3 square meals; luxury or

necessity?
By Business Desk -
November 8, 2017
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FOOD! Call it nature’s own fuel for humanity or just an everyday need, we
almost always cannot go a day without it. Aside it’s taste and satisfaction
coupled with the numerous health and nutritional benefits, food is just
great! Well, according to statistics, the human body can only last about 3
weeks (21 days) without food and about a week (7 days) without water.
Legend has it that the great Mahatma Gandhi survived 21 days of
complete starvation. WOW! In present day, this seems quite impossible.
Although the religious and spiritual folk might argue that some Christians
and Muslims fast 30 days and more, that exercise cannot be classified as
living without food because at some point in the day, they take a bite or
two. However, apart from eating to survive, it has become evidently clear
that eating once isn’t enough for most people. Many dieticians have given
several reasons for the need to eat 3 times a day. This is what many term
‘’3 square meals’’. Being that a square has 4 sides, you may be
wondering why meals in a day are tagged 3 square. Jumia Food, Africa’s
leading online food delivery service looks at whether eating 3 square
meals in a day is a necessity or just luxury.
Breakfast, lunch or supper? Which of these is your favorite meal of the
day? Can you skip one or maybe two of them? If your answer to the last
question is yes, then you belong to the group who think 3 square meals in
a day is just a luxury. If your answer was a big NO, then you are on the
other side of the fence and you think eating all 3 meals in a day is a great
necessity. Let’s see who has a case as per the underlisted points.
1. It’s merely an adopted routine – Come to think about it, who made it
a rule to eat in the morning, afternoon and evening? Looks like it is
more conventional than obligatory. Due to the many benefits of
eating 3 square meals, we have all automatically accepted that this
routine is very necessary. However, eating 3 times in a day is a
routine adopted by the new world from early practices of Europeans
and Americans. Rather than tie ourselves to eating 3 times in a day,
why don’t we rather consider what may happen if we don’t eat at all
or if what we eat isn’t healthy. Food is good, never play with it.
2. Your Health is your wealth – Cornell University researchers say it’s
better to avoid going without food for more than three to four hours. 
This however doesn’t mean you should go on an eating spree and
eat 6 to 7 times in a day. The end result is usually associated with
fattening or obesity. What this basically means is that you eat to stay
healthy and for your body to function well. Without food, your body
will not function properly. Eating good food and the right amounts of
it is also very essential. Expensive food isn’t always good food and 3
meals by ‘’Kofi’’ may be less healthy than 1 meal by ‘’Ama’’. Don’t
just eat because you have to eat 3 times in a day, watch what you
eat. It’s about what you eat and not how many times you eat.
3. Time – In this day and age where time is a very important
‘’commodity’’, we go through each day with less time to eat. Work
and other activities limit us and we hardly have enough time to
 prepare a good meal let alone 3 in a day. This begs for the reliance
on fast food and quick online delivery services such as Jumia Food.
With just a few clicks on your phone or computer, your preferred
food is delivered to your doorstep. Whatever you wish to eat,
provided at affordable prices. How then is eating 3 times a luxury?
Eat what you must and save what you can. You eat because you
have to and can afford it and not because you want to. Maybe your
job is too demanding for you to consider eating 3 times. Then you
can schedule a good eating regime of skipping either lunch or
dinner. Whatever you do, make sure you eat at least once in a day
and eat well. You need the energy.
4. Availability is the principal determinant – When talking about whether
something is a necessity or luxury, we need to consider whether that
item is readily available or not. There are some who can only afford
one or two meals in a day and there are others who can afford up to
4 or more. Although it is very true that you eat what you have, it is
also very true that you must find a way to eat well. Finding the
balance between eating well and eating 3 times is often confusing. If
you have the means to eat 3 good meals in day, then it’s not a
luxury. However, if you don’t have the means to do that but still want
to eat 3 times just because it’s a routine, then that can be called
luxury.


Listen to your stomach and not the ticking of the clock!!! Our appetites
don’t chime on the hour. Eating 3 times is not a luxury, neither is it a
necessity. You eat when you must. Just eat what you need to and when
you need just to stay alive and healthy.

Credit : Bennet Otoo, Jumia Travel & Food







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