The Health Africa magazine was launched in Accra yesterday, with a call on the public to lead healthy lifestyles. The 80-page magazine is a bilingual vegetarian periodical which seeks to educate the citizenry on the need to stay healthy through good dieting.
The magazine, which will be published quarterly, will also serve as the mouthpiece for propagating the gospel of vegetarianism in the country and Africa at large.
In a welcome address, the Editor-In-Chief of the magazine, Nana Otu Kwaku Mensah, said it was high time Ghanaians were educated on prevention of diseases instead of waiting to get sick before seeking for medical assistance.
Vegetarianism the key to reduction in diseases
He said if people were taught the right way of living, they would live healthy lifestyles thereby reducing the disease burden on the country.
He said the alarming increase in lifestyle-related diseases such as coronary heart and diabetes diseases and high blood pressure were as a result of the types of food people ate.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Mensah advised the public to eat more plant-based food to avoid lifestyle diseases.
He explained that vegetarianism did not only mean the avoidance of meat, but it meant doing the things that gave life to the body, such as exercising, resting ,drinking water and eating food that would not create a lot of putrefaction in the body
He stressed that plant-based diet was the ideal diet for mankind, saying “ When thing rot in your body, it creates some kind of poisons and it pollutes the whole body, so when you turn to plant-based diet, they digest easily not leaving too much of putrefaction in your body”
Health Africa magazine to erase misconception
In a separate interview, the President of the Vegetarian Association of Ghana, Dr Kofi Asare, indicated that the Health Africa magazine would give proper health education, thereby dispelling certain misconceptions on issues relating to vegetarianism and heathy lifestyles
He said the youth would be empowered through knowledge from the magazine to choose between living a good lifestyle (vegetarianism) and eating foods that would send them early to their grave.
He urged Ghanaians to eat lots of fruits, leafy vegetables and whole grains.
Buttressing the point, he said 80 per cent of chronic diseases could be prevented by eating natural foods.
Dr Asare warned against eating of junk food, stressing that processed foods tended to destroy the internal organs and had no nutritional value.
