"That thing that tastes very sweet in the mouth, would always have a bad consequences for the anus."
~Unknown
Where I'm from, the adults usually tell children this quote. When I was a kid, my uncles do tell me this but I didn't take it to heart as I did not understand the true meaning behind it.
As a child, I love sugary things. I take candy like I'm taking water. I could take more than 10 ripe mangoes at a go without even feeling full. The crazy thing is that after taking these sugary products, my energy levels will spike high. Play becomes the order of the day as I look for means to expend the excess energy in me. Sometimes I get tooth ache from eating too many sugar, but I didn't care. So long as the taste is like sugar, give it to me. The health challenges it may cause for me is none of my business. I wasn't ignorant to the risks of sugar, as a kid, I lacked the adult mentality of understanding the consequences of too much sugar ingestion.
Over the years, one thing I have learnt so far is to always listen to the words of an elderly person. Not because they are always right or something, but because they have had many experiences in life. Most times, their words come from the many experiences they have in life. Currently, I prefer to roll with men that are more older than me. I mean men that are almost the age of being my dad. This is because, from my perspective, these older men have a lot to offer than the people of my generation.
Anyways....
The rate of disease and infirmity is greatly rising. Currently, diseases like CKD, AKI, Diabetes (T1, T2, and Insipidus), hyper and hypo tension, e.t.c have reached quite a high level. Late last year, I had a some cases of BID, this was because the patient slumped in a public place, and died before they could reach the hospital.
People are very ignorant to their health. They hustle and take good care of their bank accounts, but one thing they fail to account for is their health. They pay little to no attention to the signs of illness that their body is giving them. You will see someone with a family history of Diabetes, taking energy drinks, and other sugary products as if their life depends on it. Some are even addicted to these drinks and sugar.
I have come to understand that money is actually not the ultimate wealth, however, health is. With good health and a healthy lifestyle, an individual can live long, young and very healthy. Many people can't even keep a healthy lifestyle talk more of going to the hospital for proper checkups.
We spend money buying sugary things that will gradually send us to ill health (health - illness continuum), while we avoid things that will actually give us great health untill we are unable to function properly because the ill health has gotten worst.
I started being scared of taking sugary products when I found out that I have a family history of Diabetes. Infact, my aunty died of it when I was still in Nursing school. It was a horrific sight. The most pitiful sight of it is when there is a gangrene. Oh my... That's sooo horrific. When dressing my aunty's wound, we could see her bones as the gangrene has decayed her flesh to that extent. The crazy thing was that she refused amputation.
That was when I actually understood that I was not special or immune to illness. It could happen to anyone who don't pay good attention to their health. Ever since then, I began to properly look into the food I eat and the quantity of sugar I ingest.
I know my change came from my horrible experience, but then, one must not experience such horror before they decide to change. I think sugar should be well regulated in the society. Yes, it's sweet and it's used in literally almost everything in our day to day life, but I think there should be great regulation on sugar intake in other to save people from suffering from the horrible disease, diabetes.
I don't know how the government would do it, but I think it's a necessity.
Thank you for reading.
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