By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
We often whine about the lack of things in our life – lack of money, lack of food, lack of water, lack of land/space, lack of time. Looking at the prevalent diseases afflicting people nowadays will tell us, however, that we have excesses. Or some people have excesses.
Overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, kidney diseases are diseases of excess – excess sugar, fat, protein. We are eating too much. We are consuming too much.
One common reaction I get when I say “Minimize or avoid sugar” is “But our body needs sugar?” Of course. And God provided sugar in many forms. Unfortunately for your sweet tooth, natural sugar does not necessarily taste as sweet as your cane sugar or honey. There is sugar in your rice, camote, beans, squash, gabi, pechay and all natural foods. In fact, we are already eating enough sugar in our traditional diet. So adding sugar which you buy from the store is excess.
Proteins are made of some 20 amino acids. 12 of these building blocks are manufactured by our bodies and 8 have to be provided by our diet (termed as “essential” amino acids). Studies of diets around this interesting planet of ours show that these essential amino acids can be provided adequately by a varied assortment of plant foods! Look at our indigenous diet – rice and bukel. The staple food in Caribbean countries is beans and rice. Mexicans have been eating corn and beans then and now. The Chinese have lugao and soybeans. What science has found is that the amino acids low in rice are found in beans and vice versa. They complement each other. Our forefathers are may not have identified the molecules but they certainly knew the correct combination! Many studies implicate high animal protein diets in the development of kidney diseases, several cancers and other degenerative diseases.
Other problems with animal protein is that when you cook, you cannot separate the protein from the cholesterol. Even if you slice away the obvious fat, there is still a lot of hidden fat in the meat. It contains saturated fat (bad fat) and cholesterol. Actually, it is the fat in meat that makes it tasty. (I learned that from pulutan lovers.) And remember ONLY animal-sourced foods( pork, chicken, beef, dog meat, kambing, longganisa, hotdog, tocino, ham, eggs, milk, ) contain cholesterol. There is NO cholesterol in plants. So please don’t insist that avocado contains cholesterol. And another concern is that these animal foods don’t contain fiber, the important broom for our intestines. Lack of fiber is implicated in colon cancer, diabetes and a lot of other sick conditions.
Excess fat makes the blood thick and sticky (think of the sebo in your bulalo) thus slowing down circulation and causes red blood cells to stick together. You can see these cells under dark field microscopy (amazing simple technology). These will lead to the narrowing and hardening of the arteries causing strokes, heart attacks and other diseases. To add insult to injury, the excess sugar we are consuming today causes inflammation in the blood vessels further narrowing blood flow. Other diseases may ensue because of poor distribution of oxygen and nutrients.
Butter, margarine, cooking oils are nearly 100% fat. Meats, cheeses, eggs, whole milk, mayonnaise, cream, ice cream, contain a lot of fat.
The less sugar, fat and animal foods we put in our mouths, the better for us. Our parents and forebears attest to this. Then we will have enough money, enough food/water, enough land, and better health. Then we will have enough, and even more than enough to celebrate and be thankful and be a blessing to others.***
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“All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:4
