Mindful Eating in Nigeria

GROWING up in Nigeria, there is a famous song we sang as kids:

“Some have food but cannot eat. Some can eat but have no food. We have food and we can eat. Glory be to thee oh Lord. Amen”

These times in Nigeria, where the economy is tight and tough and people are cutting corners in food production in order to make profit at the expense of the consumers (who sometimes fall sick after purchasing and consuming these food items/crops), the most important thing for us at this moment is to embrace mindful eating always.

Late last year (December 2024 to be precise), I ate porridge beans from a road side restaurant (what we call Mamaput in the local Nigerian palace).The food hurt my stomach for hours and it made me to stool and vomit for over 5hours.Shortly after, my office colleague also went to the same food joint and he also fell seriously sick.

For me, Mindful Eating is basically the intentional  and attentive way of not eating/consuming expired or unhealthy food items thereby enabling one to make better food choices(within the vast array of food items in the food basket) always that lead to better nutrition and a healthy growth pattern.

For us to intentionally and accurately carry out Mindful Eating, we need to do these simple steps:

• Find out who prepared the food or who sold the food.
• Assess the ambience of the restaurant or marketplace.
• Assess the personal hygiene of the seller.
• Find out the expiry date of the food item you pick from an open market or super market.
• Find out the colour, smell and if possible the taste of the food item.
• These will all determine if you should continue to purchase/ consume or abort the process.
• As this year 2025 is the United Nations International Year Of Cooperative, its important that we buy food stuffs in bulk (as neighbors , office colleagues or church members) so as to be able to make better food purchase choices. Our media firms (radio, t.v, newspapers and online platforms) should do regular Public Service Announcements (PSAs) inorder to educate the public on the need to make better food choices and its advantages. Our religious institutions (temples, mosques, temples) should also join this drive to enlighten their congregation .These steps of cooperation across boundaries and strong institutions will make a bigger impact.
• However, in all these, its so important that we always wash our hands and also chew our food properly to enable an easy digestion process .
• Have a nice eating experience and maintain a good health despite your seemingly tight finances.