Dear Nigerian mum, Let’s Rethink What We Feed Our Children in 2026

In a world full of confusing nutrition advice, food trends, foreign formulas, colourful instant cereal packages, noodles of all kinds, adulterated juice blends of all manners and loud marketing… I want you to pause and remember this simple truth:

The God who created us and our children also knows how we are best nourished.

Before calories.

Before food labels.

Before the words - “fortified”, “enriched”, and “ultra-processed” appeared everywhere in the media, God gave instructions – His Dietary Command for our well-being:

“I have given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on earth and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. This will be your food.”” (Genesis 1:29)

“Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you, just as I gave you the green plants. (Genesis 9:3–4)

Food was never meant to confuse us.

It was meant to nourish, sustain, and give life.

God’s original blueprint for our feeding was simple

From the beginning, God’s design for mankind was built around:

• Fruits

• Vegetables

• Grains

• Seeds

• Roots & tubers

Whole foods. Natural foods. Foods that are grown.

No factories.

No chemicals.

No additives.

And this matters, because a manufacturer (God) knows his product (us) best.

God designed the human body — especially the delicate bodies of babies and children — and He designed the food that best supports our bodies.

Then came the world’s food trends…

Let’s use the story of Daniel in the Bible as an example >>>Daniel 1: 5 - 15

The Bible says the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) assigned Daniel and his friends:

• The best royal food

• The best wine

• The most attractive, prestigious meals of the empire

This was luxury food. Trendy food. You know the “Everybody is eating it” kinda food.

But Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused it.

Why?

Not because it was poorly cooked.

Not because it was tasteless.

But because it was not aligned with how God designed the body to be nourished.

Instead, these guys asked for zeronim and water

Zeronim means “things sown”:

✅ Vegetables

✅ Grains

✅ Legumes

And after just ten days, the Bible says they looked healthier, stronger, and better nourished than those eating the king Nebuchadnezzar’s food.

Let that sink in.

Mothers, we are living in a modern day Babylon

Being a king, I’ll assume Nebuchadnezzar’s foods were mostly fancy and ultra-processed and pre-packaged

Today, that “king’s food” are now in the form of :

• Ultra-processed baby foods

• Sugary cereals marketed as “healthy”

• Instant meals with long ingredient lists

• Snacks designed more for profit than nourishment

They are colourful.

They are convenient.

They are loud. “Everybody is eating it”

But they are slowly under nourishing our bodies, weakening immunity, disturbing gut health, and setting our children up for poor health later in life.

We are feeding children foods far removed from God’s original design for their bodies — and then wondering why allergies, poor appetite, low immunity, and chronic illnesses are rising. Go to children hospitals and see what’s happening there

See, God’s Dietary Principles still make sense even in 2026

God’s guidance teaches us to:

• Choose foods that are sown and grown

• Choose foods close to nature – mother earth

• Choose foods that repairs and nourishes our bodies

• Avoid foods stripped of nutrients

• Feed your children intentionally

To be continued….