Eating Moderately

When I was in primary school in the '90s, some of my classmates were fond of asking each other, "Do you eat to live or do you live to eat?" I have over the years heard that question so many times that it now sounds like a mere cliche to my ears.

Recently though, I found myself pondering on whether I eat to live or live to eat. That triggered in my mind a series of thoughts that transported me back to my childhood years.

I grew up with a weakness for food. As a boy, I had the habit of gormandizing the meals we had at home as if there was no tomorrow. My tendency to overeat meant that we rarely had left-over food in the house.

Later on in my boyhood years when I started visiting the homes of affluent families, I would wonder how they kept tempting food in their mansions. In November 2001 for instance, on the day before we began our national primary school exams, I passed by the home of my classmate Nicholas Onyancha. And wow! Onyancha's siblings welcomed me warmly and treated me to some refreshment of juice and biscuits they had kept in a cupboard.

To be honest, I was envious of the opportunities of eating sweet delicacies that Onyancha had in his home. While I can't clearly recall what I thought of the juice and biscuits I was given, I must have wondered how such delicacies could stay idle in their mansion. Had someone brought juice and biscuits to my home, I would have gobbled them, hardly sparing a morsel for tomorrow.

So much did I have a weakness for food that when I proceeded to Starehe Boys' Centre in 2002 for my high school education, I became a notorious "combiner". (In Starehe parlance, a "combiner" was someone who ate extra food on the table.)

Interestingly, I never used to put on weight in spite of all the eating I did at Starehe. Even when I volunteered to work at the Attorney General's Chambers in Nairobi during the 2003 December holiday, I didn't grow plump despite wolfing down plates of chips at 10 o'clock, at lunch time and at 4 o'clock. That was in addition to the breakfast and supper I took before and after reporting at the Attorney General's Chambers.

But then came November 2008. During that month when I was admitted at a certain hospital, my body never forgave me for the much eating I did at the hospital. My weight just ballooned, putting years on me.

After I was discharged from the hospital, I continued having a weakness for food. I would succumb to the temptation of eating in between meals. While at home, I would go for whatever food was in the house. And while travelling, I would buy delicacies from food kiosks by the roadside.

My weakness for food would sometimes become so strong that I would wake up in the dead of the night and make a beeline for whatever was left after supper. Not surprisingly, I would be unable to shed those extra stubborn kilos in my body that I was exercising to lose.

About two years when I couldn't tolerate being fat anymore, I worked on overcoming my weakness for food. I limited myself to only three meals in a day. And when I ate, I avoided stuffing my plate with food and going for second helpings. If I felt hungry in between meals, I drank water. As a result of that disciplined eating, I succeeded in losing weight.

This year, I have resolved to keep eating moderately. I will also avoid chips, sweets, biscuits, mandazi, chocolate bars, carbonated drinks and other foods rich in fat and sugar. In an effort to avert the boredom that tempts us to eat in between meals, I will channel my energies into developing my mind and soul by indulging in my hobbies.

My beloved reader, I beseech you to also form the habit of eating moderately. As former U.S. President Bill Clinton pointed out in his autobiography, decreasing food intake will prolong our lives since many people die sooner than they should because of eating food that is in excess of what their bodies can process in a timely manner. So don't live to eat. Eat to live.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on eating moderately, you might also enjoy another one on "Overcoming Gluttony" that I wrote a few years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the store.