Nigerians have been advised to shun unhealthy lifestyles such as unhealthy diets, alcohol and tobacco consumption, and rudimentary lifestyles, as they Nigerians to chronic diseases such as Diabetes type 2, and high blood pressure, among others.
The advice was given by Dr Chinasa Amadi, Public Health Physician, Int’l Board-certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician, Certified Weight loss coach & Nutritionist, and Membership secretary, of the Society of Lifestyle Medicine of Nigeria (SOLONg) while addressing journalists in a press conference to commemorate the 2023 Global Lifestyle Medicine Week.
Dr. Amadi, who gave an analogy that bad fuel would spoil a vehicle, shared that the human body is the only vehicle that an individual has, and if bad fuel (food) is taken, it would ruin the body.
Dr. Amadi also corrected the perception that eating healthy meals can be expensive, stressing that “there are fruits that are affordable and available at different seasons. You don’t have to buy the expensive ones if you can’t afford them.”
She said “sync your craving to your pocket size. Eating healthy meals is not expensive, because if you fall sick, you would need to pay more.”
On her part, Dr. Moyosore Makinde, the President of SOLONg said “a lot of evidence points us to our lifestyle as being responsible for non-communicable diseases.
“This calls for concerted efforts to establish the specialty of Lifestyle Medicine in our medical institutions.
“Our doctors and other health professionals need to be trained adequately on how to pass across relevant messages to the populace and drive change in lifestyle behaviours,” she added.