By Fatiah Adejobi
"Empty stomachs don't build bright futures."
For many students, feeding is not just about eating but surviving the day. A plate of food reflects the everyday realities of survival, choice, and compromise in student life. For many students, particularly those who have never been away from home before university education, there is great struggle in planning and balancing their meals. Food for them becomes an art of survival and nothing more. The daily negotiation between limited finances, academic pressure, time constraints, and access to nutritious meals has become the deciding factor for each meal; the situation at hand determines what goes into the stomach.
There are various lenses to students’ feeding habits; let’s explore from the lens of time constraints. A particular student, Miss Apple, lives quite far away from the main junction. She has an 8 a.m. class that requires her to be out early if she doesn’t want to be late (a minute behind schedule might result in her not being allowed into the class). She leaves the house very early, and the last thing on her mind is food, who has time to cook or put something in the stomach? The 8 a.m. class ends by 10 a.m., and immediately the next class commences, running for over two hours. After the classes, she becomes weak and tired; she is not even concerned about a nutritious meal at that moment, but just something filling. She gets home late, too tired to cook, and has snacks for dinner, and that is how she spends most of her days.
Negligence is another factor affecting some students. Some students prefer to spend their money on less important things like data, betting, and other activities, then settle for whatever scraps are available, which in no way contribute to their well-being.
Some students, due to lack of proper planning, inadequate financial resources, and academic pressure, find healthy eating at the bottom of their priorities.
All of these survival choices have effects that might result in critical health conditions if not well looked into. Students tend to suffer poor health in the form of weakness and constant tiredness, frequent illness due to low immunity, weight loss, and unhealthy weight gain. Poor academic performance is another important consequence of poor feeding, resulting in lower productivity when reading or doing assignments, constant weakness, unnecessary mood swings, and irritability. Increased stress and frustration, mental exhaustion, nutrient deficiencies, and digestive problems are all borne out of poor feeding.
As a student, there are several ways to save money, manage academic pressure, and still eat healthily. It starts with intentionality, a sincere and careful consideration of your body, health, and academic performance. Plan meals like you plan data and outfits. Create a meal plan with available resources; you can rotate a meal twice or thrice a week. Cook in bulk, for example, make stew that will last you for a few days, and you can pair it with rice, spaghetti, bread, potatoes, and other choices. That saves the stress of deciding what to cook daily.
Buy foodstuffs and cook your own meals. Street food might seem tasty and convenient, but it is not always healthy and drains money fast. Have backup foodstuffs such as garri, bread, cereals, and groundnuts for days when you can’t cook due to tiredness or lack of money. With your backup, you won’t go to bed hungry.
Plan your time. Schedule your activities and include cooking as part of your tasks.
Don’t ignore nutrition completely. Add vegetables to your meals, drink water often in place of soft drinks, and eat fruit at least once every week. A slice of pineapple or watermelon costs ₦200; add eggs to your meals when you can afford them. Don’t wait until you have too much money before you start eating healthy or choosing yourself. Start small, start now.
" _Prevention is cheaper than cure._ "
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