The Chemistry of Choice
Health & Lifestyle
By Kaajal Luckraz
Friday!!! Fri-nally!!
The teenager of the family has been feeling a little sluggish — so not-cheugy mummy decided to take him to the doctor for a check-up. The doctor’s verdict is shocking, but in line with the Mauritian reality — the teenager is pre-diabetic! And not-cheugy mummy thinks… if only I grabbed the opportunity to send him to those swimming classes, to go to gym that we both liked, to…
In health, preparation is the first choice we make. Preparation means building good habits before illness strikes — choosing balanced meals, regular exercise, and routine check-ups. Pic – Fitness Passport
Health Is Chemistry
As a pharmacist with a love for chemistry, I see health through the lens of science. Chemistry is the study of transformation — molecules meet, bonds break, and new compounds form. In our bodies, the same principle applies. Small changes in diet, lifestyle, or medication adherence can transform our future health.
Every day in the pharmacy, I meet people at different stages of this transformation. Some act early, making small adjustments that prevent disease. Others arrive only when illness has already progressed. The difference lies in choice.
Preparation: Choosing Your Reactants
No chemical reaction begins without reactants. In life, preparation serves as the essential reactant. Education, discipline, experience, and curiosity all accumulate quietly over time.
In health, preparation is the first choice we make. Preparation means building good habits before illness strikes — choosing balanced meals, regular exercise, and routine check-ups. It also means keeping a record of your medicines and knowing your family health history. I always encourage patients to track all medicines and supplements they take. This simple choice prevents harmful drug interactions and ensures safe prescribing.
Environment: Choosing Support
Reactions depend on their environment — temperature, pressure, catalysts. Human potential behaves in much the same way. Supportive communities, mentors, institutions, and workplaces create the environment in which opportunity can flourish.
Human health thrives in supportive environments too. Pharmacies are one of the most accessible healthcare spaces, where advice and some screenings are available without appointments. Choosing to use your pharmacy as a resource creates fertile ground for healthier living. You can also explore online resources — credible ones. These days, you can even access games like Level One for Type 1 diabetic youngsters — which have been conceived specifically for today’s generation.
Timing: Choosing the Right Moment
Many reactions need activation energy — the spark that sets transformation in motion.
In health, timing matters. Choosing to act now rather than later can change the course of your wellbeing. Even medicines depend on timing — whether taken in the morning or evening, with food or without. Pharmacists are here to guide you on how timing affects your treatment. Ask your pharmacist.
Courage: Choosing to Speak Up
Catalysts accelerate reactions without being consumed. In life, courage plays this role.
Courage means choosing to ask questions when you don’t understand instructions, speaking up about side effects, or admitting when you struggle with adherence. Pharmacists welcome these conversations — they often prevent complications and lead to better outcomes.
Recognising the Choice
Just like in laboratories, reactions often begin subtly — a change in colour, a faint release of heat; in health, opportunities appear just as quietly. Choosing water instead of soda, walking instead of driving, taking the stairs rather than escalators, changing the timing of your medicines for optimal benefit, considering new molecules to treat chronic diseases. As pharmacists, we are trained to notice small signals too — like frequent requests for cough syrup, or reliever inhalers; or delayed prescription refills — that may point to bigger health issues. Talk to us, and we can help you make an informed choice — we will take away the digital noise and give you scientifically sound information.
A Final Reflection
The chemistry of choice reminds us that transformation rarely happens by chance. It emerges when preparation meets the right environment, when timing meets courage, and when awareness allows us to act.
As a pharmacist, I see daily how small choices — lifestyle changes, medication reviews — can protect health long before illness strikes. Prevention is always better than cure. If you are waiting for a sign to make better choices for your health — this is it.
The chemistry of Choice is in your hands. Choose wisely, choose today.
Kaajal Luckraz attained her MPharm degree and qualified as a pharmacist at King’s College London.
Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 27 March 2026
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