My Healthy Lifestyle- The Westernized Connection

#SilentNoises ~knm

This is the third part in the series-My Healthy Lifestyle. These articles have sought through the use of humor and common occurrences to put us on a critical path of thinking to enable us live healthy. It is never too late to start. Most of us shrug off the doctor’s orders and accuse them of being too book long or because we are friends with them we take what they say with a pinch of salt. How sad. If only we knew!

I use the key words ‘Westernized Connection’ for two reasons.
The first reason can be attributed to those of us resident overseas. As soon as we touch on the shore of the foreign land, we begin to adopt the lifestyle prevalent in that community. Though I must admit, the Ghanaian and for that matter the African diet is rich in carbohydrates, the consumption of red meat in huge quantities is equally not good for us. 1+1=2. That is double jeopardy on our health right there. Living overseas, we have developed a knack for the consumption of well done steak and goat meat and veal and venison at the least opportunity. Some have even equated the consumption of such to be a sign of good living. Good living? Today you find grills adorning most backyards or back porches. Almost all grill meat. Few grill fish. Why? How many times did you consume meat back home? Note that our grandfathers and some of our fathers did consume a lot of bushmeat which was also smoked before cooking and consumption. Some of our fathers and grandfathers upon travelling outside decided it was fufu with huge chunks of meat coupled with gallons of beer. Hard liquors was the foundation with multiple sticks of khebab before the main course. That was their version of appetizers. Today, you and I are copying and living same lifestyles which can lead to an early grave or a life burdened with health issues. But then our genes are different.

By dint of this affluent show off, those of us who live overseas, have infected those back home to try to live same in an effort to feel not left out. To me that is absolute crap but then that is the second reason. I have come to realize life is not a competition especially when you have family. You live within your means and do so healthily. Any attempt at following a band wagon might and will only result in an early demise. It is very easy to realize people are easily influenced by the West. After a week in Dubai, you hear one speaking like an American. You see ladies with all sorts of wigs and hairdos all in an attempt to like those Western celebrities so they can look glamorous. The guys with sagging pants irk me so. Even University graduates sport sagging pants and feel confident strutting about like a vulture. Show which part of Africa or Ghana that has sagging pants in their culture. Go on. So now you understand me when I talk about copying blindly even in the consumption of food?

Part of the way to address this canker is to preach healthy lifestyles. Instead of taking people’s money anyhow, I call on the churches to talk about this. I call on you to tell somebody to live healthy. After all, YOU are the Change!

#SILENTNOISES

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Published by #SilentNoises ~knm

Kwasi (First name rhymes with Crazy but he is not) Ntem-Mensah is a father and a husband. He is a mentor, a Fatherhood Consultant and a member of the Fatherhood Roundtable. Kwasi is currently the Fatherhood Initiative Coordinator working with ECHN-Family Development Center’s Healthy Families Healthy Babies program. He is the co-chair of ECHN’s Unity Collaborative where the work is focused on Diversity and Inclusion. Kwasi is a member of the Board of Education of Manchester. He also serves as a director of The Manchester Land Conservation Trust and is the Secretary for The Council of Ghanaian Associations in Connecticut. He is also on the CFSP Advisory Council. Kwasi does collaborative work with the DOC and DCF. He is the creator of ReadToMe and Celebrating Our Fathers events. Kwasi facilitates 24/7 Dads and Circle of Security parenting. He is the author of the anthology of poems and short story “A Silent Noisy Walk in My Mind” and publisher of “SilentNoises.org”. He is also a radio presenter at CMRadio, a Ghanaian radio station based in East Hartford and a member of AABAC, an advocacy association for people of color. Lastly, Kwasi is a wonderful community advocate that is eager to work with people all races, genders and socio-economic background

1 thought on “My Healthy Lifestyle- The Westernized Connection”

  1. Healthy healthy healthy. Anything from the west these daysare more than dangerous. Apart from beyond unhealthy some even poor standard that finds their ways unto the shelfs of our malls. Food and Drug board sleeping, standards board snoring our customs at the entry points are busily collecting the collections. “Death bullets” is being being shipped to us without the authorities checking. These days you’re better off drinking local sobolo, pito Asaana, Mnledan than any drink parked from the west cos you might not know that which you consumed. But one thing is sure SUGAR. Just to taste good.
    Meat hmmmm. Some of the meat you might think were soaked in the Jubilee field in Ghana to give the consumer oil to power his/her vehicles, oil more than fat is what we get. In cases of lean meat too, toy can tell it’s stayed in some animal mortuary for God knows how long
    Let’s eat our eworkple with let’s school bore boys, tz, komi, fufu waakye, abom now called Sunday special.
    To God be the Glory and to the writer be more ink and wisdom.

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