For years I have known that heart disease and diabetes is very prevalent in my family on my mother's side. My grandfather had his first heart attack at the age of 23 and has suffered from many problems with his heart since an uncommonly young age. Both my grandmother, uncle, and aunt suffer from diabetes, my mother being the only one who escaped these diseases. My mother grew up very aware of what was happening to her immediate family, so she took necessary steps to prevent it such as regular exercise and cooking her own meals to avoid the fatty, greasy food the rest of the family was consuming.
 |
| Image Credit : pinimg.com/ |
At least part of the reason my immediate family members were suffering from
such debilitating diseases was because each member of the family was morbidly obese. Despite his work as a carpenter, my grandfather tipped the scales at almost 400 pounds, and my grandmother was close to 250 throughout most of her life.
My uncle and aunt were brought up in the
same way, and unlike my mother they loved to eat anything fried or greasy that cam their way. That was the way my grandmother was taught to cook from her mother, and unfortunately she did not note that my grandmother suffered from heart disease as well so she continued to provide for her family in same way.
 |
| Image Credit : http://pad2.whstatic.com/ |
Fortunately, my mother recognized the destructive pattern my family was taking on and she decided to take steps to end the cycle. She established a pattern of
regular exercise by enrolling in the tennis team at her school and spending her free time outside doing activities with friends instead of watching television like her brother, or sitting at an office at school like her sister. She also began eating outside of the house as much as possible because she noticed the food at home was not healthy, and she eventually asked a friends mother to teach her how to make her own healthy, nutritious meals so she could rely on herself.
This confused the family at first, and people often joked that she was the odd one in the family because she was relatively thin, while everyone else had grown overweight. Eventually, my aunt approached her and asked her to teach her how to cook for herself as well. When my grandmother saw the benefits that both her daughters were having because they changed their
eating habits she asked my mother to teach her as well.
For the most part, my family still suffers from these diseases, but from that day on they began to eat
healthier food for diabetes and we have all benefited from my mothers decision to not continue the unhealthy cycle that was started generations ago.
