Lifestyle is all about you — Kashim, Abuja’s lifestyle doctor

Dr. Ima Arit Kashim

Dr. Ima Arit Kashim is the Managing Director/Chairman, PriMed Diagnostic Centre, Zone 4, Abuja. You may not far from the truth if you refer to her as Abuja‘s lifestyle doctor, because she has carved a niche for herself in what she refers to as ‘lifestyle modification.‘ She runs a full diagnostic and preventive medicine clinic. She is also interested in your diet and your body weight, writes KEMI ASHEFON

Lifestyle medicine? What‘s it all about? ”It is basically about lifestyle and how it affects your health,” she explains. The graduate of medicine from the University of Sokoto preaches her ‘lifestyle medicine‘ passionately. ”The choices you make and your behavior around these choices can lead to recurrence of diseases. In most developed countries, when you are about getting a job, you are asked about your weight, how much physical exercise you do and the state of some essential parts of the body system like the heart, kidney, etc. Why? It is because there is a component of health that is part of a country‘s growth. There are some countries with less GDP than Nigeria‘s but the life expectancy is higher than ours! The life expectancy of a Nigerian is less than that of a Ghanaian or a South African. This is probably due to the health care delivery system and how the medical needs of the entire population are met. That is why you should focus on the prevention of diseases that could cause your life to be shortened.”

Still on lifestyle, the Akwa Ibom born medical practitioner opines that the health of anyone cannot be separated from his way of life. ”There are countries where there is an epidemic of certain cancers due to their weight or food consumed. Though not communicable, many persons die from diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, kidney-related diseases and many more. Chronic diseases account for between 50-52 per cent of all deaths globally. But such can be prevented through lifestyle modification, which is totally in the medical premise.”

She is not done yet. Though physical exercise would be a great idea anytime, your diet, the medical practitioner says, plays a major role in preventing diseases from recurring. ”Though you could have a singular occurrence of high blood pressure, you can prevent it from becoming chronic, first through your diet, before taking drugs. We are known to be great consumers of carbohydrates; our meals are starchy, with lots of calories! Know that food is medicinal and it‘s also like a supplement. It should not be a resort to you when you are stressed. You should not eat to battle psychological stress; rather, it is for sustenance. You need to meet your calories requirement per day. Whenever any patient of mine is sick, I guide them properly in their diet so that the body can heal itself. Whether your disease is chronic or acute, your choice of food determines how effectively your body heals itself. Health is not about curative or preventive medicine, but getting a healthy person whose quality of life could be improved. Only then can productivity improve,” she offers.

Remind Dr. Kashim about the ‘gym craze‘ among Abuja residents, especially women. Married to a Northerner, she says: ”Physical exercise is important, especially when the human body slows down activities. You find out that those people who sit down a lot in their offices are prone to retaining sugar and fluid. You need to set the blood flowing and be conscious of your fitness level. Engage in high impact activities - you can walk up and down the stairs or take a walk round your office. This is because your body needs to produce oxygen. That you are overweight does not mean you run to the gym and start exercises. If you are not given to high impact activities, be careful of the kind of exercises you engage in because your body may not produce enough oxygen as demanded. You may become extremely tired and that could make you collapse.

”I have observed the gym consciousness in Abuja and other places, but I always advise that you should monitor yourself and know how you respond to exercises. You don‘t run to the gym because your friends or neighbours are going there. Moreover, you don‘t engage in exercises that would cause damage to your body. In my health club, I tell people that exercise should start gradually and should be carried out with a minimum of 30 minutes daily and when you reach a certain threshold, you have to stop! Sometimes, you feel your heartbeat and slow down to catch your breath. You can start by brisk-walking for weeks and make use of the speedometer to know the number of steps you take daily. That builds your cardiac capacity and you are set for the gym. Really, the safest means of exercise is brisk-walking. You take a walk at work, in the parks, when at home or park your car and take a walk.”

A simple dresser not known to using heavy make-up, Dr. Kashim confesses to being a Yoga freak. ”I start my day with a few stretches of Yoga, then I take like 1.5 liters of water and I workout. With Yoga, you empower the body and invigorate the soul. Yoga creates a lifting harmony between our mind and body; it infuses peace and tranquility, which in turn make for a healthier state of mind. It is the only practice in the world that cures an array of ailments and we don‘t joke with it at PriMed. I refer to it as yogalicious yoga because it helps you deal with diseases, chronic and acute,” she says.

The fourth child in a large family, she had her primary and secondary education at Government Secondary School, Ojo, Lagos, and she bagged a Master‘s degree in Public Health at the University of Lagos. She had her fellowship at the National Post-Graduate Medical College of Nigeria. She is also a fellow of the West African College of Physicians.

A devout Moslem, you can never catch her dead in any flimsy clothes. ”Interestingly,” she enthuses, ”I love gowns and traditional outfits a lot. I love bright colors and like coordinating colors, a trait I got from my mother. A woman‘s body is not hers, it belongs to God and then her husband. That is why indecent exposure is appalling! I dress well not because I am a Moslem but because you preach what you believe in more with how you look and not your mouth. There is no way of modernising religion in dressing; you have to be decently dressed.”

Being a lifestyle expert, who also advocates wellness and nutritional values, her Calabar background, has not robbed her of calorie-consciousness. ”As a matter of fact, I cannot decipher the amount of calories in Edikanikong, which used to be my favorite dish. But I have made up my mind to stop taking it often because of the high calories! I‘d rather go for white soup and my fruits/vegetables. I try to live what I preach because lifestyle is all about you,” she concludes.
SOURCE:http://www.punchng.com/