Senegalese Nutritionist/Dietetician Advice For Diabetics, heart and obesity patients on good eating habits

Pape Amadou Seck a Senegalese nutritionist and dietician has advised diabetics, heart, and obesity patients to avoid eating foods that would be detrimental to their health, and to always adopt good and healthy eating behaviours.

Mr. Seck spoke during an interview with Health Matters last Wednesday at the Seaview Garden Hotel.

Diabetes patients should always endeavour to do regular check-up to know their blood sugar level, cholesterol, nicotine and alcohol level in the blood in order to know their state of health. He also advised them to do regular exercise, on daily basis either by training in the gym or working along the beach or roadside. They must also eat a variety of foods for a balanced diet, he added.

Such patients must avoid using high consumption of oil, fats and carbohydrates, red meat examples beef, lamb, and pork meat, according to Mr. Seck.

He noted that the favourable foods for diabetes patients are chicken, turkey, rabbit meat, pigeon, and other birds. In terms of vegetables, they are advised to eat bitter tomatoes, eggplant, lettuce, radish, celery, pumpkins, green onions, cucumber, courgette and parsnip.

The drinks to consume, for diabetes patients, are carrot juice, orange,local wonjo, ginger, ditakh, grape fruits, water melon, tamarin, and cucumber juice, noting that taking all these in moderation is good.

Mr. Seck also advised them to avoid alcohol, and beverages beside red wine, which is good for the heart. He called them to avoid any preserved drinks and foods, examples being can drinks and bottle drinks.

He said they are allowed to take sandwiches, because it contain Omega 3, adding that diabetes patients have detoxification, and this is the only way to purify the blood and lower it by 60%.

For obesity, Mr. Seck pointed out that obesity is a disease created by bad eating habits. For example, eating at a wrong time or the wrong food, without doing any exercise. Also, eating a lot of sodium, for example, consuming products like Jumbo, Maggi, salt, and any artificial spices.

He stated that people should avoid unhealthy eating habits, such as all-day-long drinking of teas namely, the green tea (known as Ataya), or too much eating of sour cream, diary products, and white bread.

Adding that bad eating habits can lead to high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and all cardio vascular diseases, Mr. Seck further noted that bad eating habits also contribute towards the development of ulcers, asthma, and perforation of the bladder and stomach.

He said bad eating habits can also lead to stroke, heart attack and cardiac arrest.

He warned heart patients to consume a lot of garlic, because garlic purifies the blood stream and vessels, and takes care of the intestines.

Anybody who wants to contact Mr. Seck can reach him at 6336207.

Mr. Seck was born in Saint Louis in the northern part of Senegal, in 1960, and at the age of six attended a school, where his father was the principal. According to him, inside the school, his father developed a school garden where fruit trees and vegetables were grown. A poultry farm was later built in the school, he said, noting that everything was geared towards supporting the school with learning materials, among others.

Mr. Seck after completion of his primary school, at the age of 12 years, proceeded to Lycee D, application De Le Ecole Normale Superieur, which is a teacher training school in which they also had a high school, which was a highly white dominated school.

He got his diploma in 1980, and later proceeded to Cheikh Anta Diop University where he spent four years. After completion, he obtained a Masters degree in Literature, a major in English and minor in Spanish and French. After university, he taught in different private schools in Dakar.

According to him, after a short time, he decided to quit teaching, and joined a competition organized by YMCA for a summer program as a general camp councilor in the United States of America. Among the competitors, he was the only one who was able to secured the job, and during the period of his work in the US he was tasked to teach middle class kids football, basketball, tennis, swimming, windsurfing and kayaking in a small village called Warrenburg in upstate New York. However, he only served three months on the job.

Mr. Seck while in New York also pursued his educational career with a college, at the same time working in an 800-capacity sports bar as a waiter, where he was later promoted as the manager of the place. Mr. Seck added that this was where his cooking skills were acquired.

In 1990, he also registered as a chef at a cooking school in Bethesda, Maryland, and in 1993 he sat to an examination and came out first and graduated with a professional degree for culinary professionals focusing on techniques of cooking including pastry, menu planning, purchasing, food costing and sanitation.

He also got a degree in restaurant and hotel management, techniques of sales, export and import at Montgomery College Maryland USA in 1995.

Among others, he was appointed and worked as a chef (known as chief cook) in an American study tour boat.