Time

Fourteen hours. Eight hundred and forty minutes. 50,400seconds...........

Some may say they're the same duration of time, but I say – it depends on the way you look at it.

Fourteen hours. That's the length of time my best friend labored before the doctors decided to do a C-section and get the baby out. When I finally got to see her that day, she told me it felt more like 50,400 seconds. Fifty thousand, four hundred seconds of grueling pain, wasted, since she still had to be sectioned at the end of the day. Well, I finally got to find out for myself what it felt like barely four months later. At exactly 4.28pm, when they placed my son in my arms at last, the hours fell away and seemed to meld into that one moment in time when I gazed at him, drinking in every detail of his tiny features. At that point I felt I could have done it all over again if I had to, and no, even though the nurse assured me that according to her charts I'd been in labor for twelve hours, it didn’t feel like 43,200 seconds.

Fast forward three years and 11months. I'm on board a Boeing 747 aircraft bound for America, with my eighteen-month-old nephew in tow. Fourteen hours later I'm staggering out of the immigration checkpoint into my sister's outstretched arms and I feel as if every one of the 50,400 seconds in that fourteen-hour flight had somehow developed feet and come to dance a jig all over me. By this time my nephew, who if the truth were known had probably handed out heavy boots to each of those seconds as they swung into action, was sleeping like a little angel - which he wasn’t.

Funny thing about time. I still remember way back when I was little. Whenever we had an aunt visiting and she would go on and on about how I was growing at the speed of light and “wasn’t it just the other day you were blowing out your first birthday candle?” I remember thinking - “What is she talking about? Time is crawling. Why can't I just hurry up and be sixteen already?” Now I'm the one who is amazed at the way my niece and nephew seem to be racing toward the sky, and exclaiming each time I get to see them. This, as you may well expect, is much to my niece's irritation.

Ten business days. Twelve days. Two hundred and eighty eight hours. 17,280 minutes. That's how long I've been waiting to get the debit card that goes with the checking account I opened when I arrived in Massachusetts. When I stormed into the bank two days ago to complain that I'd waited for more than two weeks, the nice-looking lady at the counter assured me that there really was nothing amiss and that I'd only been waiting eight days. I of course, being the reasonable person that I am, refrained from telling her that it felt more like 17,280 minutes.

If I'm honest, I'll admit that it's been only a couple of months since I left Nigeria for the USA. Months without sunshine that is so intense, you feel it before you see it. Hot, moist, still air that reaches for you and caresses your skin as you step out of the comfort of an air conditioned room. Heat and sunshine twelve months a year, three sixty five days every year. Months without that blistering heat. I swore that I wouldn’t miss it. It's funny how you begin to miss the things you never particularly cared for once they're out of your reach. Another thing I miss – pepper. Not the kind you sprinkle on your salad to give it some flavor, but eye-watering, “tongues-on-fire” pepper. The kind that has you reaching for your glass of water with each mouthful.

Time. Your doctor tells you you have to be on a particular medication for three days and you heave a sigh of relief. Three days of medication seems like nothing compared to the one month of treatment you had last year. But again, it depends on how you look at it - or who's looking at it. This point really came home to me when I had to explain to my four year old that he would have to be on that nasty medicine the doctor had prescribed for his throat infection for five days. Since he had not quite mastered the concept of days and times, I had to explain to him that five days meant “when we sleep and wake up five times.” With a voice that quavered with tears, he fixed those beautiful brown eyes of his on me and said - “but that is a very long time.” Looking at it from his point of view, I realized that five days is indeed a long time.

Speaking of time. Three hours. One hundred and eighty minutes. 10,800 seconds - that's how long I've spent writing this piece.

The true meaning of 'Nutrition'

Nutrition: 

                 1) The science or practice of taking in or utilizing foods 

                 2) A nourishing substance...

                                                                 (Webmaster's Medical Dictionary)

                 3) The act or process of nourishing or being nourished; 
                      specifically - the sum of  the processes by which an 
                      animal or plant takes in  and utilizes food...

                                                                                       (The Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Nourish:

                 1) to provide with food

                 2) to foster the development of.

Antonym :

                    (abandon, deprive, neglect, starve)

As much as it has become commonplace to use the word “nutrition” in the sense that the Webmaster's Medical dictionary interprets it, on further consideration it becomes obvious that the Merriam Webster Dictionary interpretation more closely approximates what nutrition truly is, in a holistic sense.

The subject of nutrition is indeed about food, but the first definition given above can be very misleading if one is led to assume that nutrition is only about the consumption of food. The second definition on the other hand presents the subject in a much broader sense which can be considered from two main viewpoints : 

1) That nutrition is a process. Not one action, but a series of actions among which food intake (or consumption) is just one small step. In other words, the process of nutrition straddles an entire series of events involving legislation, production (agriculture), distribution (storage, quality control, transportation, marketing), consumption, and the short and long term effects of food and physical activity choices on the health of the individual and in consequence the overall productivity of a nation.

To neglect or ignore any of these crucial steps in the process that is nutrition, is to do so at the expense of the achievement of the primary goal – the provision of high quality and readily available food to every individual in such a way as to bring about the optimum health and productivity of every citizen.

2) That nutrition in its most fundamental sense, is about development and growth.This too may be considered on two broad platforms: 

       a) Development of the individual and

       b) Socioeconomic development. In other words - development of the nation.

Development of the individual

A common ideology of many faiths is that man consists of more than just a physical body and that beyond this tangible physical body, man is also made up of a soul and a spirit. The soul, they claim, is the seat of the mind or man's intellect; from where our thought processes derive. If that is the case, then nutrition (beyond how we have come to view it) should cover the nurturing and development of the human body with food and regular, substantial, physical activity, as well as development of the mind and the human spirit.

Proponents of this ideology generally are agreed on the fact that the acquisition of knowledge and healthy interactions with other human beings constitute the “food” that the soul needs to thrive. It is perhaps on the issue of the ways that the human spirit can be nourished that opinions become divergent. Be that as it may, on the subject of the necessity of nourishing ones spirit (whatever the means employed) there is no dissension.

Some argue that it is the neglect of this very important (but much overlooked) aspect of nutrition and the consequent deprivation felt by individuals at a subconscious level that has contributed in no small way to the epidemic of obesity. Whether for reasons of loneliness, economic hardship, relationship failures or work related issues, stress is a normal part of life, something we all face daily. It attacks the mind and spirit and the individual senses it at a much deeper level than just the physical. Where there is no other known means of nurturing (defending) himself, he turns to what he is familiar with – food, to meet that need.

Development of the Nation

The importance of sound nutrition to the overall health and progress of a nation is another issue that is generally agreed upon; even in nations where little or nothing is done by governments to implement policies and programs that will ensure that the primary goal of proper nutrition is achieved.

In general, societies where malnutrition is prevalent, whether due to insufficient intake or excessive intake, are societies that experience considerable loss of manpower and productivity with consequent socioeconomic decline. Nutrition, and those involved in all its many processes, seeks to address this problem of lack on the one hand and surfeit on the other, which results in deprivation in the face of plenty.

Nutrition therefore is the sum total of all the processes that culminate in the physical, mental and spiritual health and well being of the individual and society as a whole. That's what nutrition means to me. So now the question is - What does the word 'nutrition' mean to you?
                                                                       

Science, Salt and Skin color

I'm a scientist at heart. Every good scientist knows to question anything and everything with a 'why', 'what', or 'how'.

 I'm also an African. Which is why when it comes to the issue of sodium and regulation of salt in processed foods, I want to know all the answers.

In the last couple of months I've had cause to either listen to presentations on this subject, or discuss the issue with friends and colleagues. Almost always (at least more times than I care to remember) someone refers to the now well known fact that when it comes to the negative effects of high sodium intake, blacks and older individuals are particularly at risk.

My question is - why?  Is it just a function of the pigment in our skin? Beyond knowing that blacks are more susceptible, are there any studies to show why this may be so?

Every race has it's own share of diseases that it seems to have (more or less) a monopoly on. For example, the Asians have the largest prevalence of gastric cancer world-wide, osteoporosis and endometrial cancer are known to be almost  always found in older white women; so it seems fair that blacks should have their own 'disease monopoly' too - fibroids, sickle cell disease and salt sensitivity. For those who may not have heard this term used before, salt sensitivity is simply the increased tendency of an individual to develop high blood pressure with high salt intakes. This phenomenon is most commonly observed in blacks, overweight individuals, people with diabetes and in the elderly. For such people it is recommended that, instead of the 2300mg recommended for the general population, they should restrict themselves to 1500mg of sodium per day (about two-thirds of a teaspoon). 

Sounds pretty straightforward right? I mean who in their right mind wouldn't want to avoid developing hypertension before the age of forty, and checking out much sooner than they'd planned? This one seems like a 'no-brainer'. But it's not that easy, trust me. I know because I've tried. I made up my mind that I was not going to be taken out before my time simply because I couldn't discipline my taste buds. So I started my personal low-sodium campaign, and what I discovered  led to my clamoring, along with the rest of informed America, for the FDA to take decisive steps towards enforcing the reduction of salt in processed foods.

The truth is - unless you have actually been given a death sentence by your doctor and you are actually looking death in the face, eyeball to eyeball (at which point your priorities tend to be somewhat differently arranged) aiming for a daily sodium intake of below 2400mg is difficult, but 1500mg or less is nothing if not impossible; at least in the USA.

 I remember doing my grocery shopping one day and picking up a can of soup - I mean what could be more healthy than good old soup, chock full of beans, lean beef and more than half a day's helping of veggies?- to my utter shock and consternation, when I turned the can over to read the nutrition label it showed that the soup contained 740 whopping milligrams of sodium per cup! Now frantic and very worried, I began going through the contents of my shopping basket. My findings were discouraging. Except for the fruits, the item with the lowest sodium content per serving was my 'healthy', sprouted multi-grain bread. It had 150mg of sodium per slice! Even my plain (unsweetened) non-fat yogurt had a higher sodium value per serving. To think that all along I'd thought I was eating healthy (whatever that means).

 That was the day I stopped asking 'why?' and started thinking 'how?'. How can those of us who have been identified as more susceptible to the effects of the high sodium foods being churned out daily by the food manufacturing companies, be helped to help ourselves? For me that is the most pressing question we need to answer. Right now it seems that the most definite solution is through the FDA enforcing restrictions on sodium content of foods; something which I'm glad to see they are actually beginning to make efforts to do.

For now the question of 'why' can wait. Unless perhaps I choose to get off my butt and do the research myself. Who knows? I just may.

Love me, kill me, eat me: The 5-step animal rating system.

While reading this post (dated Feb 2 2011), for the first few minutes I was sure I'd mistakenly stumbled upon some Vegan/Animal rights article which had inexplicably managed to sneak itself unto the Wholefoods website.

Now don't get me wrong. I have NOTHING against vegans or animal rights for that matter. I mean - to each his own. But I'm a girl who loves her meat, so any talk about the benefits of vegetarianism is totally lost on me.

 But the phrase 'while shopping for meat' had caught my eye, so I pressed on. Which was lucky, since it turns out that the topic was anything but what I'd initially thought it was.
As someone who is very interested in the subject of nutrition (and considering the fact that I'm spending a great deal of money to educate myself about it) I understand what Wholefoods and it's affiliate organizations are trying to accomplish by this venture. In fact, let me say here and now that I not only understand it, I respect it. We need more chain stores to join in this effort to ensure that safe food is delivered to our tables.

Still, for once I found myself looking at things from the point of view of the animals. What struck me while I was watching the embedded video clip,

                                                           
was a comment made by one of the people interviewed. He said [and I quote] - " The animals are rooting, they're playing, they're running around in a manner that <pause> you might say they're happy..."

Now that gave ME pause.
I have a confession to make. You see, I'm not an animal lover, at least not in the way most people would understand it. I never owned a pet growing up, and I don't feel that somehow my life is damaged because of it. The only time I like to have close physical contact with any animal is when it's nicely cooked and on it's way to my mouth from my plate. Still after watching that video (which by the way would have made any animal rights activist very proud) I began to think more compassionately (if I may use that word) about the animals that 'give up their happiness' so to speak and lay down their lives, just to satisfy my choosy palate.

I know it may seem like I'm trying to play devil's advocate here, given my antecedents, but I really am not. Think about it - would it be okay if you had your hair and scalp tenderly nurtured by your hairstylist for months on end, only to find out that the real reason he was putting in all that dedicated hard work was because he was planning to shave your head clean and sell your hair as extensions?!

I guess the moral of this story is that we meat lovers actually do have our moments of quiet and sober reflection. In fact after watching that video, I think I'm going to stick to fish from now on; at least until someone comes along to try to convince me that fish have emotions too!

Gym-Pact : What's money got to do with it?

I read the article on Gym-pact in the Jan 24 edition of the Boston Globe with mixed feelings. Those who know me well are aware that I'm entirely pro-anything that is headed or established by a woman; be it a business venture, an idea, groundbreaking scientific research, politics... you name it.

So I was gratified to read that Gym-pact is the brain child of a fellow woman, and a recent Harvard college graduate at that.  Still, while I'll be the first to confess that as far as business ideas go, this one seems like pure gold, and much as I wish Yifan Zhang every success in her future endeavors, I must disagree with anyone who feels that this is a solution to making anyone stick to a workout plan.

Ask anybody who has been successful in achieving and maintaining any appreciable weight loss and they'll tell you the same - It's not about the money.

Frequently I've had people ask me - "What was the turning point for you? What made you decide to stick with it?" For me and the many others I know who finally found their own rhythm and are still sticking with it, it has had little or nothing to do with the pressure on our pockets or any financial retribution (real or imagined). It has everything to do with hitting your own wall, ceasing to be in denial and facing yourself, or as some will say - making up your mind to just do it. You have to hand it to Nike, they caught on a long while ago.

I remember a friend way back who paid a good sum to get her jaws tied. Barely one week later she had the wires taken out. Why? three days after her jaw tying venture, she came home to find that her sister-in-law had made a potful of mouth watering pudding. Her jaws had been fixed in such a way that there was no way she could possibly get in anything other than very thick fluid between her teeth. But she didn't let that deter her. With single-minded determination she selected the two largest puddings in sight and proceeded to cut each one into slivers so thin that she could fit them through her now severely narrowed dental occlusion. It was not until she was done eating both puddings that she realized the irony of her situation. She told me later that the dent in her pocket from the dentists bill was nothing compared to the pain she experienced when she had the wires taken out the very next day. My point? - It's not about the money. But then I digress.

I hear someone argue - what about those to whom money does matter? Those for whom the "pay if you miss a day at the gym" clause seems to be working? Well my answer is this - Do you remember when someone came up with this brilliant idea to improve the health of Americans in the workplace by creating financial incentives for them to increase their physical activity and improve their fruit and veggie intake? My question is: What happened to that idea?

More recently there's also been a move to discourage the intake of certain foods and beverages by imposing higher taxes on them. That hasn't seemed to work either; at least not in reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the USA.

 Like I said - it's not about the money.


For more on the article Gym-pact, click here