EATING HEALTHY FOR THE SEASON

Dec 19, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

It’s the Christmas season once again. While Christmas is a time of peace and happiness for many, it also evokes sadness for others, especially the poor and the homeless. It is the season when peace should reign on earth and goodwill extended to mankind.
But how much tradition has really been retained from past Christmases? With 60 percent of the country’s population being youths, new Christmas traditions have evolved as their focus has shifted in different areas. But the making of black cake, ginger-beer, pepper-pot, roast pork, ham, cook-up and other delicacies as well as the singing of carols and masquerades have remained.
It is still exciting to see the special items of fruits or produce, not seen throughout the year, coming in for Christmas. The fruits for making black cake would have been ground and placed in a jar soaked with wine or alcohol. Christmas is not only a time of merrymaking and feasting, but also of increased stress as most people attempt to ensure that everything, including the shopping for presents and cleaning, cooking and baking are perfect for the big day.
The holiday season is also a time for healthy eating. While this should be done throughout the year, it should be done more at Christmas because of the potential for overindulgence.
On the issue of feasting, the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation has for decades issued warnings about the high amount of calories in black cake, which is one of our main, favourite Christmas treats. Black cake is said to be more harmful than we think because of its rich ingredients. It tends to have significantly more calories when compared to a similar cake without the liquor.
Studies have shown that consuming too many calories can lead to obesity and a higher risk of developing diabetes. And Guyanese who may have had cardiovascular disease must think twice about consuming too much black cake at Christmas. Along with the alcohol content within the cake are the sugar and sodium ingredients. Therefore, eating black cake and consuming alcoholic beverages at the same time could pose a threat to one’s health. It is true that the excessive consumption of alcohol at any time could raise the levels of some fats in the blood, called triglycerides, which also could lead to high blood pressure, for which diabetic patients are already at a high risk.
Statistics from the Department of Health show that there has been a significant increase in the rate of heart attacks and strokes in Guyana during the festive season.
As a result, health officials have recommended that a few small but significant measures can be taken to minimize the risk of these ailments for this period.
They include (1) lower sodium intake, because salt tends to increase blood pressure, which is worse for those with cardio-vascular disease. (2) Excessive eating and drinking and no physical exercise could increase one’s weight, hence the chance of becoming obese. (3) Everyone should try to minimize their stress level, which can be found in many forms, such as shopping, standing in long lines for service, traffic congestion, or dealing with irate customers. And (4) Christmas is a time for the traditional hanging of new curtains, cleaning the windows and painting the house, all of which could result in a lack of sleep, which in turn could affect body’s ability to regulate stress hormones, thus leading to high blood pressure.
The bottom line is we must not overextend ourselves during the season and strive to eat healthy at all times, but more so at Christmas. Why not?

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