Christmas, and
New Year, celebrations are no doubt great times. It is for me, and I feel sure
that it is for most of you.
It is an excellent time for shopping, travelling, to take a vacation, pay visits, exchange gifts, and best of all, dine and wine with family and friends at home, parties, or other special occasions usually reserved for Christmas or New year periods.
In fact, Christmas and New year periods are unrivalled time of
expectations and fulfilments. A period to forget the tension and stress that
bestride us over the past twelve months. It is an electrifying time.
However, that ecstatic air brought on by Christmas and New year
celebrations could be dimmed, offset, by after-Christmas-and-New year-sickness
syndrome. The signs are varied, and include, among others, stomach upset,
headache, catarrh, stooling, constipation, gastritis, and sometimes immediate
or injuries due to accident, resulting from drunk or reckless driving.
The sickness, or injury, could range from mild, moderate to severe; and
could lead to hospitalization. This could offset all the funfair and joys of
Christmas and the New year celebrations. This situation could lead one into
depression of some sort.
To avoid these scenarios, we need to be disciplined in, and conscious
of, what we consume at this period. The temptation is usually there, given that
the period comes with so much food and drink, and of course, other
entertainments. Moderation, or abstinence, or best, discrimination should be in
our mind irrespective of what is before, or offered to us no matter how
inviting.
That was something my friend “KC” (not his real name), had to grapple
with this Christmas. He attended a party, held somewhere in Lagos on Boxing
day. There were much to drink and eat. In fact, everything was available in
excess.
KC is someone who is very picky when it comes to what he eats and drinks
due to his sensitive stomach. He was every bit discriminating even at this
occasion. But not entirely. The peanut on their table, just as on other tables,
proved a temptation too strong to resist. Peanut used to be a favourite snack
but at some point he started avoiding it due the feeling he gets
anytime he eats it. On this day, however, discipline went wrong. As is said, he
threw caution to the wind; it carried him far into “dealing with the groundnut”
(peanut). He started having stomach upset, at first mild, even before he got
home. This gave rise to a bloated stomach in the night, and throughout, he was
going through agonizing moments. And towards morning, it had come down to
diarrhea. What an enjoyment!
KC’s case reminded me of the first time another friend of mine attended
a dinner hosted by an expatriate firm at Eko hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The buffet
had in excess all the range of foods that could come only once in some people’s
life, if at all. He ate so much that before we reached the Mainland on our way
home, he was already feeling uneasy. He missed work the next day.
Christmas, and New year, celebrations, and in deed any other
celebrations, is a season of enjoyment. But we have to watch it; what we eat,
what we drink, how we eat or drink, or when to indulge or completely abstain
from them. This would help minimize their telling effect on our health,
negatively.