Introduction

When I was a little boy growing up on the island of South Caicos when we heard the word diet, we always related diet to losing weight. However, in my third year of High School, my Biology teacher who was also the principal, Mr. Alan Knight provided us with the definition of diet and that definition remains with me to this day.  Diet is the type of foods that we consumed.

Your diet is a crucial part of your health as it can cause you to die early or live longer. I believe most of us are concern about the number of people who are sick or who have died due to a number of chronic diseases Health professionals note that the leading cause of many deaths worldwide is our poor diet.

Water

Growing up, we didn’t have city water, we drank rain water from our cisterns and apparently rain water is safe water to drink as it contains less contaminants. Perhaps this is why our parents and grandparents live so long. Today many of us do not use cisterns and we rely heavily on city water and other water that we purchase from the stores. The city water uses the water from underground or sea and purifies the water by removing the contaminants. However, it is possible that during the process of purification that some chemicals will remain in the water. As a result, it can create harm to our body as we use the water to cook with and bath.

Because we know water is important, some of us drink any type of water especially if we have very little money. However, some of the water being sold in the stores are not all purified water and will impact your health. Not all water is good water. Therefore, be cautious of the water you drink. Some experts believe the best water to drink is alkaline water.

Some of you perhaps are not even drinking water as part of your diet. Perhaps you are consuming soft drinks and hard alcoholic drinks on a regular basis, however, your body needs water as your body is made up of more than 70% of water. Your body uses the water to support the functions of your body and therefore water is used and needs to be replaced.

Food

We must ensure that the food we eat reflects a balanced diet with the correct nutrients. One health professional noted that most of the diseases are due to lack of nutrients. Many of us are consuming a lot of unhealthy food due to convenience and affordability. In the long run, however, these unhealthy food will cause you to be sick and eventually die. The list of “bad” food that we should not consume is increasing every day. The best thing to do is start your garden and a farm in your backyard. Eat healthy and live longer.

Conclusion

Do not let your budget or your busy lifestyle determine your diet. This is one of the reasons I do not support these fast food international franchise in TCI.  Ensure that you have a proper diet before it is too late.  We will eventually die one day but no one wants to die before their time.

I am not an expert when it comes to health matters but I encourage you to consult with a dietitian on the type of diet you should have. We have a local certified dietitian Mrs. Tamika Handfield who can provide you with valuable advice.