A research reveals that a fetus’ nourishment in the womb not only affects the baby’s health at birth, but also in adulthood.
The susceptibility of a person to infections in adulthood is linked to the nourishment received in the womb.
A pertinent one is that of a female child. It has been discovered that “…baby girls who are poorly nourished in utero may themselves go on to give birth to low-birth-weight babies.”
The implication: Woman, your diet before and in early pregnancy could safeguard the health of your grandchildren!
Also, the importance of the consumption of adequate folic acid – rich foods like oranges and black-eyed beans, by child-bearing age women has been discovered.
Folic acid is believed to reduce considerably the risk of birth defects like spina bifida.
These facts have placed additional demands on would be mothers to feed with their procreation role in view.
While some nutritional defects in pregnancy might not be able to be corrected, there is a second chance to make up for the poor nutritional foundation of every child at infancy. This could be rectified during the adolescence period.
It has been revealed that malnutrition affects not only the physical outlook but the overall health of people, that is intellectual, emotional and social health. While stressing the need for meals high in carbohydrate, consumption of simple carbohydrate like sugar, jelly and syrup which gives instant energy and lack other basic nutrients; is being discouraged.
Unfortunately, adolescents have been noted worldwide to love nibbling these unhealthy simple carbohydrate snacks. This, according to nutritionists, is one of the problems of adolescents; another is irregular meals. To buttress this point, ask a group of adolescents who, among them, have taken breakfast this morning and a few, if not none, would have done so.
It is strongly advised to always eat breakfast. If there is any meal to be skipped, it should not be breakfast. Even the name itself depicts this. One is breaking the overnight fast! Nutritionists lament that the adolescence stage has not been exploited to adequately build up the body through good nourishing meals. Most adolescents, girls in particular, due to poor dietary habits, are either stunted, thin and anemic on one hand or overweight on the other. The figure-conscious adolescent girl is being advised not to compromise a healthier future but eat correct combination of proper and adequate meals; that what makes one fat is eating the wrong foods.
Adolescence, time to learn home cooking
Adolescence for the girl is more than a time to feed appropriately, it is also a time to start to take more than a curious interest in the affairs of the kitchen as future wives and mothers. Hence, they should be skilled in the 5 Ps of a home maker namely planning; purchasing; processing; preserving and presenting.
Planning
The girls are encouraged to start acquiring skills in planning meals by getting nutritional information that will equip them in planning beneficial meals for their household. They are to learn how to buy fresh products which are more nutritious as well as purchasing foods from both open and supermarket. Another habit to be inculcated in these young ladies is the art of reading food labels. This way, items high in fat and other undesirable nutrients could be avoided.
Processing
It requires skill to process food materials especially vegetables though most could be taken raw. This is the second P. Adolescents should be challenged to go beyond just preparing foods to learning various ways of meal preparation-blanching; boiling; frying; poaching; grilling and so on. They should know which method would serve which purpose and why it is so.
Preservation
The third P is preservation. When preserving food, for example in the freezer, care should be taken to keep off germs. It is unhygienic to refreeze a frozen food after thawing. This leads to loss of essential water from particularly fish and meat, in addition to over exposing the food to germs.
Presentation
On presentation, adolescents should be taught the almost lost art of food presentation in the Nigerian home. The visual impression of a meal could increase appetite or diminish it. Some homemakers advocate for the use of crotchety and fresh/artificial flowers on dining tables, striving for a well –laid table.
In the same manner is garnishing of meals. This should be resuscitated as well. This singular act of garnishing could make the difference to a child’s appetite. Citing the example of children and vegetable consumption. A child could be attracted to eat hitherto detested meals when it is garnished with carrots; onions and green leafy vegetables. You may say my child will never touch those with a long pole, but it has been proven that meals with diverse ‘colours’ attract children. So try it with your child, it might work.
Waoh! All these, just to prepare for motherhood? But, there is no doubt, girls, that nutrition affects your well-being. So eat well, reason well and perform well.
And mothers, this is another chance to thank you all.
