When The Mirror Is Honest

CEBU, Philippines - She glanced furtively at the buffet table. The seminar was wearing on and so was her stomach. Finally the moderator said lunch was ready. She queued with other participants for plates and moving from one dish to the other, she scooped every meat, seafood and chicken dish as if it were her last. The roasted calf was a feast. Mixed vegetables, cream soup and fruits weren't quite taken and if taken, were taken for last.

Just three days ago, she had looked with disdain at the weighing scale needle. Nah, she thought to herself, this weighing scale is defective. Then she tried to close the zipper of her outfit. It just won't budge. Tearing this off, she wore darker clothes to give a semblance of being slim, at least a semblance. Finally giving herself a final look at the mirror, the bulges just couldn't be hidden in dark suits. But then the mirror hadn't been wiped and polished, she thought to herself.

The weight problem of many people is not the weighing scale or the mirror. It is in the eye and the sense of vision. The heavy problem with people with weight problems is that they use smokescreens to hide the weight issue. When mirrors tell the truth and nothing but the truth and weighing scales are accurately faithful and meticulously precise, people accuse these as liars. People would rather lie to themselves about their weight problems rather than face the truth about the lie.

It is not for lack of having known informed choices. People become fat and ugly out of a will to become fat and ugly with their choice of food. The Old Testament bears record that before the global flood, the lifestyle of food and vegetable diet made people live to even a thousand years. Adam was 900 years old when he died. Scripture bares record that the curse of sinful, indulgent food lifestyles is what is causing people to age, age fast and die fast. It is not the smokescreens of make-up, dark outfits and slimming concoctions that manage weight, aging and staying young -- all these are but cerebral illusions. Rather, it is a fruit and vegetable diet that is the unheeded, ignored elixir of keeping one's youth.  

Fear Factor.

While there are many articles, blogs and broadcasts that promote fruit and vegetable diets, human being tend to be incorrigibly disobedient. They just won't stop with indulgent diets until they drop dead. This article is not written to rebuke or to nag. This article is made to direct the fear factor to the real fears. The World Health Organization reported that approximately 1.7 million of deaths worldwide are attributed to low fruit and vegetable consumption and that low fruit and vegetable intake is among the top 10 risk factors of global mortality. Man, these statistics don't scare. People still get tempted and succumb to the indulgence of meats on the buffet.

WHO also reported that insufficient intake of fruit and vegetables is estimated to cause around 14 percent of gastrointestinal cancer deaths, about 11 percent of ischemic heart disease deaths and about 9 percent of stroke deaths. Scenarios worldwide are corroborating in Filipino homes. Mostly it is because many Filipinos are copycats of meat-based worldly diets. Nutrition statisticians said that over the last three decades, Filipinos have been eating less and less vegetables per day that is from 145 grams per day of vegetables in 1978 to 110 grams in 2008. The decrease in vegetable consumption holds true to all ages from babies, to toddlers, to young children, to adolescents and especially adults.

In a 2005 study, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute disclosed that many Filipinos eat little vegetables because family members influence each other about not eating vegetables, dislike for taste and texture of vegetables, and fear of chemicals and pesticides. Other reasons were vegetables are expensive, preference for fast foods and instant food and preference for meat rather than vegetables. Everything seemed to have been blamed for the decline in vegetable consumption except the culture of indulgence and covetousness. People are getting fat, getting sick and getting ugly simply because they insist on eating and indulging on what they want instead of what they need. The tragedy is in the indulgent and covetous culture, not for lack of warning, rebuke and reminding.

With Feelings.

Once again with feelings, what is in fruits and vegetables that give spiritual sensitivity, youthful countenance and sports-like endurance? Eating a variety of vegetables and fruits ensures adequate intake of micronutrients and dietary fibres. Increased vegetable intake recovers deficiencies in calcium, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and vitamins A and C. Repeat, it is increased vegetable intake, not increased supplementary capsule intake that purportedly have the same nutrients as vegetables.

Just exactly, are vegetables and fruits really that expensive? Or you can't give up on adobo and burger patties and parties? The World Health Organization said that it only takes a minimum of 400 grams of vegetables and fruit per day equivalent to five servings per day with three servings of vegetables to prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity while preventing micronutrient deficiencies. One cup of raw leafy vegetables is equivalent to 25 grams, one half cup of raw non-leafy vegetables is equivalent to 40 grams and one half cup of cooked leafy or non-leafy vegetable is equivalent to 45 grams. Did you say vegetables are expensive or are medical costs to cure heart disease or cancer more expensive?

When the mirror is honest, it wants to honestly tell you to eat the fruit and vegetable intake you need. Adam and Eve didn't have to spend much to stay young. Expensive makeovers, expensive slimming and supplementary concoctions are nothing but dark mirrors. (Photos courtesy of the National Nutrition Council - VII) (FREEMAN)