Enhancing Our Health and Educational Status with Good Nutrition

Sound education is sequel to having a healthy and sound body which largely depends on eating good foods. When you are healthy, you not only feel and look your best, but you think more clearly and get along better with others. Quite often, health is usually associated with good food because the latter plays a vital role in nourishing the body hence, ensuring its healthiness. This makes good nutrition an indispensable factor for the body’s state of health. However, one may ask, what are the components of a good nutrition?

Good nutrition involves eating meals that contain the different food nutrients in the correct proportions. This entails the selection of different food stuffs rich in the nutrients that will provide nourishment for the body. Good nutrition is essential for normal organ development and functioning, for normal reproduction, growth and maintenance, for optimum activity level and working efficiency, for resistance to infection and disease and for the ability to repair bodily damage or injury. This can be achieved by eating a well-balanced diet selected from all the food groups-protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. The potentials of a good (balanced) diet to maintain a healthy life must never be underestimated for it recuperates the body that has undergone lots of physical stress and tension associated with modern living.

Nnamani and Ibenyenwa, in their book; Education, healthy living and Nutritional Development, affirms that, the ability of an individual to maintain a body fit enough to continue to carry out the normal functioning of the body both externally and internally is achieved mainly by personal service of the body through food eating habits, plenty of rest and adequate body exercises. For an individual to attain satisfactory state of health, his eating habits must be checked ‘ab-initio’, that is, as an offspring (unborn child). At this stage, it requires good medical care and adequate nutrition because its health depends so much on that of the mother-her diet and ingestion of drugs or chemicals. During post-pregnancy, the infant requires adequate breast milk which is more nutritious than any artificial milk at least for the first six months of its life. The importance of good nutrition at an early stage is that, the child is able to develop both physically and mentally, also his intellectual capacities are greatly enhanced, all of which are evidence of a healthy body.

With a good health, the prospects of an individual achieving his goals in life are higher. He will be able to perform actively in his chosen career-be it in business, education, sport or craft. What he accomplishes is deeply and continuously affected by his physical health, his intellectual adequacy, his interest in his work and his emotional freedom to the demand of his activities- this was constantly echoed by Ismail in his publication titled; Psychological Aspects of Physical Education and Sports. A poor health will create deficiency in a child’s educational status. This is because his ill-health will not allow him to take full advantage of the schooling available; also he will be prone to a very low IQ when compared to his fellow classmates thus his educational development is retarded. For the unhealthy adult, his ability to use the knowledge and skills acquired depends on his mental and physical fitness. If an adult is impaired by physical or mental ailments, he can not take advantage of his intellectual capabilities to develop his society.

In Nigeria today, a good percentage of children, youths and adults suffer from physical and mental ailments traceable to nutritional deficiency and this has cut short their potentials in life. Little or no emphasis is made on the place of good nutrition in the life of individual thereby encouraging indiscriminate poor eating habits. This in the long run has increasingly affected their educational outputs. One of the imperatives of nation building and national development lies in a sound education for its citizens that are of sound health. For the individual’s food, his health and education are all interwoven together and must be treated together and never in isolation.

Nutritional Deficiency: A Threat to National Productivity

Nutrients are those substances derived from digested foods and are required for the effective functioning of the body. The importance of nutrients to the body can not be over emphasize because the body need them for building up and repairing tissue; supplying heat and energy; protecting the body from disease; and elimination of waste products from the system. Good nutrition involves eating the right foods that can provide nourishment for the body hence, maintaining a healthy structure at all times. This implies that the right quantities of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins must form a bulk constituent of our meals – a term often referred to as ‘balanced diet’. Nutritionist are of the opinion that, the real place of nutrition in the preservation and sometimes cure of ill-health is in a well balanced diet taken sufficiently at meal times. This will definitely help the body that has lost some vitality to regain physical ability, improve and help the functioning of various organs as well as enzymes of the body.

Quite often, the nutritional needs of infants, adolescents, adults, sedentary and manual workers, pregnant and lactating women, the aged, the invalids and convalescents are not usually met. Added to this, is the misplacement of priority by many while selecting their foods – preference is often made on choice diets over balanced diet. Inability to meet the varying nutritional needs of the aforementioned groups of persons will invariably affect their health which consequently affects their social, mental and physical potentials in life. Nutritional well-being is a pre-requisite for the achievement of the full social, mental and physical potentials of a population so that the people could lead fully productive lives and contribute to the development of the community and the nation with dignity (W.H.O Rome conference, 1992).

In his book; Nutrition: A health Sector Responsibility, Habitch reported that about a billion people in the world suffer from at least one of the five greatest nutritional deficiencies of energy, protein, iron, vitamin A and iodine. At present, that number must have increased significantly judging from the increasing number of malnourished and under-nourished children and adults around the world. Nigeria as a nation is not left out in this palpable situation which poses a serious threat to its citizenry. The nation that is generally under-nourished tends to have high mortality and morbidity rates of young people and children which invariably affect the economic well-being of the country as the productive man-power is usually not available to provide economic growth as noted by Tanimu and Sabo in their book; Nutrition and lifestyle for the Body Immunity.

The effects of these nutritional inadequacies in our diet impairs greatly on the nation’s manpower hence may decline production. One is that the individual from infancy would not have developed strong bones, muscles and stamina. He may become susceptible to disease attack and may experience slow recovery from illness. All these culminate into a physically, mentally and socially impaired individual that can not contribute his own quota towards economic development. Imagine a labour force that is incapacitated through sickness or other ailments, they can not contribute meaningfully thus affecting output levels.

Good and adequate nutrition at all levels of man’s growth is the key to correcting this ugly scenario. The government, NGO’s, corporate bodies and parents (stakeholders) must take necessary actions to ensure that children, youths and adults receive the right and adequate nutrition in order to promote a healthy nation, for a healthy nation is a wealthy nation.

ADIEU MAMA

Madam Stella Obasanjo born in 1945 was one woman with ambition to reach the top. An Edo state indigene had her education in Nigeria and abroad. She rose to prominence when she married Obasanjo in 1976,same year Baba became head of state. I presume it was her motherly advice that compelled Baba, then military president to hand over to a civilian government. She would again manifest her humanity once more when her hubby was thrown into prison by the Abacha led government. One would recall how she fought doggedly to ensure that Baba can smell the fresh air of freedom once again, same time when OBJ’s other concubines were grappling for his property. During the present regime, she was deeply involved in development programs for youth, children and women, her love for children can’ not be quantified. Most memorable would be her pet project; child care trust. Mama you’ll be missed by many cause you deeply touched their lives, talk of youths, women, children, politicians, men of God e.t.c. But most of all by your hubby to whom you were ever loyal. “Safe journey home mama”.

THE DOUBLE TRAGEDY
The time was 23:00 G.M.T on Saturday night when I saw news flashes from one of the television stations about a missing Bellview aircraft. The news not only struck me with shock but disbelief and worry especially for the 117 souls on board. I tried to imagine the possibility of their survival amidst the insecurity in Nigeria, where minor mishaps usually claims lots of lives. Talk more of an airplane.
As events continued to unfold, I woke up Sunday morning to receive yet another bad news; “Mama” our first lady, Stella Obasanjo had passed away in far away Spain due to complications in her surgery. I was still trying to grapple with the news when it was confirmed that the missing plane had crashed leaving no survivors. Immediately some questions ran through my mind; is all well with naija? Could this be our own hurricane Katrina, Rita or Wilma? OR probably God aint happy with us. Surely there is more to this puzzle than meets the eye and only time will tell.
By the time the crash site was discovered at 14:00 hours GMT, Sunday at Lisa village in Ogun state, nothing but scraps of metal, incomplete human parts could be salvaged. Thereby raising questions on competence of our rescue and search agencies, not even our proudly owned satellite, NICOMSAT.1 was not even put into use throughout the period.
Definitely the 2 events have thrown the entire country into morning. A good Sunday turned into a black one. My heart goes out to the relatives of those that were involved and to OBJ, I say “take heart, God knows best”.

THE DOUBLE TRAGEDY
The time was 23:00 G.M.T on Saturday night when I saw news flashes from one of the television stations about a missing Bellview aircraft. The news not only struck me with shock but disbelief and worry especially for the 117 souls on board. I tried to imagine the possibility of their survival amidst the insecurity in Nigeria, where minor mishaps usually claims lots of lives. Talk more of an airplane.
As events continued to unfold, I woke up Sunday morning to receive yet another bad news; “Mama” our first lady, Stella Obasanjo had passed away in far away Spain due to complications in her surgery. I was still trying to grapple with the news when it was confirmed that the missing plane had crashed leaving no survivors. Immediately some questions ran through my mind; is all well with naija? Could this be our own hurricane Katrina, Rita or Wilma? OR probably God aint happy with us. Surely there is more to this puzzle than meets the eye and only time will tell.
By the time the crash site was discovered at 14:00 hours GMT, Sunday at Lisa village in Ogun state, nothing but scraps of metal, incomplete human parts could be salvaged. Thereby raising questions on competence of our rescue and search agencies, not even our proudly owned satellite, NICOMSAT.1 was not even put into use throughout the period.
Definitely the 2 events have thrown the entire country into morning. A good Sunday turned into a black one. My heart goes out to the relatives of those that were involved and to OBJ, I say “take heart, God knows best”.

WHAT WENT DOWN
Not much really happened all this while I decided to remain mute. But just to keep you informed, I’ll try to give you a rundown of what transpired in my dear life. First on the list was my experience at the unprestigious FCDA, ask me I’ll simply tell you that I’m currently having one of my dullest moment with them. Here me out “there is simply a kind of nonchalance on the part or the staff, overbearing laziness, no one seems to care and seeming unaccountability. Life could really be boring working for government sha I’m thinking of leaving for the better instead of allowing myself to roost in boredom. All u guys please do wish me luck.

A POEM FOR ONE “U” LOVE
This was the poem I wrote to one of my g/friends. I just wondered if you might like to have a look. It’s a creation of my own intelligence; I needed not to copyright any one so I made it myself. Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to get into the poet industry just an expression of my innermost thoughts.

AN IDEAL GIRL
Comes from a good home
Where she is well brought up
And properly nurtured
To learn the basics of life

She is fast in assimilating
Every thing she is taught
By so she is empowered
To face any situation

She does her work diligently
Never giving anything to chance
But she is always happy with her work
Thus bringing out of it the best quality

Talk of play boys, sorry
There ain’t just time for them
Even loose girls have no space
For their lives are completely parallel

Such an ideal person She is
Waxing on with more beauty
Together with wisdom and knowledge
Making her a complete set

LOVE LIKE A HUNTER
Love is like a man who sets out for a hunting expedition
He ensures that all his instruments are in tact
He trims his bow and sharpens his arrows
Then off he goes, into the thick forest for a catch.

As he walks, he listens very carefully
His footsteps gently slowing down
He halts for a while, thinking he had something
But moves on, waiting for that great moment

He looks out for a prey
One that he would cherish in his heart
One that would give him full satisfaction
And can boost his ego

After a long waiting in the bushes
Then comes the damsel at some distance
Such a wonderful figure to glance
A complete picture of his imagination

Then his heart is filled with pleasure
He still observes closely just to be sure
He then advances for a closer look
And positions himself for a better shot
He makes ready his bow and arrow

Points it directly at her
For sure he knows he cannot miss
She indeed has no idea of the plot

He pulls, then off the arrow goes
Headed for its one target
“Boom” the arrow reaches its target
Driving straight to her heart

There is a feeling of ecstasy on him
The hunted has finally been captured
Her heart is forever His
He carries her home for keeps

AND THE PREMIERSHIP IS HERE
And the much awaited action kicked off finally in the most prestigious leagues in the world. All the “big” boys posted a win each. This year will definitely be fight to the finish I bet.

Rooney did just what was required of him though booed here byEverton fans

Promise to be brief so you all could easily browse through my mails. Happy blogging folks

WORKDAY ON MONDAY
I finally got the thumbs up to begin my work experience this Monday on site. If you are thinking of any kind of fun I might be enjoying, you might just be on the wrong track. It’s definitely going to be quite hectic doing all the rigorous work on site and think of it-no monetary inducements is being attached at all. Well they say its all for the experience, I’ll have to take it in good faith as they say.

BETWEEN OBJ AND HIS ANTICS
I am a very good follower of not just Nigerian politics but also global politics too. The events that have been running for long between our number one man (obasanjo) and a number of state governors calls for great concern to all. First was his purported fueling of the crises in Anambra and the vivid humiliation on the poor governor. Soon as the matter would subside, had he taken on that of Abia state in a war of words. The latest is now the withheld Lagos state local government funds. Ordinarily it should have been a mere trivial issue but instead has degenerated to a political war. I’m of the view that we have an autocrat in civilian garb that calls the shots at all times no matter what. If so be the case, then danger is not far ahead.

FUTMITES HAIL “TUKUR”
FUT.MINNA seemed to be tottering for a long time without really making much progress. We had for long been basking in the euphoria of living in Bosso campus, late results, ID cards impossibilities and managing our own autonomy. Under the last dispensation, a lot of flaws were evident including mis-management of funds. Though students were tasked heavily at the inception of this new VC but one can easily see were his/her money is going. Better landscape now gives the school a good look; regular repairs on lamps, ceiling fans in classrooms, regular water supply despite scarcity in bosso, quality ID cards and quicker presentation, results are now ready at the start of the each semester are all laudable achievements. The most evident is our movement to the Permanent Site amidst fears and complaints on capital. This was backed with the purchase of 6 buses to aid student’s transportation. I believe there are still more in the offing. What others could not do for 10years,Tukur has achieved in a space of 2 years. Abeg make una hail the guy. It is not easy.

My first post might be full of flaws but i know like Isaac Rowland i'll always bounce back.yeah its a funny side of me.just returned from school,FUT the great and was bed-ridden for like how many days? one,two,three,... and i was begining to get scared.like all the drugs refused to work that period,striking!,peharps.but you never know the solution untilk you try a new method.ask me what i did and please dont laugh because it worked for me.Guess what,a bottle of mmanya and cow tail was enough to put me back on track.ha,ha,ha.mind you i did not prescribe this for you,your situation might just turn out worse.its juist my own therapy.

thats worth trying out folks.

uchh