We carry on as if that chesanyama every other day isn’t killing us

Did you know that the 16th of October is celebrated as World Food Day? Well, with so much going on in our lives – Blackouts from Eishkom, the DA’s federal chair election and the traffic to and from work, I wouldn’t be surprised if this particular day didn’t even register in your mind last week.

According to the United Nations (UN), the theme for World Food Day 2019 was “Our Actions Are Our Future. Healthy Diets for A #ZeroHunger World”. It focuses on tackling global hunger.

There are so many “healthy diets” competing for our attention that we have to demystify the topic of a healthy diet. We also have to emphasise how exercising without eating correctly won’t help us get our weight right.

However, for someone like me who grew up in abject poverty, a day like this will always be acknowledged. It is personal, and as a mentor to more than 60 young men, I thought it would be befitting to invite someone to speak to them and teach them about healthy diets.

So on Saturday, I organised a dietitian to be a guest speaker in one of the sessions I hold for my mentees. Over the years I have spent with them, I have overlooked the issues around their body image.

To be quite frank, I became a typical man, and thought that body image challenges were women’s issues. We, as men, don’t stress about such things.

However, 2019 proved my backward-thinking convictions wrong. I am more worried now about what I eat, how much I weigh and how well I fit into my clothes. And, certainly, I don’t want to be obese.

The self-consciousness took me back to the days when I was a teenager. I remembered how I was mocked for being so tall and skinny. My fellow learners at school would tell me that I was so boney that if a strong wind blew they would have to set up a search party to find me.

My self-esteem took a serious knock. I started having confidence issues. I had to be conscious about what I said to ensure it wouldn’t backfire and get me mocked.

I heard the boys make unpalatable remarks to each other about their weight and the big portions of food they ingested.

I have learnt that, as boys and men, we neglect our diets until it’s almost too late. We carry on as if the chesanyama we have every second day doesn’t affect us. We neglect eating fruit and vegetables but are surprised when we are diagnosed with serial killers like hypertension.

It is our responsibility to nourish our bodies and to check what we eat. As young boys, our bodies can take in the junk we consume. However, the older we get, the body deteriorates.

The reality is that the development of  boys requires that we have healthy diets. There is no beauty in poverty or not having money. Nevertheless, I have realised that I used to eat better with less. Money doesn’t encourage one to eat healthier, but to eat a lot of food that kills us.

Furthermore, World Food Day provides an occasion to highlight the plight of 870 million undernourished people in the world.

I live in rural Pankop, and I hope that the boys will start recognising the importance of healthy diets. In doing so, we will also encourage each other as boys and men to consult a dietitian every now and then.

Kabelo Chabalala is the founder and chairperson of the Young Men Movement (YMM), an organisation that focuses on the reconstruction of the socialisation of boys to create a new cohort of men. Email: kabelo03chabalala@gmail.com; Twitter: @KabeloJay; Facebook: Kabelo Chabalala

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