Food First

Food is universally recognized as the basic factor that governs our life and development. It has long been understood that a healthy mind lies in a healthy body.

Basically food is the primary substance that we eat to abolish hunger. However, food is not just something that fills the empty space at the abdomen. It should, however, be not only ingestible, but also digestible and absorbable; thus furnishing the necessary energy to foster the body building and good health.

In addition to food being the only source of energy/nutrients to our body, it is the driving factor of our state of mind, society and development as a whole. There is a direct relationship between the food and one's total being. In other words, the psychological importance of food cannot be excluded from its physiological importance.

Hunger and poverty are interconnected at micro framework of society. The worst happening of the poorest countries is found to have been the sufferings from the food insecurity and subsequent hunger. The persons suffering from food insecurity lack every positive aspect of living. In severe cases, death is inevitable due to hunger and chronic malnutrition which are the indicators of food insecurity.

Moreover, abundant food supply may not assure the good health and well being of people. In fact, the food consumed must be safe and nutritious enough to promote the health and living. Under nutrition is yet another great global challenge that has been creating multidimensional lags. More than half of all child deaths are found to be associated directly or indirectly with hunger and malnutrition.

Prevalence of under nutrition is a major factor for the child mortality and miserable maternal health. Malnutrition is the key factor to decline the quality of life. Scarcity of safe and nutritious foods leads to the inadequate supply of all the necessary nutrients and energy to the body. Deficiency of nutrients and energy retard the development of body and resistance to various diseases. This induces the permanent impairment of a person's ability resulting less capable manpower. Thus food has multidimensional associations with the quality of life and society to a broader sense.

Proper attention must hence be given to the safe and nutritious foods. The government should employ some practical policies that address food safety at the household level. General awareness and empowerment should be provided to guarantee the food security and safety. It is essential to all the consumers to understand the different aspects that lead to the unsafe consumption of food. Each person must be equally conscious in consuming the safe and nutritious food. If we know about some of the key facts about food, we may have the great possibility of having safe foods. We should take care from the farm to ensure food safety. Care should be given not to allocate the overdose of pesticides which leave the residue in the final foodstuffs also. These are hazardous to our health. After harvesting from the farm, washing the foodstuffs with potable water reduces the chance of occurrence of disease causing microorganisms that may have made their way into them. Another important aspect to be considered is keeping food away from post contamination and spoilage. As food is common to humans and microorganisms, it is subject to spoilage by these microbes. Food should then be properly processed or cooked to make it digestible and free from disease causing microorganisms. If we have to store these foods for some duration, we should ensure hygienic storage place and procedure. Keeping most of the foods for long time without proper storage causes the chance of spoilage.

It should also be kept in mind that toxins may also be present in foods which are, if consumed, may risk our lives. Some of the foods have some non-nutritious constituents which are to be removed before consumption. Different processing technologies are available to get rid of these. Above mentioned points are some ideas to entertain the safe food consumption.

For guaranteeing the nutritious food, we should be conscious in having the balanced diet instead of bulky food material. Proper balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins in our daily meal can only offer good health. Care should be given to whether the foods we consume daily are enough to supply the daily requirement of nutrients and energy to our body.

General know how of the constituents of food, their functions and food hazards are therefore the basic tools for safe food and healthy life.