Good Nutrition: Your Right To Healthy Living (Part Two)

Save Life: Eat Well and Eat Aright!

Eating should not just be by the way. These days we found many junk foods around the corners. To eat in quantity is good but the proportion of what one eats in terms of the nutrients availability is the most essential. In taking this step to choose what to eat and how to eat will go a long way to prevent sickness and make healing fast.

Poor nutrition: Inability to eat the right food or well enough food the body need for normal functioning of various systems refers to as malnutrition will cause different diseases from mild to severe types.

In children, severe diarrhea that can lead to death is eminent in those malnourished. They also suffer chronic severe measles.

In adults, those that are not well fed or with inappropriate eating of right proportion of diet suffer from tuberculosis. The body lacks essential body antigens to fight against diseases. The liver also suffers damages done to the system due to imbalances. This is cirrhosis.

Poor nutrition during pregnancy causes weakness and anemia in mother and increases the risk of her dying during or after childbirth. Unavailability of nutrients cause great dangers than least expected. That is why every pregnant woman should feed well and in correct order. More fruits will do this time for vitamins, energy and body fluid. Many a times, poor nutrition causes miscarriages, still born, baby small in size or having after birth defectives.

Eat right to help the body provide resistant to sicknesses and diseases.

Eat right and well enough to get quick recovery from sickness.

Nutritious foods are good for health recovery. However, mostly, the sick finds it hard to eat especially to swallow which is more common among children. In such cases, feed the sick in bits. Eating as many times should be recommended and solid foods could be mashed into slurry or semi liquid. Drinking plenty of liquid is always important for the sick to pees often. Feeding the sick nutritiously can be through liquid foods.

Signs of diarrhea due to malnutrition cause the following in children.

Swollen hand and feet
Swollen face
Dark spot
Peeling spot on the legs

Prevention: Feed affected children several times daily with good nutritious diets

Fruits can as well be added for your daily dietary intake: Oranges, strawberry, watermelon, apple, red guava, avocados, soyabeans, pomegranate, cherry, pumpkin, potato, pear, etc. for great nutritional food value.

Importance of Eating Well and Eating Right.

Anyone can develop general malnutrition but it is most dangerous for

Children because they need more of food nutrients for growth and to remain healthy
Women of childbearing age in pregnancy and breast-feeding. They need extra food to stay healthy and for the health of the baby as well as their own daily work ability.
Elderly people lose taste for food as their teeth worn out and they lost appetite to food. Yet they need food for energy and other nutrients in the right proportion for their health.

Indication of Malnutrition in Children:

Poorly nourished children do not grow well but rather thinner and shorter than the other well-nourished ones. They often get sick and lose weight.

Checking Children for Malnutrition

One of the easiest ways to check the possibilities of a child’s malnutrition despite the child body size or absence of the above signs is the use of tape rule to measure the upper side of the arm. For a year old child less than 13.5 cm is an indication of malnutrition and less than 12.5cm is a serious case of severe malnutrition.

Another means of measurement is by means of weighing. The weight of a growing child is directly proportional to his age.