BY REV FR. GERALD NWAFOR
I am not claiming what I am not, but I think that we simple people should add caution and common sense to what we put into our bodies. I do not need a dietician or a doctor to tell me that taking six bottles of beer at a sitting is not good for my liver, kidney, heart, brain, and eyes. In elementary school, we had a saying that did not make sense until we got into high school. The saying was as simple as ABC; it states, “Too much of everything is bad.” As a teacher, as a priest, as a son, I have not faulted that axiom. I watched when young people were competing to see who could finish one bottle of Hennessy. In shock, I watched a guy raise it and glugged it down his throat like water. He started laughing when he put down the bottle. I did not know what to do. I watched him walk away quietly until I stopped seeing his back. The following day, the news came that he died that night. The friends said that this is not the first time he engaged in the contest of finishing a bottle of hard liquor in one swoop. I said that I do not need a doctor to tell me that is a very bad habit to keep.
Everything should be done in moderation. In high school, we were told that virtue stands in the middle. The traditional parents who did not have formal education said that when you are participating in a race and you take the first position in that contest but do not stop and continue running, it is no longer normal but abnormal (Gbara gbara gbafe oke oburu ara). Even water can kill you if you drink too much of it; you can drown. Everything should have an endpoint when you will say stop or enough.
It was the wedding of my cousin. I was sitting behind this well-dressed gentleman. He told the servers to bring him foo foo with Onugbu soup. He was sitting with the family members. I did not recognize him since I had been away for a long time. He finished the foo foo in under two minutes and got up and walked away from the canopy. The in-laws called me to bless their food, and I saw the gentleman sitting in the group. I asked him if he was the person sitting among the family members a while ago. He denied and I blessed the food and walked away. I was watching him from afar, and he requested two plates of jollof rice, which he placed under his seat and finished both within four minutes. He finished the two plates and walked over to the canopy for general. I did not care to follow him; I just said that the hunger in the land was too much. It was 6 PM when I came back to the family to see how everything went. Lo and behold, the young man was lying down naked on the front door of the family gate. They said he was drunk and was throwing up and eventually collapsed. I asked them if he was an Igbo man, and the people around started laughing. I said that I am asking because I am an Igbo man and should always remember the proverb of our fathers, “I prefer to go hungry and reach my destination peacefully than full stomach and fall on the pathway.” (Kama iriju afo dachie uzo, kam buru onu ma lue ulo).
There must be decency in the way we eat and what is it that we eat. I am not against canned food since it has become a necessary part of our civilization now, but I also advise that it should be taken in moderation. Sometimes go to the market to buy fresh tomatoes for your stew and jollof rice. I do not have anything against tinned tomatoes, but I have time for the fresh ones too. The frozen fish and meat are good, but the fresh ones are better because the vitamins and proteins are still intact. I always ask why the West calls canned food and fast-food junk food. It is not my words; it is in the lexicon already. If they call it junk, why should you think it is a sign of affluence to eat it every day? If you have the opportunity, please plant your vegetables and tomatoes; it is to manage and nurture.
From time to time, drink lemon water and skip dinner. Take care of the body so the body will take care of you. They said we are souls with a body, not the other way around. Although Epicureans would want you to believe that you are a body with a soul. In either case, take care of the body. I have talked about sleeping and resting in one of the articles I wrote a long time ago, but I want to add that it is also required in this topic. After eating, do not jump into your bed for sleep; if you have time, walk around for 30 minutes. After eating, do not engage in strenuous or rigorous activity to avoid stomach cramps and indigestion. Remember to eat some fruits and drink your water to help digestion and kidney function.
Finally, I said I am not a dietician, but I have common sense. Do not fast only to overwork the liver. Do not eat too many fruits because they are sweet. Some of the fruits have high fructose levels that can spike your sugar if you are diabetic. Do not eat rice, garri, and yam; the three are just starch, add a little protein and vitamin. I don’t like beans, but from time to time I will eat akidi beans and the black-eyed beans. I always look for vegetables since I did not like vegetable yam as a kid; now I eat a lot of it to make my mother happy. As a child, she would always beat me up so I would eat the vegetable yam. Now I know better. Please watch what you put into your body. If I remember my philosophy class very well, somebody said, “You are what you eat.” -Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. I do not think that he is wrong to make that statement. Be careful what you put into your body.
