BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

A REEVALUATION of food habits and a dependence of modern medicine to retain health should be looked into, said medical practitioner and Herbawalk Malaysia’s principal Consultant.

In a recent interview with The Brunei Times, Dr Abdul Ghani said that people should prioritise healthy food habits with an emphasis on local, unprocessed food to improve their quality of life.

“If we look at today’s elderly people living in urban areas, they have difficulty with their mobility and are taking medication to survive. They think of taking medication to live but it is our food that can keep us healthy,” said the medical practitioner.

“Medicine is not the only factor that comes into the healing process. There is no simple way of doing things such as just taking medication. An attitude change has to take place in order to heal and reduce our illnesses,” he said.

 When he still had his clinic, Dr Abdul intended to promote medical medicine in Langkawi, however, he began to notice that the diet was the main difference between the elderly people that live in a city and village setting.

“They did not have imported produce like cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower. They ate nothing of the sort but ate locally. That was their diet and people like me are used to excess. Modern medicine has got many answers but traditional remedies have even more answers than our modern practices,” he explained.

“Chronic diseases were never a part of our lives a long time ago. It was then that I started to think back and in putting that together while knowing the present advances in science that it was the simple diet these people (in the rural areas) were taking that extended their lives in a healthy way,” added Dr Ghani.

 The Brunei Times