This is the kind of piece that ought to start with a disclaimer, but I will not. Last week, I was invited to a nutrition seminar, which I was a bit hesitant to attend.
“What’s new about nutrition?” I asked myself.
Anyway, I discovered a lot.
My take home, however, was a real bombshell. Apparently, some of the qualities you wish to have, but you don’t - height, complexion, long legs, an hour-glass shape, pouty lips, big eyes - are as a result of what your mother fed you when you were young.
“Even the brain and its abilities is affected by lack of proper nutrition. From day one (conception), up to when a child turns two, the future of the baby is effectively determined by what it is fed,” said Manaan Muma, a nutritionist.
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She added that, “After the 1,000 days are over, if there is any damage, it can’t be reversed. Lack of proper nutrition during this time may therefore mean that the child will be unable to perform well in school.”
Ideally, according to Manaan, all children should follow a certain curve of normalcy in every aspect of their lives - intellect, height, weight, and just about everything conceivable.
This, however, is subject to proper nutrition in one’s early years.
She notes that no one is born a dunderhead.
Genetics, she says, plays a big role at regulating every aspect of human life. However, “genes allow for certain qualities at a minimum threshold.”
According to the SUN CSA, the organisation that had sponsored the seminar, statistics prove that no one is born to suffer adverse qualities.
The damage usually occurs when our mothers don’t feed well during pregnancy, or when they don’t feed us with well-balanced (non-processed) foods two years after birth.