By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Dear reader, ask yourself this question- Do I choose convenience or long-term health?
Of course, many would want both but the reality is that convenience and long-term health are at opposite ends of the spectrum of life so you have to choose one or the other.
I am not saying that you have to be dogmatic about your lifestyle. What we all need to do is to consciously make proactive choices in what we think and do in our life. Health is a product of our everyday choices, not the occasional black forest cake that you eat. It is what we eat and drink on a daily basis and what we do daily in our lives that would build up or destroy our health and that of our family.
In the long past, Igorots would go about their daily lives without much ado. Everybody gets up early in the morning and each one has a task to do –the children patiently pound and cook rice, fetch water, feed the pigs and chickens and dogs, etc. The parents patiently tend the farm going home at dusk to ensure that there is enough food, that there is shelter and clothes for the family. At the right time, there would be celebrations or rituals for good harvest, for a sturdy house, for a good marriage, for a healthy baby and mother, etc. Life, then, was simple and everybody ate and acted in harmony with the seasons, patiently waiting for the plants and animals to grow naturally. Food was dependent on nature and so people then were able to discern, through generations of experimentation (native science), how to produce enough food, not only for the present, but for the future. They invented the “agamang” or “allang” (rice granary). This invention is the epitome of food security. They also knew what to plant when the first rains of summer came, what plants go together. And what season to hunt wild pig or deer or fish. They waited, they survived and flourished up to old age, getting wiser as they grew older.
Then came our foreign colonizers and told us, in many ways, that our ways are primitive, backward, superstitious, that we are poor, dirty and “a little higher than the monkeys.” Many of us have come to believe what they said and we threw away our wonderful indigenous practices and changed it with, what else, their ways of our colonizers. We adapted their clothes, their way of worship, their soap, their food nd chocolate and even their twang. West is best.
Fast forward 100 years after our colonizers have landed in our shores, they are now supposedly one of the most affluent nations in the world, controlling much of the world’s economy and norms. Sadly, despite their money and high fast technology, they are one of the most diseased populations in the world – many of their people have heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, cancer. Yes, advances in medicine have saved and extended many lives but have little effect on the general health of people. And because we have adopted their lifeways and their life pace, we also are acquiring their diseases. Right here in Mountain Province, we have immunized our children and prevented measles and polio. People have constructed toilets and have their own water pipes at home. We have dialysis machines and a CT scan right in our province. But did these make our people healthier? Sadly, the answer is no. Our statistics at the Provincial Health Office show a rising number of sick people- sick with lifestyle diseases which we also call degenerative diseases. As Dr. Myron Wentz said in his book Invisible Miracles, “While the human lifespan has been expanded dramatically, too many of the additional years are being spent in disability, pain and misery, as degenerative diseases becomes a standard condition of our later years.” How many of senior citizens in your community are taking drugs for high blood or heart disease or some other debilitating condition? Dr. Wentz calls this situation “the Failure of Success.” Dr. Wentz also states “We live too short and die too long.”
I remember the first time plastic containers were introduced in Besao in the 1960s. My Mom resisted it (thank God), sticking to our enamel plates and cups, which we use up to now. Igorots are zero waste so even cellophane and plastic packaging were reused. I was taken aback when, one time my older sister came home from USA, and started packing in a big plastic bag everything she considered redundant in the house and dumped it in the basurahan. That was when I was informed that in America, you throw away what you don’t need anymore- unthinkable in the Igorot traditional community because what you don’t need maybe needed by others so you pass them on, you don’t throw away. She informed me that they would use paper or plastic dining ware so that they just throw these away after eating, not having to wash. Throw away mentality. We have fast acquired that behavior in the Philippines. We buy packaged highly processed foods like hotdogs and “curls” and “lava” because they are easy to cook or ready to eat. We forget that these are full of empty calories, no significant nutrient content. We don’t want the inconvenience of having to wash and cook rice and pechay. Instead of boiling camote or gabi, we boil eggs or fry them or scramble them. We don’t want the inconvenience of having to wash the dishes. We would rather open our facebook or twitter or whatever social media and slide our fingers and entertain ourselves. Or switch on TV and watch those inane shows or gory news.
Instead of walking to market which is walking distance, we take the tricycle or any ride. In the 1980s and 1990s, walking distance was 20 minutes walk away. Now, I guess, walking distance means an arm’s length. Our narrow roads are getting narrower with all those personal vehicles that people acquire, not really necessary for survival (like you won’t die if you don’t have a car) but for convenience. We spray herbicide on the grasses/weeds because we like to exterminate them fast and easy, not thinking that we are also poisoning ourselves. We also forget that our bodies are designed to move and carry weights. What do you think your joints and bones and muscles are for? Aside from protecting your brain, what do you think is the use of the hard bones of the head? True enough, science shows that the more we carry weights, the better our bones will be. The more we engage in wholesome physical activities, the better our mood will be. You laze around and you lose your bone and muscle mass and you lose brain cells.
Convenience or long-term health? You choice. ***
They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people. Ezekiel 12:2
