Some of us can’t even run from danger in our sleep. We have weighed ourselves down with our supper.

My earliest memory of a ‘times-table’ was back then in Primary school when we were asked to recite it; “Two ‘tines’ One, Two; Two ‘tines’ Two, Four…” We all chorused until we got to “Twelve ‘tines’ One, Twelve; Twelve ‘tines’ Two, Twenty-Four…”

Now that took some work. With all the cane-lashes on our heads and all the tears… It was some hard and painful process. I used to love the ’10times’ then because it was pretty straightforward.

Then I got introduced to the concept of examination time-table shortly after, and that was a different ball game. A ball game that lasted all the way from primary to secondary, then SSCE, then GCE, then more GCE, before I finally got to the university and more sacred examination time-tables… The kind of time table that makes our stomachs churn and our hearts skip. But trust me, that was one unifying time-table.

But the time-table that interested me the most, ladies and gentlemen, was the meal time-table.

Of course, that was the first time-table concept I got introduced to on my journey on this planet and I found it both challenging and interesting too. It was like a constitution, and god did I love that constitution. Though there were days that excite me because of the assortment of meals on display (Sundays, especially), and there were days that I wasn’t so crazy about (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Tuesdays and Thursdays always carry meals I don’t like. I’ve witnessed a number of time-table amendment but those days still suck. Luckily enough, we never followed it to the letter as the months wore on.

Those were the days when I was a kid but even these days, I am impressed to find out some folks still use time-tables and I’ve seen quite a number of them and came to a conclusion: Nigerians have a whack eating culture.

Okay, maybe I generalized a little, but I have looked around. I’m still trying to get my head round the idea of eating beans for dinner! Some days are so amazing; yam for breakfast, eba for lunch, then beans and plantain for dinner. You now ask me why I got a pot-belly? It’s not my fault, you can call it ‘accumulated cargo from my childhood.’

I don’t need anyone pointing out to me the need to work out. We’re not all called out to be Adonis, are we?

My idea for feeding is that breakfast should be light. We don’t want to feel heavy and sleepy at a point when we’re supposed to be at our best mentally or when we’re supposed to be listening to that lecture or sermon. Lunch is permitted to be generous in terms of grams or kilograms depending on the kind of job you do. We don’t expect a bricklayer to haul all those bricks on a small bowl of custard and a couple of balls of akara, do we? And supper is supposed to be real light too. So we can sleep without enduring a topsy-turvy night. Some of us can’t even run from danger in our sleep. We have weighed ourselves down with our supper.

Now, I’m not claiming to be a nutritional expert. I eat to survive so pardon me for not checking the calories or fat or stuffs like that. Our forefathers somehow lived for so long without checking all those, so I’ll be just fine.

What’s the point of this post? Simple – Eat right… at-least try.

To all you born in November, you’re amazing. You rock like Olumo!

————————-

Kay Aishida is simply known to his readers as BlogAces. Predictably, his posts are called BlogAce’s Posts and he tweets @blog_aces. He writes about life generally and tries to lace it with humour. Enjoy it!

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.