Cebu City – Holy Week is the time when Christians around the world pause for a while to reflect and contemplate on the life of Jesus Christ. It has been a tradition that during this time Filipino Catholics remember Christ’s passion and suffering and death by staying at home to pray and reflect on Christ’s death. Such religious traditions have been present for almost 500 years since the Spaniards have colonized the country. Religious practices like Visita Iglesia, Senakulo, Pabasa and Fasting have always been practiced by Filipino Catholics to remember the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Although these practices have been observed by Catholic devotees during holy week, the nutrition implication of such religious practices can greatly influence the patient’s nutritional status.
During fasting, some Catholics restrict red meat in their diet while others don’t eat at all. And for others this act is a way to cleanse the soul from all the sins committed. Although this practice is very spiritual in nature, the effects of fasting can either be positive or negative depending the extent on how it is being practiced.
Other patients consider fasting as a total cleansing of one’s self thus not eating any food during the day at all. This would pose great threat especially for patients who have Diabetes. According to the World Health Organization, Diabetes Mellitus is defined as a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (or blood sugar), which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. Most of the time, patients don’t know they have Diabetes until it worsens. As a matter of fact, 80% of diabetes deaths occur in low to middle income countries. There’s no cure for Diabetes but it can be controlled by medicine, lifestyle change and diet modification. Strict diet modification means portion control and right timing of meals thus abstinence of food may contribute to the severity of the disease.
Another type of fasting is restricting red meat in the diet. Although red meat contains highly biological protein, restricting red meat during fasting period may lessen your risks to developing cardiovascular diseases. Many researches have associated dietary fat and cholesterol in the development of cardiovascular disease. Since red meat is a major source of dietary fat and cholesterol, restricting red meat can improve lipid levels in the body thus lowering chances of developing cardiovascular disease.
While practicing certain religious practices this Lenten Season, it is primarily important for the individual to assess whether he or she is capable of doing such practice. He/she should consult his/her physician before fasting. Health would still be the main focus since it will concern the welfare of the person. As we remember and contemplate on the sufferings of Jesus Christ let’s not forget that health is still wealth.// PHA - ND I Retz Pol O. Pacalioga
