05/07/2025
๐๐๐๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ | FULL ISN'T ALWAYS FED
Some students sit in class with rumbling stomachs, pretending theyโre okay. At home, meals often mean just rice and noodlesโcheap, filling, but empty of the nutrients they need to grow, to focus, to thrive. Vegetables? They're sold to survive.
Others scroll through social media, quietly battling a different kind of hungerโthe one that whispers, โEat less. Be thinner. Be enough.โ They skip meals, not because food is scarce, but because the pressure to be perfect drowns out their body's plea for nourishment.
But being healthy isn't the same as being thin. And being thin doesnโt mean youโre broken. Malnutrition has many facesโit doesnโt always show. Sometimes, it hides behind silence. Sometimes, behind a smile. Whether it stems from poverty or pressure, many are fighting invisible battlesโwith food, with their bodies, with their worth.
According to UNICEF, 1 in every 3 Filipino children under five is stuntedโtheir bodies and brains not developing properly due to poor nutrition. On the flip side, teen obesity is rising, especially in urban areas where fast food is easier to get than real, healthy meals.
We are facing a double burden: some are going hungry, while others are overfed but undernourished.
Because nutrition is not just about whatโs on the plateโitโs about why itโs there, and who gets to choose.
This Nutrition Month, letโs talkโtruly talkโabout food insecurity, eating disorders, body shaming, and the lack of access to proper nourishment. Because every personโchild, teen, or adultโdeserves to eat, to grow, and to feel safe in their own body.
Letโs nourish not just the body,
but also the truth.
โ๐ผ Ashyra Gheylle Galapon
