Vincentians given healthy tips
News
November 19, 2004
Vincentians given healthy tips

Watch what you eat, and how you take care of your body. There are some basic things that prolong and affect your live.

And one way to ensure healthy living is to control your breath as breathing is one of the most important actions that human beings perform. {{more}}

Those are some of the lessons imparted by regional herbalist Claude “Ras Bobby” Olivacce.

Ras Bobby is something of a crusader, one keen on promoting healthy living. He was born in Curacao, grew up in Dominica, resides in St. Thomas and was here last week where he conducted a series of lectures.

One such activity was at the Peace Memorial Hall, where a group of health enthusiasts were held spell- bound by his presentation.

Besides the significance of breathing, Ras Bobby also highlighted the importance of food.

He noted that one couldn’t get healing over the counter. For him, the advice to listeners was, “Let thy food be thy medicine and let thy medicine be thy food.”

Ras Bobby did not limit his address to breathing, and he urged listeners to “take advantage of the clean air God gave you”.

But he went on to underline the benefits of exercise. He said today’s generation is not doing enough walking; a factor that he said should coincide with more breathing exercises.

“Do a good amount of breathing exercises every day,” Ras Bobby urged.

He, however, would like persons to restrict their intake of red meat, and dairy products.

One with a range of expertise on ailments that affect the body, Ras Bobby underlined the frequency of prostrate cancer among Caribbean men. And he attributed one of the causes to the amount of chlorine in the water supply. His recommendation is natural spring water. But given the scope of societal development, his solution may take some discipline to implement.

For Ras Bobby, the more natural the food supplies, the healthier your life will be. He pointed out: “We are digging our grave with our teeth.”

The herbalist, versed on the variety of diseases that affect the human body, also outlined a number of remedies for the different illnesses, and introduced the audience to a number of herbal therapies.

He is also one with a sense of destiny and his advice to the listeners was to use the foods that grow here.

“Vincentian people should concentrate on the foods around them,” Ras Bobby disclosed.