The Sunday Mail
Richmore Tera
World-renowned nutritionist, Mrs Julia Tagwireyi, during a speech and prize-giving ceremony held at Nyatsime College in Chitungwiza recently, delivered a stirring, intriguing and impassioned speech which was hinged upon the anecdotal statement: “We are what we eat”.
The humble but learned woman, who has served in many capacities as a public health nutritionist, dietetics supervisor, advisor and director at various health organisations in and outside Zimbabwe, plunged into her speech by first explaining how people’s eating habits determine who they are for the rest of their lives.
“We are what we eat. That is why the first two years of a person’s life determines not only their physical growth but their mental capacity as well. Children who are well breast-fed during their first two years have more mental acumen in comparison to an undernourished child,” she said, challenging if there any mothers who were exclusively breast-feeding their children among the people who were gathered for the event.
Being the champion of African nutrition and diet that she is, Mrs Tagwireyi did not waste time to shed light on why some people in Zimbabwe and the rest of the continent, were saddled by life-threatening diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, among others, largely due to their bad eating habits.
According to Mrs Tagwireyi, most people were stuffing in foods that contained a lot of fats, sugar and salt foregoing the healthier traditional food varieties at the detriment of their health.
“They are foregoing the unrefined traditional foods which are rich in nutrients, proteins, vitamins and carbohydrates opting for those foods that contain micro-nutrients,” she said.
She decried the shift from the traditional African small grain cereals such as millet and sorghum by the majority of Zimbabweans in preference of Western or exotic types of foods.
“Do you know that maize was imported to Africa? Our forefathers used to rely on small grains like millet and sorghum which are nutritious and well-suited to their genetic make-up. But today, most of us prefer sadza from refined maize-meal, rice or pasta.
“I am proud of some of our own people who value their traditional foods, and these are the people in most parts of Manicaland where they proud of their staple diet of madhumbe (edible bulbs rich in protein and carbohydrates).
“Also, vegetables lie lettuce comprise of a lot of water, while traditional varieties like tsine (black-jack), muboora (pumpkin leaves) and nyevhe (wild vegetables) are also known and proven to be healthy.”
She recounted how, despite being a professional nutritionist, she often faced resistance from her daughter when it came to convincing her to take traditional vegetables because of their nutritional components.
“No matter how much I tried, I still could not convince my daughter to eat more of these vegetables instead of her preference of meat, which as you know causes among other things conditions like gout. Sometimes I tried to disguise the vegetables inside something else but somehow she could suspect it and couldn’t touch the food.
“The here is that vegetables, especially the traditional varieties, are healthy and this is the reason why most Westerners nowadays are shifting towards the African diet because they have discovered the health benefits inherent in them,” explained Mrs Tagwireyi.
She challenged school authorities to be pace-setters and spearheads in the mission of promoting good health and well-being among members of society by inculcating in youths a culture of embracing traditional dishes as a way of boosting their health and the immune system.
“Teachers and school authorities wield so much authority and influence over societies and it is their duty to teach the young generation about the virtues of eating healthy foods.
‘‘We are what we eat. What you eat to a larger extent defines who you are and where you come from. It is part of you culture, your identity.
“For example, if you go to Europe today and they ask you to let them sample Zimbabwean or African food, and you prepare for them rice and chicken, that won’t excite them because this is the food that defines them, it is their staple food,” she said.
Mrs Tagwireyi took the same opportunity to emphasise on health benefits of regular exercise.
“We grew up during a period whereby we were encouraged to do physical education, and everyone took part in this process of exercising, without having to choose whether one wanted to do sports or not. Nowadays, it is a pity that some kids cannot even sweep, let alone cook a simple meal. Exercise has a lot of healthy benefits,” she said.
The United Nations/ World Health Organisation in September 2015 came up with a set of 17 bullets called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) supported by a total of 169 targets which are aimed at improving the economical, social and environmental aspects of humanity.
Mrs Tagwireyi’s presentation touched on most of these areas, with a special focus on SDGs 2 and 3 which stipulate that there must be no hunger among people of the world, with good health and well-being observed in the same vein.
