Migori: A member of the Medical Missionary Movement, African Chapter, Dr. Collins Warutere, has called upon Kenyans to adopt traditional foods to combat lifestyle diseases currently affecting many people in the country. Dr. Warutere highlights the increasing prevalence of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and hypertension among Africans, emphasizing that improving diets by embracing traditional foods is crucial in reversing this trend.
According to Kenya News Agency, Dr. Warutere, while leading a one-week religious conference in Migori County, expressed concerns over the risks posed by Western diets, which often lack natural ingredients. He noted that many people prefer chemically laden foods over natural alternatives, which has exposed them to diseases like cancer and malaria. Dr. Warutere, serving as the chief guest speaker at the conference, advocated for a return to traditional foods such as soya beans, green bananas, millet, cassava, sorghum, vegetables, potatoes, and groundnuts, which he believes are more effective in disease prevention and treatment than meat.
The conference emphasized the benefits of natural healing through traditional diets, contrasting it with the inefficacy of some conventional treatments. Dr. Warutere argued that lifestyle-related diseases could be mitigated by prioritizing nutritional medicine and traditional foods, which are also effective in preventing opportunistic diseases resistant to conventional drugs.
Dr. Warutere further stressed the importance of combining natural foods with good exercise, clean water, sufficient sunlight and oxygen, adequate rest, and divine intervention for better health and national development. During the event at Uriri Deputy County Commissioner's recreational ground, participants shared testimonies of healing from serious diseases through dietary changes.
Ms. Monica Atieno from Rongo PAG Church shared her recovery from a cancerous wound of over a decade by switching to traditional foods. Similarly, Doreen Mayaka from Mawego Seventh Day Adventist Church in Homa Bay County recounted overcoming high blood pressure with a traditional diet. Mr. Peter Momanyi from Nyanturago Calvary Church has since campaigned for dietary changes in the Kisii region, having experienced the benefits of abandoning Western foods.
Dr. Sarah Were, a Nairobi University-trained medical doctor, has resigned from conventional practice to advocate for natural disease prevention and treatment through traditional diets. As a former consumer of Western foods, she cautions that without prioritizing healthy diets, Kenyans will continue to experience preventable hospitalizations.
The conference also featured Reverend Water Okinyi, a Kenyan-born Netherlands citizen and the movement's coordinator for Holland, underscoring the global interest in traditional dietary practices for health improvement.