Five books to keep you healthy in 2017

I was a very curious teenager who read as many books as I could and as many newspapers and magazines as I could. The fact that my mum was a medical personnel made it easy for me to take an interest in health related issues-physical and mental. I have read as many fiction books as […]

I was a very curious teenager who read as many books as I could and as many newspapers and magazines as I could. The fact that my mum was a medical personnel made it easy for me to take an interest in health related issues-physical and mental. I have read as many fiction books as I have read medical journals and magazines related to breakthroughs in medicine. Very many lay people take little or no interest in health literature while many doctors are surprised at my knowledge. The body is a machine so magically created by God that it amazes me when we are completely unaware of how each part is connected to the other. When someone has an ear ache, the rest of the body is in pain, when you have a toothache, it would seem like your entire body has packed up. 

My first test on how connected body parts are came when I slammed my fore finger in a car door when I was 12 years old. My body went into shock and my finger remained my focus for days. The pain was in my head, in my arm, crept to my mouth when I tried to eat; and my eyes lingered lovingly on the fingers for three days until I developed a fever and a headache which needed attention in addition to the fingers!

A diabetic more often than not will go on to be hypertensive if not well managed. A toothache radiates to the ear and to the eyes. Some of the weirdest health issues are like a study of God’s awesome creation – Man. I find that most persons that have eczema have also had upper respiratory issues and asthma. A podiatrist can immediately tell what disease you have by looking at how your toes are curved, straight, coloured or clean. Isn’t it amazing how genetics also plays a key role; so your father was hypertensive-my advice, don’t let it attack you by ensuring that your lifestyle is in check. Worry less and breathe more. Your parents were diabetic? Cut down stress, eat less sugary foods, exercise and keep a positive outlook to life.

Looking at your family genealogical tree should be your first step towards a healthy life in 2017. Does anyone in your family have a disease you did not know about? When getting married or if already married, did you check out your spouse’s family issues? This is because this can affect your children. The time for health education is now.  

Here are five books to help you along.

1) HAPPINESS-THE NEW BRAIN SCIENCE OF CONTENTMENT, CALM AND CONFIDENCE by Rick Hanson: So much is taken for granted when it comes to the state of our mind that except you can see the illness physically, you do not consider anxiety or too much of it as a disorder. You do not consider depression as something that requires a doctor. You do not think that if someone is unduly unhappy for too long; it can become a major illness. This book Happiness is very important in accentuating the positives and eliminating the negatives. In this book the author Rick Hanson explains that the way our brains are neurologically wired is to absorb negativity and deflect positive moments as a survival mechanism. Does that mean we are doomed to be a bunch of Debbie Downers? Not at all. Using mediation based approach, Hanson shows we can train ourselves to escape our neurology so you will be singing in the rain versus slogging through it.

2) Nutrition is a very big part of our health check. Eating the right foods to keep our bodies and minds in good shape is important. Diet and nutrition has become a multi-billion naira business all over the world that in choosing the book to help us in managing our nutrition and diet, we have to be discerning. Too many books are out there that can scam you by telling you about one new diet or the other, one new fake nutritional fact or the other. I recommend that you choose a book on diet and nutrition carefully. Make sure to run it by your doctor or by a nutritionist.  Make sure it speaks to your needs not to your wants or because a friend used it and it worked. Our bodies are all different so are our needs. Eating healthy is the key. The book is just a guide. I have met too many people who think they are too fat yet they are underweight! Bulimia, anorexia nervosa, all eating disorders. They stop eating, they hide food, they eat a lot and then throw up everything. This is a severe medical condition that can lead to death. It starts small then the child begins to disappear at eating moments. It can also attack adults so keep your eyes open. Read a book on nutrition that is useful not destructive.

 3) THE SLEEP REVOLUTION-TRANSFORMING YOUR LIFE, ONE NIGHT AT A TIME by Arianna Huffington: Sleep deprivation is a form of torture by security agencies all over the world. When you have not slept well you become disoriented, confused, unable to be at peace. Sleep is critical for optimum efficiency of the machine – your body. This book is addressed to those who suffer from insomnia and those who by choice refuse to get enough sleep i.e the party animals, the alcoholics, the social butterfly. It proposes a renewal of our relationship with sleep as the only solution.

4) As a teenager I dwelt a lot on a book called SYMPTOMS by Isadore Rosenfeld. This is because it helped me to know what was wrong with me. If my eyes twitched I delved into the book to find out the cause and what to do. Once I was married, I bought an updated version for my adult age. So I got a very special edition of Symptoms on my shelf permanently. I consulted it when my children had a rash, when my spouse had a cough or when my stomach rumbled. It almost became my unspoken doctor and I became an addict of the book until my husband threw it away. Useful for research, for guidance and for understanding minor health issues. It is not a substitute for a doctor and you should not become addicted. Period.

5) Learning about food and how it relates to the building of your body- vitamins, nutrients, what it contributes to the healthy building of your body is essential. Too much of anything is not good. So while vegetables, fruits and nuts are recommended, you must also eat other types of food to balance your diet. Get educated about what you put in your mouth. EAT COMPLETE-THE 21 NUTRIENTS THAT FUEL BRAINPOWER, BOOST WEIGHT LOSS AND TRANSFORM YOUR HEALTH by Drew Ramsey will help you on this journey.