My mother-in-law, Winnie Talley, passed away recently. She was 82. According to the coroner, the cause of death was "natural causes which is another way of saying that "We know she left her body but can't really tell you how she did it." My mother-in-law was a praying woman. I think that she prayed to die. She once told me that she wasn't afraid of dying and going to be with her Lord.
For months before her transition, she had been forced by osteoporosis to a live on the first floor of her house. Her children were available to see about her in the morning and in the evening after work. She was alone most of the day. She watched television preachers. She read her Bible. She prayed. For the last few weeks of her life she was in excruciating pain. Her back was curving. She had trouble climbing the stairs. The pain medicine made her groggy. She had to use diapers. My brother-in-law found her on the kitchen floor. The coroner said that by the looks of things, she was gone by the time her body hit the floor.
Mama Talley attended a large church where she had been a faithful and active member for many years. At the news of her passing, church members, neighbors and friends began to descend on the house bringing food. Store-bought cakes and pies soon covered the kitchen counter, along with cookies and brownies. There were boxes of store-fried chicken, white bread and liters of soda and bottled water. I counted two home-made casseroles and one salad.
My mother-in-law was not overweight. However since, osteoporosis is preventable, what really led to her pre-mature death was either a lack of knowledge or failure to act on the knowledge that she had. Thirty years ago, when Winnie Talley entered menopause, she probably didn't know that she needed calcium, vitamin D and weight bearing exercises in order to prevent loss of bone mass. Perhaps her doctor didn't know to tell her that phosphoric acid, an ingredient in cola, leaches calcium from bones. And of course, 30 years ago, my mother-in-law would have laughed out loud at the suggestion that she needed weight-bearing exercise after working all day as a domestic.
That was then. Now is now. Now we know that obesity is a raging epidemic, especially in the Black community. We know that foods high in sugar and fat contribute to obesity. We know that broiled meat is better than fried. We know that we need 4-6 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. We know that whole grains are better than white flour.
We may know these things but it doesn't matter if we don't act on what we know.
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INTROSPECTION
How many people can you name that have actually died of "natural causes"- old age with no known illnesses?
Consider your current health practices. Are your current health-related behaviors likely to produce death by "natural causes" or death by debilitating illness? If you are obese (Body Mass Index above 30) the answer is illness.
That is a reason to mourn.
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