Kentaro Hikichi writes:
According to Hiroshi Tanaka's case, it is possible to see he has many
problems. These problems are mainly classified into three groups;
eating habits, family history and his thinking.
First of all, he does not have time to eat breakfast. It is said that
we need more than 30 kinds of food a day. If we do not eat breakfast,
it causes lack of many nutrients including vitamins. So he should eat
breakfast properly.
Secondly, he often eats fast foods. Fast foods contain fatty acids in
rich but lack some important vitamins. The energy source of our body
is supplied by carbohydrates and fats. Fats provide 9 calories when
carbohydrates provide 4, but carbohydrates have priority in being used
as energy. Consequently, if he does not exercise and use fats, they
continue being stored in his body and cause high level of LDL which
results in many diseases. I think he should not eat them so often.
Next, he relies vitamin supplements on coffee and colas. Since we can
not manufacture or synthesize most vitamins, we must ingest foods and
intake vitamins from them. But coffee and colas contain little
vitamins.
What is more, he hates vegetables. So I think he can not intake
vitamins very much as he says. Vitamins help regulate metabolism,
convert fats and carbohydrates into energy and assisting forming bones
and tissues. As a result, not eating vegetables may cause diseases.
And as coffee contain caffeine which has a possibility to become
addiction, he must pay attention to it.
Minerals also play a important role in our body. They are needed for
growth and maintenance of body structure and we can not make them by
ourselves like vitamins. According to the recommended daily amounts
(RDA) , as he is 29 years old, he needs more than 10 mg minerals a
day. In a state of his eating fast foods and drinking coffee, he can
not intake enough amounts of minerals at all. To intake them
sufficiently, he should eat foods that contain minerals in rich. (For
example, spinach, lima beans, pasta, oatmeal and whole grain apply to
this.) He also does not intake fiber so much because fast foods,
coffee, udon and rice do not contain a lot of fiber. It is said that
25-30 mg fiber are needed a day for us. Fiber can help lower
cholesterol and prevent heart disease and certain types of cancer.
Many kinds of beans and potato have plenty of fiber (For example,
pinto beans (cooked) contain 7,4 mg in 1/2 cup and navy beans (cooked)
also contain 6.5 mg in 1/2 cup!). Thus, he should eat more
vegetables, fruits and beans so that they contain fiber in rich. He
indeed needs to eats these foods, but the best way to get minerals and
vitamins is to eat balanced diet!
Family history concerns many diseases too! His grandfather and father
have diabetes and his mother is ill with a critical heart disease. If
these diseases are inherited (In fact, some families have tendency to
high cholesterol levels) , he may get them in the future. As a proof
of it, his LDL level is extremely high. High level of LDL in the
bloodstream forms plaque and narrows arteries and it prevents blood
from flowing smoothly. But he does not intake fiber so much and does
not like to exercise. Certain kinds of fiber have been found to lower
level of cholesterol in blood and rapid bloodstream brought from
exercise makes plaque carry away. All the more, to lower his level of
cholesterol, he should exercise (If he walks quickly for more than 20
minutes everyday, he will prevent to form plaque and heart attack) and
eat vegetables, fruits (these contain fiber in rich), broiled or
grilled fish, fried meat (they contain little cholesterol) and so on.
And if he tries to do so, his HDL level will becomes higher and HDL
help prevent many diseases.
I think the most important thing is his thinking. He says he is health
conscious but his knowledge and thinking have serious mistakes. For
example, he has been feeling lots of pressure at work and finds it
hard to relax even after work. On the other hands, he drinks 4 or 5
cups of coffee "to intake vitamins." But coffee contain caffeine which
stimulate the central nervous system and make him feel more energetic
so that caffeine cause restlessness, sleeplessness and so on. As a
result, If he wants to relax, he has already decreased drinking
coffee! Moreover, his thinking about exercise is clearly wrong. It is
true that exercise has a effect to keep weight down by burning fats
but more important effect of it is to lower high LDL level and prevent
heart diseases. So if he really pays attention to his family history
of diabetes and heart diseases, he has already tried to exercise more
often too! So I think he is not have proper knowledge about health and
himself yet.
It is important to be concerned to health. Speaking to it, Hiroshi
Tanaka has good elements to be more healthy. The only thing that he is
needed is to clear his knowledge about health up and connect them as
one thing.
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