to have a balanced diet. By now, we are all familiar with the colorful distribution of food in a plate- by the way, for 2017, please use smaller plates, that way, you tend to put less food in them-. Carbohydrates and fats are energy-giving food, per gram yield four and nine kilocalories each. One fourth of the plate is any carbohydrate - rice mostly, the other one/fourth is proteins- body building foods which could be a piece of meat or fish. The remaining one half of the plate would be a mixture of luscious fruits and vegetables. The carbohydrates and fats provide us with the power or the force to go on our daily life- cleaning up the house, lifting heavy objects, running up the stairs etc. The proteins make are bones strong, hair shiny, skin clear, muscles supple and if injured, provide us with a firm scar tissue. The veggies and the fruits provide us with the vitamins which help in the different metabolic processes of the body while the fruits give us electrolytes, ions which are also active as enhancers of enzymatic processes inside the body as co-enzymes or co-factors. Our teacher in biochemistry and nutrition emphasized that aside from the vitamins, minerals and trace elements- chromium, selenium aluminum, manganese etc. - that we get from fruits and vegetables, is the added bonus of roughage- bolus of undigested, unabsorbed fibers which, when it reached the large intestines or colon, will stimulate peristaltic movements that lead to easier bowel movement, thus avoiding constipation, and if we stretched our argument further, lessen the risk of hemorrhoids. On top of that, the fiber content of fruits and veggies would absorb the fat content of the food thus decreasing their absorption from the small intestines unto the blood.
To make your diet balanced, do not forget your water intake. After all, water yes, your two hydrogen combining with oxygen (HOH) is the fluid medium in which all chemical reactions in the body take place. Why the proverbial 8-10 glasses of water? Based on the amount of urine the kidneys put out per day, plus the so-called insensible loss- water loss from the body through breathing and talking- and with all those sweat, thus it's logical, practical and ideal that what we lose, we replace.