Over eighteen years ago when the Anambra Governor’s wife, Mrs Nonye Soludo took off on a passionate journey of healthy living, only a few people who understood the mechanics of passion would have interpreted the energy. Mrs Soludo’s healthy living odyssey began after a near-death experience that was later discovered to have resulted from wrong health habits. She survived that fatal incident, but took a solemn vow with herself to ensure that others who are going through same circumstances also survive. It became an immediate passion – defining her overall health choices, that of her family and the people around her. The fact of the conversation is that Mrs Soludo came prepared. Her healthy living occupation stems from passion, practice and persistence. She took up the testimony of her survival and made it a standpoint of her early advocacy. She would also venture into seminars, classes and other educational platforms to teach people the philosophy of good health.
Long before her husband’s political career, Mrs Soludo had found an idyllic vocation in healthy living. To immortalize her passion, she set up her own business; a purely organic food store with the name “Healthy Living Foods.” As she continued to make a case for the domestication of healthy living as a crucial way of life, so many people began to take interest in her teachings.
The most prominent aspect of her campaign is nutrition. The Anambra Governor’s wife believes that whatever goes into the mouth has dual possibilities – to heal or to kill. She often expresses it in her household language: “Your food can either be a your medicine or poison.” She has also developed the concept of “you are what you eat” to re-establish man’s relationship with his food. As a practicing nutritionist, Mrs Soludo puts special attention to the nutritional value of each food. While she preaches eating organic, she emphasizes that eating right is also the way forward to taking out common killer diseases wrecking havoc at the moment. She teaches abstinence from food products with questionable packaging history, especially those that have inorganic chemistry.
At the dawn of the present administration in Anambra State, Mrs Nonye Soludo wasted no time to detach herself from partisan politics or to get involved in the traditional politics of first ladies. She still has that long time healthy living ambition. This time, she was determined to use her rank to universalize the culture. Being that the Anambra Governor’s wife bears conspicuous soft spot for women and children, hers is to constantly think of how she can give a hand to give these vulnerable group a sense of governance. So in July, 2023, Mrs Nonye Soludo officially kicked off her healthy living crusade in Anambra State. She named it “Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo Initiative.” The crusade had since been introduced to secondary schools across the state as school clubs, with over four hundred students in the pioneer batch.
It is currently engaging youths in the grassroots in all the twenty-one local government areas of Anambra State, with plans to have the clubs in every primary and secondary schools in the state. Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo is built on five pillars, namely – nutrition, physical fitness, hygiene, emergency basic life support and reproductive health.
Mrs Soludo is concise in her mission. She puts it succinctly thus: “Healthy Living With Nonye Soludo is a product of deep passion. What we want to achieve is a culture of consciousness. A mindset of change. Being conscious of one’s body is the first step to achieving the right health. Healthy Living is a crucial way of life. Our relationship with our body will ultimately define what it gives back. Living right does not cost a fortune. It is all about simple and deliberate habits that define one’s approach to a healthy life. It begins with what you eat and how you take care of your body. I prefer to use the slogan: ‘You are what you eat.’ The bottom line is that if you do not understand what goes into your mouth, your body will not. Healthy living is a very conscious practice. To live healthy is to live happy.”
Written by DANIEL EZEIGWE
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