The bible quotes, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;", that being said, it goes without saying that our bodies are pure and sacred. A direct resemblance of God himself to us, the mankind. I had the privilege of being born functional and without defects. I have had enjoyed the greatest pleasure to be able to stand the ground I am on now. I have gone through, at some point of my life, appendectomy and battling Salmonella typhi infection. I have been in some state of incapability, unable to perform my daily activities with the best performance of mine and instead painfully laying on hospital bed because I didn't take enough good care of my body. I took my body for granted, I was crippled because I was not being careful of the food I had taken in for consumption. Having experienced being in-patient for several times, I have come to a conclusion: My life is too short to just lay on hospital bed and be in sickness.
The notion 'you are what you eat' means that in order to be fit and healthy you need to eat good food. And what does good food mean? It cannot be doubted that our bodies need all the essential nutrition to be healthy. Good health, good life. Back in my elementary years, I was very familiar with the slogan "4 Sehat 5 Sempurna", it was very widely used to educate the people to arrange their diet with sufficient source of carbs, protein, fat, mineral, and fiber from primary food, side dishes, vegetables, fruits (4 Sehat), and milk to perfect the menu (5 Sempurna). Primary source of carbs being widely used by us, Asians, are rice, while in other regions of Indonesia the commodities like cassava and sagu are more common to replace rice. While side dishes like meat and seafood are good source of proteins, vegetables and fruits are great source of vitamin, minerals, and fiber as well. But of course, having gone through my third year of medical school, healthy diet goes beyond just the slogan "4 Sehat 5 Sempurna". Certain medical conditions will have to force patient to modify their diets and nutrition intake. Diabetic patient's diet differs with the one that suffers from neoplastic condition. And that's where the question is. How on earth we could develop ourselves to suffer from diabetes? How is it possible for us to acquire unnecessary infection of Salmonella? We were once a healthy human being. We could function well. We were capable to carry on daily basis. And then we get sick, and things started going down since.
I completely agree that I am what I eat. I am very much aware that it runs in my family a genetic diabetes susceptibility, hence makes me exposed by one the risk factors. But then again, they are just risk factors! They need to be induced to manifest as signs and symptoms. And I fully hold the responsibility to not induce them, to prevent them to develop into the disease itself. I believe that our bodies are capable of doing great things. We are teachers, engineers, and health professionals of our nations. Everyone, regardless which field they are in, we all should take part to create a better world! And with that purpose, it is very necessary to function ourselves well. It is very necessary to be healthy. And those can be achieved by living a good lifestyle and eating good food. Health definition by WHO even states that health is a state of well-being and not merely the absence of disease. If you were free of any disease but you didn't contribute to make this world a better place, what would your purpose actually be?
Artikel ini ditulis oleh Brahmastra Megasakti – 41150025
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