“There is no love more sincere than the love of food.” – George Bernard Shaw
That is indeed true. Everybody, or at least majority, loves to eat. I’m pretty sure that everyone of us is aware that food is one of the basic needs of man. It is probably the most important thing we have to obtain. Without food, we may not be able to survive any longer. It’s the source of our energy, our strength to meet every single task in our everyday life.
You can still live without shelter. You can still live without clothes. You can still live without money– as long as there is a source of food.
However, there are instances when we don’t think of the nutritional benefits of what we eat. Nutritious or not, most of us don’t care about its possible negative effects. People, especially children, tend to eat junk foods (chichiria) and other stuffs from fast food restaurants. Some resists eating dishes with vegetables and fruits, fish and meat. Thus, they are lacking with necessary vitamins and minerals, which can be provided by those mentioned earlier which will be the cause of the gradual lowering of their bodies’ resistance to diseases. Therefore, there’s a possibility that these people will acquire malnutrition despite the fact that they are eating a large amount of food (that, well, are not nutritious).
As what I can understand with the word itself, malnutrition is the absence of necessary nutrients in the body. Ergo, people with this deficiency are usually observed with lack of social participation, floating thoughts, difficulty in concentrating, and so vulnerable to illnesses.
Another reason why malnutrition is continuously dominating the nation is due to the escalating number of poverty victims. Aside from malnutrition, poverty is also linked with starvation. Families suffering from poverty are incapable of providing three meals packed with essential nutrients. Sometimes, they depend on the left-overs of other people usually found in trash bins. However, these foods are unhealthy due to the contamination of insects and microorganisms. They cannot afford to buy clean and something safe to eat because they don’t have enough money (okay, in this case, we really need money for food).
The government should act fast on these issues. Maybe several feeding programs can be implemented for those suffering from starvation and malnutrition. We should join forces to eliminate or eradicate completely these two major enemies of our human health. In our own simple ways, like by eating nutritious foods, being the models, spreading the knowledge, and sharing what we have to the needy, we can slowly bid goodbye to starvation and malnutrition. Let’s all live a healthy nation.
