In one hundred years almost everyone alive today will be dead. Life is indeed short. I was again reminded of this fact two weeks ago. My dad came home bragging about the huge piece of pork chop that he had eaten at some soul kitchen. He said the pork chop was as large as his hand. Twelve hours later my seventy-six year old dad knocked on my bedroom door and told me to call 911, he was having problems breathing. 

Twelve years ago my dad suffered heart failure. It was touch and go for quite sometime. When my dad recovered he followed his doctor’s advice and made some changes in his life. However he did not change his diet. He continued to eat an incredible amount of pork and used an abundant amount of salt. In fact there has never been a pig ear or pig foot that was placed before him that he did not consume. Pork was his obsession and salt was his savior. 

My dad, Dr. Melvin J. Griffin Sr. has been under an enormous amount of stress since the passing of my mother, Alger Griffin on April 30, 2007. This along with a poor diet caused the pulmonary edema (fluid on the lungs) that almost killed him. I followed the ambulance to the emergency room. I found myself right back at the same hospital looking at the same faces that stared at me when my mother was sick. My mom spent two months in the intensive care unit with a prognosis of no recovery. My dad spent one week in the cardiac intensive care unit. He is returning to work tomorrow. My dad has a new outlook on life. He is eating healthy now.  

What happened to my dad can happen to any of us if we continue to eat unhealthy diets. We are literally eating ourselves to death. We eat too much salt, pork, sugar, and fat. Whenever you consume too much of these things you shorten an already short life. 

In the words of my dad: “Stay away from the pig ears and fried pork chops.  Eat more fruits and vegetables.”

Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com or write to him at P.O. Box 250194 Montgomery, Alabama 36125-0194.