Nutrition must for a better life

(Sept 1 - 7 is tiol Nutritiol Week)

By Dr Anusmita Barua

Are you on balanced diet? In any case, you have to  live on food even if you are not aware of the nutritiol aspect or what the balanced diet is all about.

Although Food and Nutrition are two sides of the same coin, there is hardly any concern about the nutritiol aspect. However, there is a growing awareness about health and its need to keep it that way. Modern day has brought about a change in the attitude of people towards the food they eat. This concern often finds expression in the daily habit of people to eat or not to eat a certain kind of food. It is not without reason. The complexities of modern life has also brought in myriad problems pertaining to health. Blood pressure, obesity, sugar are amongst hosts of such problems which have restricted many people to be careful and refrain from  gluttony.

Animals eat food to satisfy their hunger without being aware of their nutritive value. They can also distinguish edibles from non-edibles. Some animals and birds can even find medicil soil or plants when they need it.  Those are however, curative in ture.

Human beings in modern times have to concern themselves about the nutritiol aspect of food mainly as a preventive measure. The young ones and most adults are hardly concerned about nutrition. They see it as a food that they like irrespective of what it contains. They are perhaps not conscious that food is required for physical and mental growth. Some people in modern times have come to  realize that “food” has to be seen in terms of its nutritiol value. They also see it  as  their  requirement  to arrest bodily problems that may be aggravated in eating a particular kind of food.

Sugar has come to play a fearful role in the lives of many. They avoid taking food with sugar content. Similar is the case with Uric acid content in the body and the people affected by it avoid red meat, certain pulses and so on. There are many other edibles which are either preferred or avoided depending on the demands of health. This concern however finds expression more in urban set up. The people in the village are a different lot with hardly any concern with the nutritive value of food that they eat. It depends mainly on whether they like it, or are averse to it.

People generally are not aware of the deficiencies in their body due to idequate intake of the required food in terms of nutrition, vitamins or otherwise. Experts often say that food has to be seen in terms of its nutritiol value to sustain good health and to do away with the maladies or  the problems arising out of certain deficiencies and also of the problem  of obesity. Good health demands that one has to be quite aware about the various needs of the body and take precautions in eating food of their choice in conformity with the demands of the body. Although the ‘Body’ does not speak (except the tongue!), one has to rely on his senses and take note of the signs and symptoms of the deficiency that may occur. This surely  is a subject of concern  that calls for  a measure to combat it .

Some people like to eat more than their body can accommodate in terms of nutrition. It is said that every third egg goes simply as a food and not as protein. Some others are however, conscious  about what they are eating and what would be the possible effect. But the delicacy overrides their health concern.

In the olden days, people were hardly aware about the nutritive value of the food they used to take. They were however aware of the medicil properties of some herbs or shrubs or even some fruits of which they used to encourage the young ones to take. Although this attitude towards food habit is not about a cure but about prevention against possible health problems, it was also a kind of awareness nonetheless.

Now in modern times, the science  of ‘Food & Nutrition’ has come to occupy a place in the life and culture of people all over. Therefore, the nutritive value of the food we take every day has become more relevant and is the subject matter of the present day deliberations during the ‘tiol Nutrition Week, 2015 ‘ with the theme “Better nutrition – key to development”. It is because a healthy population is the only wealth that a tion possesses.

Since the present day world is more concerned about the nutritiol aspect of the food people take, a worldwide effort is going on to generate awareness amongst all about  food and nutrition for real development. This is being celebrated from September 1 – 7 all over the country as tiol Nutritiol Week, 2015.

The above theme surely seeks to inspire positive actions by way of awareness campaign and training of personnel working in the field of food and nutrition towards achieving the goal of development in health sector, which in turn, contribute to the development of all other aspects of the tion.

It is often said that the health of a tion lies in the health of its citizens, more particularly the young and the adults. The health situation of the country is often sought to be measured in terms of the level of malnutrition among children and women, particularly pregnt women and lactating mothers.  Such malnutrition is also said to be the deep-rooted malady of most developing countries. Malnutrition is surely an athema  to the development of health of a tion. Nutrition also has an ugly face. The world has witnessed the cases of excess nutritiol intake resulting in myriad problems like obesity, heart disease etc.

Although there could be other causes of such problems, uncontrolled nutritiol intake is often the cause of such problems about which individuals realize only at a very later stage of their life, frantically looking for expertise in the field. There is no end to the queries of persons suffering from obesity or high blood pressure or diabetes regarding solution of their problems. The doctors they attend do not have any easy solution other than to advise to consult experts in the respective field.

Nutrition therefore plays a pivotal role in maintaining good health without having to be tensed about bodily deficiencies or otherwise.  Without good health, development is just a misnomer.

The theme therefore for the tiol Nutritiol Week, 2015 is quite relevant in its projection “ Better Nutrition – Key to Development “

Its about time that we all do something about it  - both at home and outside.

(Dr Anusmita Barua is Principal, District Institute of Education and Training, Bongaigaon)