I LOVE YOU SALT BUT YOU BREAK MY HEART
By Esther Nakyaze
As I arrived at the training hall today, I was warmly welcomed by the elephant team to their palace. The king himself, His Royal Highness Igwe Elephant was on his throne, pleased to have rescued the people of his kingdom from the chaos caused by the Rhinos the previous day. Once their identities were restored, the people expressed their gratitude before igwe retired in his chambers.
As I reviewed my time table, I smiled from ear to ear. It was my favourite day, shopping day! We would also have a chance to visit the Centre of Excellence for Nutrition at North-West University (NWU), one place I have always wanted to visit since my undergraduate days.
Immediately after lunch, we headed to town. After spending two hours at the mall, our next stop was the Centre for Excellence where Johann gave us a tour of the facilities. We also met Frank, one of the PhD students and ANLP alumni who left his native country of Ghana to study nutrition in NWU. Seating in the meeting room, I listened to Johann give us an overview of the Centre and the work they do. The research papers displayed on the notice board in the halls revealed the really exciting research that faculty members and students conduct. Then it was time for questions. One of the participants asked, “Why is this called centre of excellence?” “It is because we are the best!” Johann replied. Lol! Johan and his witty responses! He will forever be the king of the ANLP bites!
As I stepped out of the meeting room, the second door on my left was Robin’s office, one of the ANLP participants. Just near her office door was a notice board with a very peculiar and interesting post “I love you salt but you break my heart”. What a powerful message! This made me think of the need to sensitize people on the effects that excessive salt consumption has on our body. When we eat too much salt, we store extra water in our body. So the more salt we eat, the higher our blood pressure! The higher our blood pressure, the greater the strain on our heart, arteries, kidneys and brain. Thus this can lead to heart attacks, strokes, dementia and kidney diseases.
The provocative post got me reflecting on my daily salt intake. Am I taking care of my heart? You too can ask yourself that question.
