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We have come to the cross-roads
And I must either leave or come with you.
I lingered over the choice.
But in the darkness of my doubts
You lifted the lamp of love
And I saw the in your face
The road that I should follow.
(A poem by Kwesi Brew).
I intentionally, chose this poem by Kwesi Brew of Ghana as a metaphor. A good friend of mine, sent me a whatssap video, illustrating 10 advantages of taking beer. Then added a caveat “is it true”?
As Kwesi Brew stated, sometimes, some drunks or social drinkers are at cross roads, drink wise. And do not know what to do. To drink or not to drink? Then they start looking for embellishment and justification for drink. Vuala! They remember that Timothy said in the Bible we should take a little wine for our stomach, that red wine is good for the heart, that beer has some health benefits.
But in the poem, Kwesi Brew stated and I quote
“we have come to the cross-roads.
And I must either leave or come with you.
I lingered over the choice”.
Most of us linger over the choice of abandoning alcohol.
“But in the darkness of my doubts.
You lifted the lamp of love “
Yes, Although the lamp of love was lifted by a woman, in Kwesi Brew’s poem, as a metaphor, I want that lamp to be lifted by God, who will imbue moderation of alcohol consumption in us, and if possible total abstinence.
Yes, from a research done in Germany, where they drink beer with mugs. It was found that beer has more than 10 health benefits which include :
•Beer drinkers live longer.
•Beer is all natural.
•Beer is low on calories, low on carbohydrates, and has no fat or cholesterol.
•Beer improves your dangerous cholesterol (LDL).
•Beer helps you relax.
•Beer has plenty of B vitamins – B1, B2, B6, & B12.
•Beer is safer than water.
•Beer prevents heart attacks.
•Beer fights cancer.
•Beer does not give you beer belly.
This is ironic, we have a colloquial coinage “beer belly” which is not caused by beer.
I know that if a pious Clergy reads this write up, let me use the local parlance, “he will provoke”.
But my good party friends, will shout hallelujah, and look for their proverbial “drinking horns, which Chinua Achebe described in “Things Fall Apart” and head to the the nearest pub.
Wait a minute, let me land. Remember the good friend who sent me the Internet clip wanted to know if those postulations were true. I said yes, but with conditions. The research was based on a glass or two of beer a day not exceeding 600mls ie a bottle of beer. It was not meant for those who take one carton(12 bottles) of Gulder or Heineken at a sitting.
I told my friend to listen to number 10 again, “that beer does not cause beer belly “, very confusing. Let me explain. Beer is not the only one to blame, for the protruding tummy called beer-belly, pot-belly, tyre-belly, beer-gut or beer-pot. There are a lot of factors playing a major part in abdominal obesity, such as uncontrolled diet, excessive alcohol consumption in general, imbalance in hormons, lack of exercise and even daily stress.
For some medical and scientific reasons, a high alcohol intake tends to produce fat, that is laid down within the midsection of the abdomen and buttocks. Researchers attribute this to high turn over of glucose, which accumulates rapidly in beer guzzlers, this glucose is quickly converted to fat, and usually the abdomen, because of proximity becomes a depot for fats. This is the origin of the familiar beer belly, and it is a risk maker for heart disease.
If someone makes fun of your protruding or sagging tummy, will you for your health sake ever do something about it? I shall give you some reasons, why you must tackle being overweight.
During the last 100 years, heart disease has moved from being a rarity to being one or the two major causes of death, the other is cancer. Let me reveal a secret to you. Among ten men that are very close to me, seven have both heart problems and diabetes. Only three are relatively for now symptomless. Four among the seven are dead. The four that died had heart disease, diabetes and were obese. How do you explain that?
An unfortunate thing is that heart disease affects more men than women. Experts are still in dispute on why it is so, but excessive diet and alcohol, seem to be the major explanation.
Several studies have shown that, since blacks, nay Africans moved away from more basic African diets, to western diet, example snacks, heart disease has increased. The western diet lacks the green leafy fresh vegetables containing vitamin E, the anti-oxidants which mop up free radicals. These are naturally occurring bio-chemicals, released during metabolism. Their roles in heart disease is still poorly understood., but they appear to be important in causing heart disease.
Apart from not eating well, while drinking, we tend to eat too much of carbohydrates. I remember my daughter, a medical student, use to jokingly tease me, that the cause of wist pain and bulging tummy, were due to eating a lot of cassava (akpu) daily. I agree with her.
There is an epidemic of obesity,, hence beer belly, but not as a result of only excessive beer consumption. Obesity, not oniy offers the bad prospect of beer belly and resultant heart attacks, but also leads to diabetes. Of course we know the physical side effects of obesity which include arthritis, tiredness and skin rashes due to excessive sweating. Are you alarmed?
Consider in addition that the foods we eat tend to contain less fibre, which seems likely to predispose to bowel disorders, such as diverticulitis, and possibly even bowel cancer.
The convenient food we like to eat, may taste nice, but it is not always good for you. Besides, a high fat content – cakes, fry-ups, cookies, pizzas, meat pies, egg rolls, and other take away snacks containing too much salt that predisposes to tooth decay, obesity and diabetes.
Men tend to put excess weight around their belly and waist as opposed to the hips which is where women accumulate fat, nick named spare tyres. This is important because fat around the waist corresponds to fat accumulating within the abdominal cavity, and it is centrally held (beer – belly), which appears most important in generating the health problems caused by obesity.
A big and heavy man may be mainly muscle, whereas a much lighter man may be carrying far more, by way of fat. This can easily be recognized by Doctors.
We use an index called Body Mass Index (BMI). This relates height to weight. The formula is your weight The formula is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared
BMI =Weight (kg) /Height (m²)
An index above 30 means obesity, serious enough to affect your health.
To lose weight, you must either reduce your food intake or increase activity and preferably both.
As guide, men aged between 19 and 60 doing sedentary job require 2,550 calories a day. Some in physically demanding job may need up to 4,000 calories a day.
Let me shock you, do you know by research and calculation most men who think they are living luxury life take up to 10,000 calories a day, in 3 square meals viz alcohol, meat – nkwobi, suya, fish and chicken.
A word is enough for the wise. Be medically guided.
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