Food is a necessity to our survival. Surviving without clothes, shelter, gadgets is possible but we simply cannot survive without food. Everyone needs food and more importantly everyone has a right to eat healthy and nutritious food. It’s in recognition of this that a special day, the World Food Day, was earmarked to celebrate food as well as draw attention to people living in hunger.
The World Food Day is celebrated yearly worldwide on October 16 to honor the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945 and to appreciate the goodness of food. This year’s World Food Day, themed ‘Our actions are our future’, was a day in appreciation of the goodness of food to our wellbeing and the promotion of global awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger, while the need to ensure healthy diets for all was highlighted.
How Food Choices Affect our Future
You probably have heard the saying “You are what you eat.” The choice of food we eat affect our future. Just as our actions determine our future so do our food choices determine our health stability.
Eating healthy is about making sure our body receives the necessary nutrients to function well. The implication of not eating healthy protein-rich foods is very dire. Around the world, there are rising cases of malnutrition and other micronutrient deficiencies that threaten the health of nations.
A well-balanced diet complete with protein must form part of our everyday meal. Protein-rich foods like: soybeans, meat, fish, egg, milk, vegetables such as pumpkin leaves (ugu), jute (ewedu), spinach (efo), water leaves, and many more are beneficial to our healthy growth.
Eating healthy foods allow us to live longer, reduce the risk of obesity and make our immune system strong enough to protect us. Truly, our actions affect our future. So, before we lift that spoon to our mouths, let us look at our plates and ask ourselves, “Is what I am about to eat healthy?”
Happy World Food Day!
Cecilia Okoro is a graduate of the University of Benin and an aspiring writer.
