Re: Is this the best we can do? - John McKenna,
HealthSupplement,
December 4th
Dear Sir,
We all know not to put diesel into a petrol-fuelled car, it
will clog up, cough and spurt and ultimately breakdown.
The same is true of our bodies; we need to put the right fuel in if we want them to work properly. So many people in Irish society today are operating out of half- functioning bodies, complaining of always feeling tired, constantly catching colds and flu, suffering never-ending viral infections, such as Herpes Simplex.
Depression is also prevalent and a whole host of gut-related disorders from constipation (which a lot of people don't take seriously enough) to ulcers and more serious diseases such as Crohn's disease. With regards to children the problem is even more worrying as conditions such as dyslexia, ADHD and autism all seem to be on the rise. So how is it that we respect the needs of our cars more than the needs of our bodies? Could the answer be as simple as education?
Ultimately a parent or driving instructor will inform the learner driver about what fuel suits his or her car, there will be an exchange of information. When it comes to feeding our bodies, does this exchange of information actually take place?
Certainly it rarely takes place in schools, as the curriculum doesn't provide for it. It rarely takes place in the doctor's surgery, as time doesn't allow for it. It may take place in the home, if the correct information is there in the first place. But who is informing parents?
Furthermore, with regards to the actual preparation of the food we eat, we need to ask ourselves the question; who is actually doing the cooking for us? Is it large manufacturing food companies, which, no matter how hard they try, can never truly supply us with the optimum nutrients we require for healthy bodies?
Manufacturing methods dictate that almost all vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids are destroyed in the process.
Perhaps it is time to start taking serious responsibility for our bodies by learning how they work and how we can best maximise our health rather than just paying attention when disease or illness strikes.
To this end, we need to introduce the idea of nutrition into both the classroom and society as a whole. Perhaps it is time for the Department of Education to include the subject of nutrition on the school syllabus. It would certainly be an investment and perhaps a saving in the long term.
With regards to society as a whole, developing careers such as nutritional therapy should be endorsed so that as well as having recourse to a doctor when ill, the public can equally have recourse to a nutritional therapy when trying to optimise their health and prevent illness.
Everyone knows that prevention is better than cure, but with respect to our bodies, do we really include foods on a daily basis that help stave off illness?
Foods which feed our immune system, feed our minds, feed our guts . . . and indeed what would these foods be? Education is surely the key to answering all these questions and perhaps it's about time we stopped neglecting this aspect of our lives.
Linda Hickey (third year student in nutritional therapy)
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