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
I have over the past two decades looked beyond mainstream medicine to assess other options that lead to holistic health, and I must say it’s been exciting and revealing but it’s not an easy path.
As I matured and my knowledge expanded, I have changed my opinion on some aspects of wellness and many findings have been humbling. We all continue to learn each day.
I will share some of the life-changing skills that we take for granted. In our quest for wellness there appears to be more questions than answers, but moderation still remains key in our daily lives.
The power of prayer, praise and worship of God cannot be taken out of the equation.
Ready. Set. Let us do this together.
- Strength training is a must for ALL of us
- Yes, we all need to dig into the various aspects of exercise; strength training, cardiovascular training, stretches or flexibility training and balance training. If you asked me about a decade ago to pick the king of all exercises, I would naively have answered cardiovascular such as walking, cycling etc. but I am certain now that strength training trumps all and we need to incorporate at least a bit of that in our exercise programme.
- Take a short walk after each meal
- Many of us (your truly included) after dinner barely get to wash our hands before the miracle of the Lotus Eaters sends us to dreamland. Our fingers will be signaling to rats and cockroaches to come out and party.
- Walking a few minutes after eating may hold the key to helping control our blood sugar levels and reduce the spikes in insulin that come with a myriad of issues. At the very least the short walks after eating will add up to increase the energy you expend daily.
- Eating your vegetables and proteins before your carbohydrates may be helpful
- Well, how true may this be? I suggest it is worth trying. I am not saying clear your plate of all protein before you even take a spoonful of carbohydrate. The fibre will slow the absorption of the sugar for hours and even better, you may feel full after the vegetables and protein and not be able to gobble down the mounds of carbohydrates you had planned to dismantle.
- Eat slowly but do not get your boss angry
- Eating slowly does not mean spending hours at lunch and courting the displeasure of your superiors. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to realise you are full so dear friend, take your time to chew and enjoy your food. A meal “downed” in less than 20 minutes may cause you to virtually suffocate when you top up with water. This is a message to myself and all those who like me eat so quickly that Usain Bolt will envy our speed.
- Eat from small, colourful plates
- Small colourful plates make an impression on our brains. Since the little food appears loaded on a small plate our brains tend to “believe” it’s a lot of food and we feel full for a strange reason. Put the same amount in a large plate and you are likely to be asking for second servings.
- By all means make friends
- The power of social wellness and its role in longevity and an enviable health span is no longer in doubt. By all means make a few good friends and enjoy life! Thank me later.
- Sleep!
- Yes, I do agree there are at least seven forms of rest, and they are all equally important BUT start off with sleep and we will gradually rope in all others.
- Keep your eyes on your numbers
- I have written and spoken about the miracle of knowing our numbers and keeping them in check; blood pressure, blood sugar, lipids and BMI. Today I suggest you look at your heart rate closely. A low heart rate may be an indicator for staying here on planet earth for a long time. Also keeping glycated haemoglobin (long term blood sugar) low is another feather in the cap of longevity.
- Appropriate supplementation
- The golden rule is to get all your nutrients from your food but for many of us that may not be possible hence the need to supplement ( note that supplement overdose does exist)
- It is ideal to discuss supplementation with your healthcare professional and your discussion should look at probiotics, magnesium glycinate, Vit D3 + K2, a good multivitamin and in some instances creatine or whey Protein. I am in no way suggesting you take all these, each individual is unique and that is why it is crucial to discuss your options with a professional.
- Make a conscious effort to be HAPPY
- Happiness affects our entire being in positive ways; smile, say a kind word to someone, be grateful, surround yourself with people who make you happy and not ones who sap your energy, volunteer to support people and by all means get a hobby eg gardening, playing a game etc and the best get news yet; you don’t even have to be good at your hobby to benefit.
We are not waiting for a magical or ideal day to start working on our Health and Wellness, we start today bearing in mind that “the most efficient way to reach our realistic health and wellness goals is to make small healthy choices daily.
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 – “WHERE YOU LIVE SHOULD NOT DETERMINE IF YOU LIVE.”- WHO
Very often we leave the doctor’s office only to remember that we left out a major complaint. Some patients immediately rush back to the consulting room totally oblivious of the privacy that the next patient is entitled to.
They expect that as they walk in, the doctor should ignore the seated or positioned patient and attend to them. That is totally outrageous. Others go home and continue to live with the condition hoping to be healed miraculously.
Most of us will be extremely lucky to spend 15 minutes with our doctor and this time is often much shorter in countries/communities where the doctor-patient ratio is so low that at best it can be described as criminal.
We are now in the second half of 2026, and I highly recommend that you see a doctor not only when you are unwell but as a means to assess your state of wellbeing and take the needed precautions. It is critical that you find a good primary care doctor who is knowledgeable and proactive and will also be able to coordinate specialist care that you may require.
To make the most out of our time with the doctor we need to PREPARE. If your condition is an emergency, then you do not have the benefit of time to prepare.
A must do!
Kindly ensure your personal hygiene is excellent.
- Take a good bath and brush your teeth
- Wear clean clothes that also make undressing easy, especially if you need to expose some areas for inspection/examination.
This may sound ridiculous, but the opposite does happen in real life.
Remember that doctors are human and when you are unkempt you may not get adequate contact with your doctor.
Research on the symptoms
If you have access to the internet or a book worth its salt you may read about your symptoms or wait to read after your doctor tells you your diagnosis.
Remember that if you need to research on the internet, it is essential that you use a reputable site.
In tune with your complaints
- Write down your complaints/symptoms if you think you may forget.
- If you have had a similar problem and have the results of any investigations e.g. Laboratory tests, x-rays, CT scans etc kindly carry them along
- Let your doctor know if you react to any drugs.
- Be truthful about any medications you have taken for the condition, if you do not remember the names make sure you go with the containers.
- If you have any other medical conditions (and medication) make the doctor aware.
- Remember to make a note of the following
- When did the symptoms/complaint begin?
- How long have you had these symptoms?
- Is it getting worse?
- Does anything make the condition worse?
- What makes you feel better?
- Is anything related to their onset?
- How often does it occur?
- How long does it last e.g. in pain conditions as well as rash, allergies etc.
- Does anyone else in your family have them?
- How do they affect your daily life?
- Is it related to work or home?
You may need to modify these slightly when you have skin lesions, swellings etc. This list is by no means exhaustive, and you may not need to find answers to all of them before getting help, but they will definitely help you ace the visit to your doctor.
If your doctor books you for surgery, do not leave his presence without finding out the following:
- Will you go home on the same day of the surgery?
- Will you need assistance to go home or can you drive unsupervised for instance
- What form of anaesthesia will you be given?
Then, if your visit is for a medical examination, do remember that also being aware of disease conditions in your family will help your doctor select the appropriate tests and make the whole experience and time useful.
Finally do not leave your doctor without finding out:
- How much physical activity/exercise you require; the Almighty “FITT” prescription
- What you need to eat or avoid.
- Some basic information regarding SLEEP.
See you in the consulting room soon.
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 (HE&W Group)/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 – “The next big thing in Healthcare in Ghana is the Medics Clinic. Visit https://medicsgroupgh.com/ for more information.”
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