Good morning colleagues,

I pray all is well with you. I am well except that I am very sad this morning.

I was just informed that a friend/patient had died. He had high blood pressure which had damaged his kidneys. His cholesterol levels were also high and he had suffered a minor heart attack when I met him. Can you guess his age? 25 years

When discussing his diet history, he spoke about drinking alcohol with ‘boys boys’ weekly, not exercising and taking a lot of junk food. He initially recovered and was discharged a month ago. he had promised never to drink alcohol and to exercise daily and I never knew death would lay its icy hands on him.

There are many simple things we can do to prolong a quality life and prevent early death;

·         EXERCISE AT LEAST 30 MINUTES DAILY

·         REDUCE ALCOHOL INTAKE TO THE BAREST MINIMUM OR ABSTAIN

·         RESTRICT SOFT DRINKS, JUICES AND OTHER BEVERAGES HIGH IN SUGAR

·         USE AS LITTLE OIL IN FOOD PREPARATION AS POSSIBLE

·         CHOOSE HEALTHY OILS SUCH AS OLIVE OIL, SOY OIL ETC

·         AMONG THE ANIMAL PROTEINS, CHOOSE MORE FISH THAN CHICKEN AND RED MEAT

·         EAT A LOT OF GREEN VEGETABLES

·         DO AN ANNUAL MEDICAL CHECK UP AND KNOW YOUR SUGAR LEVELS, CHOLESTEROL LEVELS, BLOOD PRESSURE AND HOW WELL YOUR KIDNEY, LIVER AND HEART ARE WORKING

Let’s take control of our lives by eating well and living well.