Health Essentials
‘One man’s meat…’
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The first time I saw someone eat dog meat I was scandalised. I did not understand how that could happen, but it did. And I saw it. We went for a sports festival in one of the towns in the Volta Region in 1964 and food vendors were around selling their stuff. An aroma of barbecue wafted through the air that drew school children to the fire.
A soldier in uniform picked a stick of the khebab, paid for it and sauntered away to enjoy the meat. Just a few moments later, he turned back to the vendor and asked why he sold him dog meat. I wondered how he knew it was dog meat, but it turned out he had eaten it before and knew that taste. I do not want to narrate what happened to the poor guy who sold the meat.
As time went on I found myself eating python meat that same year. This reptile slithered into the thatched roof of a neighbour when its hole was inundated with flood waters of the Keta Lagoon. The big boys in the area caught it, skinned it and we made a meal of the meat. It tasted like chicken, except it had too much fat. I did enjoy it though.
Some cousins and I used to go set traps at a cemetery a mile out of town during weekends to catch rats, which we cooked and feasted on. To us it was to take our minds off the drudgery of academic and house chores all week; an adventure, if you may call it so. We caught and ate doves, water fowls, quails and hawks. Seasonally, we ate migratory birds like gulls and pelicans. Some of these birds had metal rings with inscriptions on their legs. We were after the meat, not the rings.
I could have eaten meat from a monitor lizard if it was not the totem of the Like Clan I belong to. I am told the Like do not eat this reptile and sawfish. Story has it that a great Like ancestor was saved from drowning by a sawfish, thus our prohibition from eating its meat.
Until I became a vegetarian in 1974, I had eaten meat from cat, rabbit, bat, crocodile and tortoise. I recollect a seminar I attended in Kampala, Uganda, in the late 80s. A Ugandan participant invited some of us to his house. As we entered the compound I saw scores of grasscutters scuttling all over and some ran to him as dogs do their masters. In amazement, I asked, “Mr. Okot, what are you doing with these rodents in your home?” He said they were his pets.
When I told him it was the most expensive meat in Ghana, he took a step back from me as if I had landed from another planet. Apparently, East Africans do not eat grasscutter, period!
Only last week, there was this hoopla on the international news channels for a whole day about Kurt Zouma, a former Chelsea defender, now playing for West Ham, molesting a cat in his home. Suggestions were thrown about to the effect that he needed counseling. Of course, cruelty to any animal is against the law in many countries, including England where he plays his football.
I observe the way we treat our domestic animals and it is abhorrent, to say the least. But the question that came to my mind was what would have happened if Kurt Zouma had mercifully killed that cat and feasted on its meat, were he Ewe from Ghana, Togo or Benin? The Crown Court would have handed him a jail term by now. My father had a way of slaughtering a cat the way we do either a goat or chicken, not the way people strangulate the poor feline or drown it in a sack or any other means. Of course, there are many ways to kill a cat, not so?
Back home in Ghana, one group’s delicacy is another’s taboo. There are others who eat anything that has life; anything that moves, actually. There must be varying reasons a certain group of people will not eat certain things. This might be steeped in religion, spirituality or even superstition or myth. Whatever the case, animals must be treated with respect even if we rear them for consumption.
There is this rodent in En-Gedi in Israel. It’s a cross between the rat and the grasscutter. They are so plenty and notoriously destructive to the sparse vegetation in that desert area that the Israeli government does not know how to exterminate them. Unfortunately, because of my commitment not to eat any flesh, let alone take life, there is practically nothing I can do to help Israel. If not, I would set up camp at En-Gedi, trap these rodents and smoke them the way we do bush meat in our parts and ship them in neat packages to Ghana. The boxes would be labelled, “Smoked Meat of the Holy Land of Israel.” You can bet the churches will do the marketing for me.
I sympathise with Kurt Zouma. Africans generally do not respect animals as having the feeling of happiness and pain. We kick and beat our pets at will. It is in our DNA, which is no excuse for cruelty towards them. I watch documentaries on television where people pay thousands of dollars in veterinary bills for their pets like dogs, cats, pigs, birds of all kinds and even reptiles.
Tibetans are a pious, very spiritual Buddhists who are mostly vegetarians. When China invaded this mountain region in the early 50s they ate all their cats and dogs and every other living things that moved. In the Congo area of Africa every living creature there is edible. Insects of all kinds, some roaches, grubs, worms of all types are on the menu.
I once took a friend out for lunch in one restaurant in Accra. When she heard an order from the adjoining table for frog legs, she vowed never to eat in that restaurant any longer. This is largely because in our minds certain things are unimaginable. I recall the renown pathologist, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, said in an interview on national television on the issue of vultures being served as meat that, “It’s just muscle, that’s all.”
Animal rights activists have taken their fights quite well, especially on the poaching of certain species in the wild to near extinction. Rhino, tiger, leopard parts considered medicinal are a million-dollar business in the Far East. In our parts chameleons, parrots, fork-tailed lizards and the left hand of green monkeys are prized commodities.
The understanding and/or otherwise of nature’s balance and the ecosystem brews the ideal ingredient of conflict. Education is needed for the right approach to issues bordering on protecting the species so that as we consume these animals, the scale of the ecosystem is not tilted towards the destruction of the very things that give us life. When “the last tree dies, the last man dies” is the adage, but we forget that animals propagate the seeds of the plants that constitute our forests and give shelter to our wildlife.
By Dr. Akofa K. Segbefia
Sleep comes in different shades. There are those who sleep pretty and hardly move an inch in bed. Then we have those who are virtually at war when in bed and may turn a whole 360 degrees several times in the land of the unknown. Woe betide you if you find yourself in the same “sleep ring” with such a fighter. The most “decorated” ones bring music to sleep and the noise that exudes from their throats, nostrils and mouth could compete with any orchestra except that harmony is often thrown to the wind; those of us who belong to this category know ourselves.
Inspite of all the above, when I am hard pressed to pick one thing that has the greatest impact on one’s health, I will say SLEEP reigns. Too many challenges spring up when we fail to get enough sleep and it’s no wonder that at the doctor’s office we hear many complaints of not being able to sleep.
Most of the time the solution is not in popping pills but the Sleep Hygiene Tips below will go a long way to make a difference in your sleep and subsequently your health.
Sleep hygiene tips
- Create darkness in the room
- Sleep is easier when your room is dark. A bright room may be a challenge especially if you already have a bunter with sleep.
- Have a Regular sleep plan
- Keep to the safe time you go to bed and also time you wake up. Regularity is key.
- Ensure room is cool and well ventilated
- An extremely hot or cold room may keep you awake just tossing and turning. A nice breeze makes sleep even better.
- Wind down or unplug about an hour to bedtime
- Rushing throughout the day and then diving into bed may not be the best remedy for sleep. Slow down, start putting off lights, stop working and maybe spend about 5 minutes meditating or speaking to God.
- Avoid phones, laptops, work in bed/bedroom
- These have no business in your sleep area and should not be in your bed for sure. The glare from lights, the vibrations or sounds from messages and even calls may keep you awake and give you a nightmare with your eyes wide open.
- Exercise
- Exercise and laugh and you will be preparing yourself for a sound sleep. You may exercise anytime of the day but when you struggle a lot with sleep the ideal time may be four to six hours before bedtime. Exercising an hour or two before you sleep may rather keep you alert and awake.
- Watch your food intake; don’t overeat, avoid spicy food and lots of oil
- Gluttony is definitely “sinful” and one of the instant punishments is discomfort and difficulty sleeping. A full stomach at bedtime makes one wish for daybreak. The spices can also cause havoc especially when eaten late. That heartburn will wake you up and keep you sitting and cursing all night.
- Watch what you drink; stimulants may affect your sleep e.g. caffeine, fizzy drinks, alcohol and energy drinks
- If you have trouble with sleep or you do not want your sleep to be disturbed in any way, avoid these 4 clear hours or more before sleep time. ACOHOL deceives you into thinking you will sleep only to wake up early, feeling unrested or making dashes to the washroom.
- Discuss with your doctor when to take some of your prescribed medication
- Sometimes some medications we are on may cause us to wake up several times to urinate and should preferably be taken much earlier in the day. Others keep us alert over several hours.
- Writing your TO DO LIST for the next day relaxes the brain
- The brain sometimes will keep “working” in an attempt not to forget what you need to do the following day. Hack your brain by writing down or typing out your To Do List for the following day and you will be blessed with good sleep.
- Get professional care to diagnose and manage medical conditions
- Sometimes it’s a medical condition that is directly or indirectly depriving us of good sleep and our health professional can help us find and treat this so we can once more enjoy the bliss of the Lotus Eaters. Maybe it could be a medication that is just not right for you.
Popping pills to sleep in most cases will not solve the challenge and should never be our first line of correcting our sleep wars. Adopt these hygiene tips today even if you sleep well and your health will be on the right path. Not even the decorated bedroom trumpeter or the sleep fighter can take your sleep away from you.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, ENSURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)
Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
Health Essentials Ltd/Medics Clinic
(www.healthessentialsgh.com)
*Dr. Essel is a Medical Doctor with a keen interest in Lifestyle Medicine, He holds an MBA and is an ISSA Specialist in Exercise Therapy, Fitness Nutrition and Corrective Exercise. He is the author of the award-winning book, ‘Unravelling The Essentials of Health & Wealth.’
Thought for the week – “ A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” – Irish Proverb
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These last few months of 2026, I am embarking on a new journey. Over the past several months I have tried out some aspects of my “new way of life” but not in the manner I am doing now and I am sure you are doing same too. Draft your own points based on what is important to you and let us begin the journey together. It is never too late.
Many of the things I am working on now are guided by years of interaction with different people, what may be my purpose in my opinion, great family and friends and the type of wisdom that comes only with years.
- Self-Care
Quite often we try to take care of everything and everyone without ensuring we are appropriately “charged”. There is nothing to give out if you are empty. Self-care is NOT a luxury and it has taken me years to appreciate this;
- I will add a new hobby I have been toying with.
- Surrounding myself with like-minded people who energise me, make me laugh and be the best version of myself. Building Social capital pays.
- I am spending quality time with God daily
- Spending time in nature is key and I ensure that I take much needed breaks
- Spending a few minutes a day to meditate, exercise and spoil myself sometimes
- I will have some hours each day that will be blocked out as “no phone time”
- Keeping a Goal Diary
Many people have described ways of putting down your goals and seeing them happen. My coach taught me the power of VISUALISATION but over the years I went off that golden path. It’s time to get back. This is what I am doing now;
- In a diary I am writing everything I want to be or do as long as I have breath. No pressure.
- I am writing in the present tense; “I am spending an amazing week in a 7-Star resort with the people I love the most”
- I will look at this list everyday
- Start a Gratitude Bank
I listened to this recently and though it was not referred to as a Gratitude Bank, I believe that is exactly what it is
- I picked a diary to write in but others choose a transparent container to drop in written points. Choose what you are comfortable with.
- At the end of each week I will write something(s) I am grateful for and put in the container.
- Whenever I feel “ungrateful” I will read through them to remind myself how blessed I am and surely I will be holding the “evidence”
- On December 31, I will go through the list irrespective of my mood.
- Practice. Practice. Practice
This is exactly as it is – whatever you have written out in your diary to do from self-care through your goals etc. prioritise or focus on a few at a time. As you practice e.g. meditating, exercising, eating right and the many great things you want to do, these will all GROW. Whatever you practice GROWS.
- Make the world a better place
I believe that we can make a difference in our corner no matter the challenges.
- That smile will change someone’s life
- An act of kindness is contagious and the giver, receiver and all those observing benefit immensely. Let us spread kindness.
- The Blood Bank on my mind for this year and beyond.
What are you focusing on, what are you practicing?
Do share your list with me via email.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, ENSURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)
Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
Health Essentials Ltd/ Medics Clinic
(dressel@healthessentialsgh.com)
*Dr. Essel is a Medical Doctor with a keen interest in Lifestyle Medicine, He holds an MBA and is an ISSA Specialist in Exercise Therapy, Fitness Nutrition and Corrective Exercise. He is the author of the award-winning book, ‘Unravelling The Essentials of Health & Wealth.’
Thought for the week –“Never change your originality for the sake of others because no one can play your role better than you. So be yourself. You are the best.” – Unknown
References:
- Unravelling the Essentials of Health & Wealth; Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
