Let's learn from this...
The tragedy of taking one’s own life is one
that millions of individuals instinctively keep at arms length and it is
understandable why many abhor the thought of doing this.
However, statistics have revealed that
while many might dislike the concept of suicide, many more fail to acknowledge
the presence of a more ferocious specie of this act; one that is closer to the
body than an inked tattoo.
While it might prove easy and convenient to
tag the sight of a man pointing a loaded revolver to his own head a suicidal
act, the same cannot be said for the ignorant eating habits of many that have
sent them to their cold and early graves.
A classic example of this would be the case
of Malissa Jones. She was once nicknamed Britain’s fattest teenager but is
presently one of the saddest teenagers alive today.
Her story is one that cuts straight into
the tragedy of not knowing the right thing to eat even in the years that herald
the teenage years.
In her case, she grew up eating whatever
she liked whenever she liked and before you could say Jack Robinson, she
developed an intimate relationship with food.
If perhaps, she loved the right type of
food; perchance vegetable, fruits and a balanced diet, perhaps the tragedy that
her life has become might have been averted.
At the age of 16, Ms. Jones was warned by
her doctor that she would have only months to live, unless she lost weight.
Morbidly obese, Malissa weighed in at 34 stone. (In American-speak, that’s 476
pounds.) Having already had a mild heart
attack a year earlier, Malissa was told to lose 280 pounds, lest the next heart
attack be her last.
Her diet consisted of mainly junk food like
chocolate and potato chips. At 5’8, Malissa consumed about 15,000 calories a
day, more than 7 times the amount recommended for a girl of her age with her
build. Malissa had all the symptoms of obesity; she suffered from angina, a
cardiovascular disease normally associated with old age, at the tender age of
15. At nighttime she was forced to wear an oxygen mask, because doctors warned
that her heart and lungs couldn’t withstand the force of her weight while she
was lying down.
We must note that the young girl’s failure
to eat right gradually and painfully paved way for a lifestyle that soon began
to threaten her own life.
In 2008, at the age of 17, Malissa Jones
made headlines when she became the youngest person ever in the UK to
receive gastric bypass surgery, of which the cut-off age is generally 18. The $20,000 NHS funded operation entailed
stapling her stomach to a significantly smaller size and “bypassing” her
digestive system so as to limit food absorption. For this reason, gastric
bypass patients are unable to digest vitamins such as B12 from food sources,
and must submit to a lifetime of vitamin supplements in order to prevent severe
vitamin B12 deficiency.
The surgery was a success, at least at
first. Two years post surgery, Malissa had lost half her body weight, although
she still carried about 28 pounds of loose, excess flabby skin, a side effect
which causes quite a bit of dismay among bariatric surgery patients.
At the age of 20 she became pregnant.
Doctors were concerned that her newly stapled stomach might rupture from the
weight of the baby’s womb; at six months Malissa suffered liver failure, so she
was forced to have a Cesarean birth. Her baby boy, named Harry, died only one
hour after surgery of malnutrition. During her pregnancy, and likely as a
result of her weight loss surgery, she was not physically able to eat enough
food to support herself and the baby. Malissa was devastated.
Now, Malissa is 21-years-old and weighs a
mere 112 pounds. Diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, she admits that she has food
phobia, and that eating makes her feel physically ill. Sometimes, she says, she
would rather die than make herself eat. ”I’m too thin. My body shocks me. But
swallowing is painful. Eating a tiny amount gives me stomach cramps or makes me
sick,” admits Malissa.
Her regular daily diet consists of 3 cooked
carrots, some turnips, and a roast potato, amounting to 300 calories, although
she was advised to consume between 500 and 1,000 calories per day. Once again,
Malissa is told that because of her weight she will likely die of a heart
attack within months, only now the challenge is to eat enough to keep her
alive.
In addition to suffering anorexia, Malissa
has chronic depression, for which she takes antidepressants; she also suffers
gastrointestinal diseases, chronic fatigue and low immunity. Because she is not
able to follow a healthy nutritious diet, her immune system has been severely
compromised, leaving her at risk for infections.
On a final note, Malissa has this to say to
any obese individuals: “I wish I’d lost the weight through exercise and healthy
eating. I know this operation was life-saving, but the complications I’m
suffering now might still kill me…”
While the lessons from Malissa’s experience
are numerous, we must understand that it does not cost a fortune to eat healthy
and lead a healthy lifestyle.
Besides the fact that “an orange a day
keeps the doctor away,” the consumption of fruits provide an excellent source
of mineral, vitamins and enzymes.
Fruits are one of the most healthy and
natural foods in existence. An individual on natural diet consisting mostly of
raw fruits and vegetables will always enjoy good health. Moreover, the ailments
caused by the intake of unnatural foods can be successfully treated by fruits.
In Nigeria, fruits like strawberry, berries
and other foreign might not be easy to find but Nigeria is blessed with an equally
wide variety of fruits that provide a range of options for us all – Oranges,
apples, pawpaw, bananas, pineapples, cucumbers and others are merely a few.
We must also realize that Fruits are at
their best when eaten in the raw and ripe state because they lose portions of
their nutrient during cooking or processing.
Fruits are most beneficial when taken as a
separate meal by themselves, preferably for breakfast in the morning.
Fruits are easily digested and have a
cleansing effect on the blood and the digestive tract.
Many fruits are high in potassium, an
electrolyte essential to maintaining a proper balance of body fluids.
Adequate
potassium also appears to reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure.
Fruits are rich in bioflavonoid which
protect against cancer and other diseases. Numerous studies demonstrate that
people who eat ample amounts of fruits enjoy a reduced incidence of cancer,
heart attacks, and strokes.
Other
benefits of eating fruits
- Fruits are rich in Antioxidants that works by preventing cell damage caused by free radicals, unstable molecules that are released when the body burns oxygen.
- Fruits are high in fiber and low in calories.
- Fruits are a good source of natural sugars that provide quick energy.
- The carbohydrates of fruits are easily digestible and are completely absorbed. Therefore they are very useful for sick and invalids for quick energy.
- Fruits are also low in sodium so they help reduce the chance of gaining water weight.
- Fruits can help prevent wrinkles and help give you a smooth and radiant complexion.
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