by Dr.
S. Ganesan
Regional
Director, IGNOU
As per medical sciences, the
good health indicators are many and we also normally come to know those
quantitative data through master health check-ups. In simple way, we can
ourselves know the status of health in day-today activities. For example, while
·
Not
able to eat all eatable items as per our wish (food restriction)
·
Giving
order for tea / coffee in a hotel (
blood sugar)
·
Not
able to eat outside food at functions / hotels (stomach upset)
·
Taking
tablets before taking food or after taking food (health maintenance through
medicines)
·
Week
tooth / gums forces to avoid hard items / non-vegetarian items (dental problems)
·
Avoiding some of the food items consciously (allergy)
·
Availing
frequent leave for office / college
(immunity level)
·
Visiting
hospitals quite often (sensitivity)
·
Counting
the number (quantitative) of tablets consumed in a day (medicine dependency)
You can also easily
add some more points to this list, based
on you day-today observations of others.
The second side of the health
coin is ‘fitness’. It is also directly
or indirectly reflects the health status.
Following are some of the fitness indicators:
·
Not
able to claim first or second floor through stair case (stamina or breathe
capacity)
·
Ability
to run to catch town bus / train (body flexibility)
·
Ability
to carry 10-15 Kg luggage bags at airport
/ railway station (hand strength)
·
Ability
to stand in a long queue (leg strength)
·
Independency to move
the gas cylinder from main door to kitchen ( back pain)
·
Carrying
capacity of vegetable bag (5-6 Kgs) at Jangalighat Sunday market for 30-40
minutes (holding power)
·
Ability
to pull centre-stand for your bike / scooter (pulling power)
·
Ability
to kick the bike, when battery start fails ( kicking power)
·
Ability
to use Indian toilet (knee power)
·
Ability
to sit on the floor and get-up from floor (joints power)
Again, you can add more to this
list based on your own experiences of fitness.
The state of independency to carryout day-today activities sows sign of
health and fitness. In other words, to
do our work independently needs good health and equipping the physical fitness
is next step for normal life. Your age
can easily be inferred from your level of dependency on others. Remember the old saying: self-help is the
best-help.
|
Eat Adequately
|
Cereal, Pulses, Milk
|
|
Eat Liberally
|
Vegetables, Fruits
|
|
Eat Moderately
|
Eggs, Flesh Foods
|
|
Eat Sparingly
|
Fat, Oils, Sugars
|
We all know EMI, as a facility
in our purchases / loans. A similar
terminology, BMI (Body Mass Index) = weight in Kg / height in meter2, is very
popular now in health sector. Having
learned about the status of health and physical fitness, what is to be done
next? To maintain good health, free from
medicines and for minimum physical fitness, we need nutritious food. The nutrition science provides us the basic
knowledge on the role of food in maintaining good health. In olden days, the grandma use
kitchen-pharmacy very effectively for maintaining good health of every member
of big family. Now-a-days, the food
science, health education, nutrition science etc. are readily available to
everyone through open and distance learning system. For
instance, the Certificate in Food and Nutrition (CFN), a 6-months course is
available in Tamil, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi,
Oriya, Hindi and English (offered in 10-Indian languages). Such nutrition
science educations are helpful for the mothers of school going children and
aged parents. The scientific way of
looking at food items gives good amount of insight and self-learning of
nutrition science.
Recently, the UGC also banned
sale of junk foods at canteens of colleges / universities / higher education
institutions. Some of the state
governments are also stopped sale of junk food items at school premises.
Balancing our speedy life-style
with good food habits is a challenge in modern world. The well balanced diet is highly important
for present life-style with less physical activities. Some 20-25 years ago, our daily routine
domestic manual works consumed nearly 1000 KCalories per day. But, in modern kitchen / home, the electrical
home appliances reduced it to just 100 KCalories. This simple sift from 1000 to 100 KCalories
consumption is part of our life-style change.
Under this situation, the nutrition science education helps us to avoid
obesity as well as malnutrition. For
Indians, a ‘reference man’ is between 20-39 years of age, with 60 Kg weight,
needs 2875 Kcal per day. Similarly, the
‘reference women’ of 20-39 years, with 50 Kg body weight is used in Indian
context needs 2225Kcal per day for moderate work. Being so, to balance our diet and to avoid risk of excess or deficiency in
our daily intakes, the conscious knowledge of food science is important for
everyone. The correct, real scientific
knowledge of food items can only save us from misconception or prejudices. Besides
commonly known B.Sc., M.Sc., in Home Science, there are many nutrition science
courses offered in open and distance learning system. For example, the IGNOU offers Certificate in
Food & Nutrition (CFN), Diploma in Nutrition & Health Education (DNHE),
M.Sc., Dietics and Food Service Management (DFSM) etc.
MSCDFSM addresses the needs
of training work force/developing manpower (dietitians, nutrition counsellors,
food service managers etc) for the emerging employment sector
(hospital/community dietetics, food service management). It will offer unique
opportunity of higher education to enrich their working lives by entering into
the market and/or starting their own food service unit, leading to entrepreneurship.
It also focuses on upgrading the professional competencies of serving personnel
in food service establishments, such as dietitians, diet technicians, counsellors
etc. The programme covers: applied physiology, nutritional biochemistry, food safety
and food microbiology, advance nutrition, clinical and therapeutic nutrition,
public nutrition, entrepreneurship and food service management, principles of
food science, research methods and biostatistics, etc.
Nutrition
& Health Education
(DNHE) is a holistic package which
provides opportunities to the learner to gain knowledge about nutrition and
public health. It also enables the learners to develop skills in communicating
nutrition and health related information to the community. The aim of the programme
is to develop a knowledge base in areas of nutrition and public health, promote
awareness about concepts and principles in communication and their application
in nutrition and health education and develop skill in playing the role of
nutrition/health educators in the community.
Learners with basic 10+2
qualification and an interest in community work will find the Diploma very
useful. It is a professional training programme. People working with both
governmental and non-governmental sectors in the role of community workers
would also benefit from this programme. The diploma will provide an additional
qualification helping them to improve their professional competence and
promotion chances.
The programme covers, nutrition
for the community, public health and hygiene, nutrition and health education,
Project work: nutrition and health education. Project work is a vital component
of the programme. Through the project work, the learner will be able to
experience the “feel” of working as a nutrition and health educator in
community settings. Such as an interaction would provide good insight into the
problems and possible solutions in community work. The project will equip the
learner to plan and conduct nutrition/health education campaigns and progammes
in community settings.
Food
and Nutrition (CFN) is
basically a Post- Literacy level awareness programme meant for people with
basic reading and writing skills. The programme aims to acquaint the learner
with the role of food in ensuring health living for the individual, family and
community. It includes features like food selection and preparation, nutrition
from infancy to old age, economics of food, kitchen gardening, food adulteration,
consumer rights, safety and education, etc. The programme lays primary emphasis
on nutrition with relevance to present day scenario, cost effectiveness,
environment friendly approaches that reaches to almost the entire nation, hence
making the learners responsible and aware citizens of tomorrow. The programme
contents covers: you and your food, your food and its utilization, economics of
food.
Nutrition
and Child Care(CNCC)
is tremendous relevance and use to all those who need to have the knowledge,
understanding and skills, both with regard to nutrition and child development.
The certificate in nutrition and child care is specifically vocational in
nature, opening venues for employment as well as self-employment. Doing a
programme of this nature, combining knowledge and skill development in the
areas of nutrition and early childhood non-government organizations working for
women and children. It covers: Nutrition for the community and organizing Child
Care Services.
Some people visit astrologers
quite often for business related questions.
After sometime, they themselves are able to guess some predictions based
on the astrology knowledge acquired due to regular visits. At one stage, the
businessman himself joins some astrology course to understand more. A similar phenomena occurs in food or diet
practice also. The self-learning through
ODL course on nutrition science education updates their knowledge and helpful
for health management process.
Every mother of a family,
especially modern young mothers need nutrition science education for healthy
India. The educated husband can gift
admission in nutrition science education courses for his better-half,
especially during her pregnancy period.
Let all of us focus our attention on healthy nutritious food for self and others; so as to have good health youth India.
(The author is Regional
Director of IGNOU, Regional Centre, Port Blair and can be reached at rcportblair@ignou.ac.in (M-8900936718)
Comments
Post a Comment