Be Careful Where You Source Your Food

Categories Lifestyle

The problem of satisfying the dietary requirements of a growing world population is becoming increasingly acute. Foods which make a significant contribution to the food balance sheet for the average Kenyan include meat, milk, cheese, chicken, pork, honey, beeswax, eggs, fish and other animal products. Others are crops such as spinach, strawberries, grapes, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, maize, soy, wheat, oats and fruits

During production of these foods, antibiotics, pesticides, fungicides, hormones and chemicals (which I will henceforth refer to as drug inputs) are needed. Use of the drug inputs in livestock, fish and poultry improves the rate of weight gain, improves feed efficiency, or prevents and treats diseases. The inputs are also used to kill pests and weeds during livestock and crop production.

Without the drug inputs, farmers would produce less food, the quality of food supply would be decreased, storage life of some fresh foods would be reduced, and some food would be less safe because it would contain harmful bugs.

But the use of the drug inputs also comes with a health and environmental risk associated with residues of the drug inputs that remain in the tissues of treated crops, fish, chicken and food animals. These residues are eventually consumed by man and are absorbed by our bodies and metabolized to harmful products.

This then means that, on the one hand, there is a benefit of improved production using the drug inputs, while on the other hand there is a risk of consuming residues left over in the foods that we eat. The public health concerns that are associated with consuming the residues may include long or short term allergic reactions, antibiotic resistance and toxicity, deformed embryos and cancers. Continue Reading "Be Careful Where You Source Your Food" →

Are We Killing Ourselves through Poor Diets, Drinking and Lack of Exercise

Categories Lifestyle

Introduction

Historically, energy-intensive activities like farming, hunting and gathering, kept our ancestors healthy. They were trimmer, fitter and had fewer joint problems. Hippocrates, the Father of Modern Medicine once said that if we all had “the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health”

But today the phenomenon has changed, fueled by urbanization, people exercising less, the sedentary nature of modern work, and the popularity of processed food, which is full of salt and sugar.

Food for the table is just a refrigerator away. We have adopted a lifestyle of sedentary behavior, inactivity and laziness.

The World Health Organization projects that lifestyle diseases will become the biggest killer by 2030 and cause 75% of deaths – many of them premature and preventable. The epidemic includes heart and lung diseases, adult-onset diabetes, some cancers, stroke, high blood pressure and a range of other ills.

This post aims to highlight the new lifestyles that we have adopted; daily routines which Continue Reading "Are We Killing Ourselves through Poor Diets, Drinking and Lack of Exercise" →

Are Kenyans a “Peculiar Lot”, or Not.

Categories Lifestyle

Introduction

Former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph once referred to Kenyans as “a peculiar lot”. These sentiments were seen as an insult and they drew immediate harsh rejoinders, including attacks on his personality.

But that notwithstanding, can we claim that we are not peculiar?

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines peculiar as follows: strange, unfamiliar, a little surprising. It also says that peculiar may also mean behaving in a slightly crazy way.

This post aims to prove that we are indeed peculiar. It focuses on Continue Reading "Are Kenyans a “Peculiar Lot”, or Not." →

Seven Tips on How to Spend Your First and Subsequent Paychecks.

Categories Lifestyle

Introduction

You have sat for the final exams in college and have passed. Your diploma is in hand. You call family and friends, pop the champagne and celebrate for some time but then, reality sinks in. You need to look for a job!!! So enter the unforgiving phase of sending out resumes and going to interviews – also known as seeking for a job.

Contrary to what you had been made to believe in college that jobs are easy to get, you find that there are no jobs which are readily available for the highly educated you.

Eventually, after several days, months or even years of job seeking you graduate into the land of the working. The job may be formal or it could be your own small startup business. All the same, you now have somesteady income which will allow you to pay your bills. You now have some pocket money. Continue Reading "Seven Tips on How to Spend Your First and Subsequent Paychecks." →

Preparing To Retire Gracefully – Start Early

Categories Lifestyle

When it comes to post-fifties, it all boils down to those who are aging, and those who are aging gracefully. There are those who seem to be getting better and better with age while others are just learning by trial and error.

“The graceful agers aren’t aging better, they’re just aging smarter — and the secret isn’t necessarily in what they’re doing. It’s in what they aren’t doing. And as life expectancy continues to increase across the globe, there’s no time like now to look and feel better” – The Huffington Post.

This post aims to highlight what graceful agers avoid, and gives a few insights as to how to age smart and remain productive and respectable even after retirement.

It is said that “wisdom increases with age”. Scientists all over the world mostly accept that this belief is true. Laura Carstensen, a social psychologist says that “contrary to traditional perceptions, growing old brings some benefits, notably emotional and cognitive stability; she calls this the “well-being paradox.”  Although adults older than sixty five face challenges to body and brain, they have an abundance of social and emotional knowledge, qualities that scientists define as wisdom. Continue Reading "Preparing To Retire Gracefully – Start Early" →