Simaneka Mbeeli
You must choose between a product that is claimed to magically make the weight go away, so you look healthy or educate yourself on how to become healthy so that weight loss can occur as a result.
The author chooses the education route because it is consistent with the rural sociology method by Joel Muzanima.
The sociology method improves harvest yield when farmers are educated on the benefits and features of agricultural technology to influence their choice of inputs, as opposed to imposing the technology on them, which creates resistance toward that technology and consequently lowers yield.
Firstly, through education, we try to make people understand their body types.
This, in turn, guides them through lifestyle modification, eating habits and physical exercises to manage their weight.
Knowing that weight/mass alone is not the complete indicator of health, we include elements of fat storage and fat burning.
Fat burning and fat storage are influenced by four endocrine glands, namely ovary, liver, thyroid and adrenals. Fat-burning hormones are growth hormones, insulin-like growth factors, glucagon, adrenaline, thyroid hormones and testosterone.
The fat-storing hormones are insulin, oestrogen and cortisol. Insulin resistance makes it harder to burn fat and correct fluid retention.
Nutritional education saves us from seeking dogma, which characterises the contemporary search for a single pill, seed or shakes that takes belly fat away – as many marketing flyers would claim.
Nutritional education prevents cardiovascular disorders, obesity, diabetes and erectile dysfunction.
It also prevents distorted body image and binge eating associated with Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa, respectively.
Bloating, fatigue and constipation are symptoms of a bad diet.
Bloating and gut inflammation are caused by bacterial fermentation of FODMAP, which are carbohydrates found in dairy, grains, fruits and non-nutritive sweeteners.
Another threat to gut health is H-pylori bacteria, which lowers stomach acidity, causing poor digestion of protein and acid refluxes.
Teaching the masses how to choose food that repairs gut ulcers and acidifies the stomach walls is a better solution than some antibiotics.
Fatigue happens as a result of a deficiency of magnesium, sluggish thyroid and insulin resistance; coffee mugs and sugary energy drinks are used as a quick fix while neglecting the food that will fix the root cause.
Dietary fibre aids digestion and the movement of food down the gut, as well as being the source of vitamins and minerals; we need three to five cups of cruciferous vegetables.
Eating porridge/pasta and meat/milk without fibre on the side is like driving a Toyota Corolla through the desert dunes while ignoring a Land Cruiser. It results in that profound pain felt during the pushing when things get stuck; education on meal planning prevents this punishment to the gut.
In short, we can educate the discomforts way with evidence-based nutrition and fix Namibia – 1Kg at a time.
* Simaneka Mbeeli is a decolonial nutritionist (BSc Food Science and Technology) and a nutrition lecturer at Welwitschia Health Training Centre. He is pursuing an MBA in Health Management at UNICAF University, Malawi campus.