Protecting the health of Ghanaians

This is the first part of Olime Health's analysis of the 2014 State of the Nation address here. Download it below;


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Five hours to noon

………. It’s 7:00am at my resisdence

I switched on the TV to watch Michael on Sativ Two Morning show. During the newspaper review, the host had to repeat one question three times before getting Michael's attention. Strangely enough, after the first commercial break, when the content of the mug in front of Michael became empty, he also became more attentive. (Research shows concentration levels are low in the mornings when food has not been eaten).

…………… It’s 8:00am at Trape Trust
Mimi walks into the office only to be greeted with unplanned work from her superior. Looking at the workload, which needed to be done before noon, Mimi wonders when she can grab breakfast. She was unable to have breakfast before coming to the office as she had no appetite for it. "I hope I have enough energy to finish this work by noon", Mimi whispers to herself (Studies show energy levels are low in the morning when breakfast has not been eaten).

……………. It’s 10:00am Wichgreen
Lix has just woken up, and he has an assignment to turn  in 2 hours. He is fortunate to have woken at 10:00am as he slept at a quarter to 6:00am after having an all-night meeting with Game of Thrones. He quickly showers and put on his laptop to finish his 4000 word-assignment of which 500 words have been typed. As he typed, he wonders if Philip was able to make to his 9:00am lecture as he was part of the Game of Thrones all-night meeting. His sister calls out to him to come get his breakfast and his response, "Chale I have to turn this assignment in before noon and besides I am checking my weight". (Research shows people who skip breakfast tend to eat unhealthily, leading to weight gain).

…………. It’s 12:00noon at ESL
Kweku is seen chatting heartily with his friends at the cafeteria. Few hours back, this was not the situation. There was no smile on his face and any question asked by his colleagues got him irritated. In his quest to save money for the future, Kweku has decided to eat once a day. For Kweku, Lunch can compesate for all the three main meals of the day. (Studies show when people have low energy levels, they tend to be lethargic and can easily be irritated.).

Which of the above scenarios best describes you? Is an early morning assignment, loss of appetite, waking up late, weight management or/and saving money among others preventing you from eating breakfast, which is the most important meal of the day? Read more about the benefits of breakfast here.

This week on the Olime Health page www.facebook.com/olimehealth, we will be giving you tips to enable us eat breakfast regardless of the "obstacles". Do not be surprised to find fruits and vegetables in these tips as in this month, we are looking at fruits and vegetables. If you missed out on any of  our posts on fruits and vegetables, you can read from here.

Till then, have a lovely week and may all you hope for in this week come to pass.

Cheers!

Pictures: Courtesy Google Images

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Just a finger?

Yesterday, a friend offered me some bunch of bananas she was eating of which I took a finger to eat. She asked in a surprising tone if that would be enough for me. I answered in the affirmative, explaining to her how a medium size banana would do the same job as a bunch will do. She laughed and told me she would never eat a finger of banana while shaking her head at me. Thankfully, her head did not fall off (lol). Smiling, I asked her the size of Water Melon she eats. "Water Melon? I don't like that fruit. Infact the only fruit I eat is banana because that is what I like", she replied.

Hello Dearies, how are you doing? How did the first working week in February go? This is my second post on fruits and vegetables, in which I will give you more information and tips on them to enable you become a healthier you. If you missed the first post, you can read it here. In this post, I will look at portion size (amount, quantity) and the need for us to include different fruits and vegetables in our daily diet.

Like I mentioned in the first post, fruits and vegetables are to be eaten everyday and not few days of the week or month (Go here for a recap). In order to achieve the amount of Vitamins (especially B and C, Folic Acid) and Minerals and other nutrients, which our bodies need to protect us from diseases and promote our wellbeing, it is recommended for us to eat at least 5 portion sizes of fruits and vegetables per day. A portion size of a fruit or vegetable can be one-medium size of the fruit/vegetable, a handful of the fruit/vegetable, half slice of the fruit/vegetables. For example; 1-medium tomato, a handful of grapes and 1- slice (2-inch slice) of Water Melon. When we eat the right portion size of a fruit or vegetable, we provide the body the amount of each Vitamin and/or Mineral it needs to function properly. Do not therefore be worried or surprised like my friend, when you have only one medium banana to eat in the morning.

Eating different fruits and vegetables is the best way to go. Like the saying, variety is the spice of life, so it is when we want to eat healthily and for that matter, fruits and vegetables. When different varieties of fruits and vegetables are eaten, we make available the different types of Vitamins, Minerals and other nutrients, which each fruit and vegetable contains, to the body, enabling it to carry out its function well to protect and promote our wellbeing. If you are like my friend who only eats banana, you are most likely depriving your body some vitamins and minerals and this can be detrimental to your health. Imagine this; you are always eating only fruit A and this fruit lacks Vitamin C, which is needed for maintaining healthy connective tissues, how would your connective tissues be made healthy then? Hope you see and appreciate the point I am making. This therefore means we are to include different fruits and vegetables in our diet. The rainbow can be a guide when choosing the 5 portions (at least) fruits and vegetables for our daily diet , different colour of fruit and vegetable.   

I will end the second post on fruits and vegetables. I hope I have answered some of your questions. In my next post, I will look at how to "hunt" for fruits and vegetables and how we can have a low budget on them. As much as I would have loved to continue the fruit and vegetables series next week, I have to postpone it to the week after and for the Valentine Day celebrations. Yes! next week is St. Valentine's Day.

I am sharing this blog post with my friend, I hope you will do same with your loved ones, so together we can become a healthier us.

Do remember to like us on Facebook  (www.facebook.com/olimehealth) if you have not and if you have, invite a loved one to like us, so they do not miss out on the healthy tips being shared on the page each day .

Till then, Cheers!

Pictures: Courtesy Google images

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He died at 41

Last Saturday, I lost someone who inspired me from a distance. A person whom I never met or spoke to but will wait and listen to him, for few minutes to get inspired before leaving for school when I was a girl. His rise at BBC, was something that always had my heart swelled with pride – the pride of being Ghanaian, the pride of being an African and filled with so much inspiration to make an impact in this our world for he gave me the hope that I can make it. I was in love with his objectiveness, professionalism, his love for his Maker, family, friends, his country, for his continent and for people. So last Saturday, when this Black Star fell, you can imagine the big blow death has given me.

Some news have reported his death as due to a cardiac arrest and other news and posts on Facebook say he struggled with blood pressure which nearly got him to suffer a stroke last year.Only his doctors can tell for sure. But these news caused my public health nutrition mind to think of Non-communicable diseases and to write this post.

Non-communicable diseases which include cardiovascular diseases have become the leading cause of reported deaths globally. Unhealthy lifestyle which includes the list below are their main risk factors.

        1. Poor diet: diets high in fat, high in sugar, high in salt

2      2.  Inadequate physical activity

3      3. Not getting enough rest

4      4. Harmful use of alcohol

5      5. Smoking

Non-communicable diseases impact negatively on the economies of the world as the costs associated with their morbidity and mortalilty are high and hence requiring an urgent need for us to PREVENT them.

As the main risk factors of non-communicable diseases are lifestyle choices, we can prevent them by modifying any unhealthy behaviour we may be engaging in, by;

1       1. Cutting down on our salt intake, at most 6g/day.

2       2.  Including small amount of food high in fat and sugar to our diet.

3       3.   Including more fruits and vegetables in our diet, at least 5 different fruits and vegetables a day.

4       4.  Reading food labels to know the amount of food nutrient, a food product will be contributing to our diet.

5     5.  Getting and staying physically active, at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity in a week. 

       6. Getting at least 8 hours of sleep in 24 hour period.

7     7.  If you drink, not doing so above the recommended amount (read more here)

8     8.   If you smoke, seeking help to quit.

9     9. Regularly going for medical check-up, among others.

My Black star who I am bidding farewell today, who in my heart will live, and continually inspire me to be better and to help build a new Africa, died at 41. He accomplished a lot . How I wish he could still enjoy life to the fullest and live it to the longest to continually impact the youth of Africa towards a new Africa. But I know, he has left a great legacy and posterity will always remember him.

Fare thee well you who has inspired me for more over 10 years, fare thee well you who gave me hope of a new Africa, Fare thee well Gallant Black Star, The Hope of Africa, Fare thee well the Boss Player.

Till we meet again, rest in peace.

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/olimehealth so together we can become a healthier us to enjoy life to the fullest and live life to the longest.

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What are the plans?

Happy New Dearies!

I know I wasn’t the first to wish you a happy new year even though I hoped so. I imagined the first two days will be full of best wishes from friends, families, loved ones and I did not want my best wishes for you to be lost in the “sea of many happy 2014 wishes” so I chose this 3^rd day of 2014 to wish you the very best of 2014. :) Now tell me, how have the first three days of 2014 being like for you? Here at Olime Health, they have been exciting. Truth is we have labelled this year, as an exciting year for us and for you. There are exciting packages waiting to be unwrapped this year and I pray you not to miss any of these packages.

Oh Dearies, each year you give me more reasons to continue with this blog. Reading my blog’s yearly report, I must say the figures for the number of views, visitors, comments, and countries are simply amazing. Wow! We beat last year’s record by 250% on the average. Thank you so much. Your continuous visits, comments, feedback and love for this blog mean so much to me. I wish I could say thank you in person. I want you to know that I do not take your patronage for granted. In my language, we would say Medaase bebree (Thank you much, Merci beaucoup, Gracias, Asante sana, Danke).

So tell me, what are your plans for this year? Do they include health and nutrition ones? I bet they do and I can imagine what they are, if you doubt me take a read here and see if I got it right. And you count on Olime Health to assist you in achieving your health and nutrition goals. Here at Olime Health, the plans have been drawn up and are being worked on. I hope you are also working on yours, this year, we have to rock it or what sayest thou?

This is the first post so I will keep it short but remember not to miss out on the exciting packages, which have been put in place to help you prevent, promote and protect your wellbeing.

Do like Olime Health on Facebook, www.facebook.com/olimehealth where most of the action will be taking place and keep coming. Tell others about us and let’s become healthier us together. :)

Till then, enjoy life to the fullest and live it, to the longest. Cheers!

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