The lure of food galore during parties and holidays usually weaken our will power a bit and add a few pounds to our weight, except perhaps among those who are watching their diet like a hawk. Discipline and moderation significantly impact every aspect of our life and literally determine our future.
All medical data we have today validate the wisdom of counting calories for better health and longevity. We are what we eat, and our future realistically depends on how we eat. This is no longer a theory. It is a scientific fact. While the genes our parents have passed on to us influence our bodily functions, medical science has shown that a healthy lifestyle can significantly “counter” and alter, if not prevent, the risk of developing most diseases our parents were or are predisposed to by the genes they have inherited from their parents.
Predestination?
Gene mutation “can result from adaptive evolutionary changes, upon which natural selection acts, providing the advantageous new traits that survive and multiply in offspring, or disadvantageous traits that die out with weaker organisms,” according to geneticists.
The role of a lifestyle in health and longevity is a major factor that determines one’s vulnerability to diseases or conditions suffered by parents. If the elders were smokers and the children are not, if the parents lived a sedentary lifestyle, while the kids exercise regularly, if the parents did not watch their diet and their children do, these offspring are not “predestined” to have hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancers, etc. that their parents have. If no modification of lifestyle is done, and the children live exactly the way their parents did, it is obvious that their fate will most likely be the same.
The common belief that one’s fate is “sealed” because of his/her genes is not valid. Medical science has proven that a healthy lifestyle can oftentimes minimize the risk posed by the defective genes.
Healthier eating habit
Since proper diet is an essential part of lifestyle, it becomes obvious that calories are inevitably a fundamental factor in the equation for good health and longevity. Awareness of the total calories we consume each day is a good aid in our quest for good health, disease prevention, and maximal longevity. Quality-wise, a low carb, low-fat, diet of fish, vegetables, hi-fiber wheat, nuts and whole grains, like the Mediterranean Diet, is healthiest.
The medical literature is replete with data to prove that proper diet (quality, besides quantity) and daily exercises can ward off illnesses, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease, stroke, and diabetes and other metabolic ailments, and, even cancers. An integral part of this regimen, the prescription for a healthy lifestyle, includes abstinence from tobacco, strict moderation in alcohol intake, and stress management (enjoying life, R&R, etc).
Internationally-renowned Philippine icon in Pediatrics, Dr. Fe del Mundo, my teacher in medical school, who is now more than 100 years old and who was still treating patients at age 94, once told me, “I always push myself away from the dining table less than full,” when I asked what her secret formula was for her longevity. A sage advise, indeed. It is always physiologically better to be a bit hungry than a bit too full. Maintaining a normal weight thru exercise and calorie control confers upon the individual not only a nicer body but a healthier one with a sturdier immune system.
Essential calories
How much calorie do we need? In general, an adult needs about 2000 calories a day. Obviously, those who are overweight, or are diabetic, will require less. Those who are about 10% underweight but who have a good appetite and are healthy need not eat more just to attain the standard “normal” weight. Our individual metabolism determines how much and how fast our body burns the calories we take in. To achieve a desired weight, the calorie intake must be adjusted according to our calorie output (calories we burn thru our daily activities and physical exercise). To maintain a current body weight, the input and output must be the same (equal).
Special treats
This wonderful time of the year will be a challenge for all of us. Indulging during special occasions, like this joyful season before us (what an alibi!), is a good treat for us, so long as we do it with moderation and prudence. After all, it would be a great blessing to be able to enjoy our maximum potential health and longevity on this planet and continue pampering ourselves every now and then to a ripe old age.
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Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus in Northwest Indiana and chairman of cardiac surgery from 1997 to 2010 at Cebu Doctors University Hospital, where he holds the title of Physician Emeritus in Surgery, is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Philippine College of Surgeons, and the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. He is the chairman of the Filipino United Network – USA, a 501(c)(3) humanitarian foundation in the United States. Email:[email protected]
