“Eat better.” It sounds simple… until you’re feeding a family on a tight budget and wondering what will keep everyone full until tomorrow. National Nutrition Week, observed from 9-15 October, is an opportunity to ask how we can make nourishing food a realistic part of daily life.
Across South Africa, obesity, diabetes, and childhood stunting highlight the urgency of improving nutrition (1). Diets dominated by ultra-processed products can make it harder to meet nutritional needs and are associated with poorer metabolic health. Many of these products are high in refined starches and added sugars, making blood glucose management more difficult, particularly for people with diabetes. The result is a growing burden of weight gain, fatigue, and chronic disease that affects millions of households (2).
Many people in low‑income communities, especially in the areas where the Eat Better South Africa program operates, face real barriers to eating well. Healthy foods can be expensive, and the costs of transport, cooking fuel, and refrigeration add to the challenge. This can lead families to rely on ultra‑processed products that are cheap, filling, and widely available. Food prices are high, but there are ways to improve diets without stretching budgets beyond reach.
The good news is that some solutions are close at hand. In many communities, local vendors line the streets with fresh spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, and other vegetables at prices that can be lower than supermarkets. Choosing these foods supports local economies and provides valuable nutrients. Combined with a source of protein, they can form the basis of a satisfying meal. A plate filled with leafy greens, meat offcuts, and seasonal produce can be a practical, affordable way to eat well. Improving nutrition does not have to start with expensive products carrying a “health food” label.
Heritage foods offer another path forward. Foods such as tripe, other organ meats, pumpkin, and leafy vegetables can contribute to nourishing meals that are familiar and culturally rooted. Tripe provides protein, while pumpkin and leafy vegetables contribute fibre and micronutrients. How these foods are prepared, and what accompanies them, matters too. By returning to these traditions, families can nourish themselves in ways that align with both culture and science. There is value in recognising what is already available in local kitchens, markets, and food traditions.
Gardening adds another layer of empowerment. Even in small spaces, herbs such as parsley, coriander, or mint can grow in an ice-cream tub on a windowsill. Community gardens and small plots can produce imifino, a collective term for leafy vegetables that includes the leaves of cultivated plants such as beans, cowpeas, and pumpkins (3). Where space, water, and time allow, growing food can supplement household meals and improve access to fresh produce. A few pots will not solve food insecurity, but they can be a useful starting point.
These practical questions also belong in the wider conversation about nutrition and metabolic health. From 14–16 October 2026, The Noakes Foundation will host the World Nutrition Summit at Hazendal Wine Estate in the Cape Winelands. Overlapping with the final days of National Nutrition Week, the Summit will bring together researchers, clinicians, and other voices in nutrition and metabolic health to examine the evidence and discuss practical solutions.
For South Africa, an essential question is how that knowledge reaches the people who need it. What does nutrition advice look like in a household with limited income? How can healthcare professionals support dietary change? And what can communities, researchers, and organisations do together to make nourishing food easier to access? The conversation needs to connect the science with what happens in clinics, markets, and kitchens.
Nutrition Week is not about grand gestures. It is about everyday choices that can support better health. Shopping from local vendors, cooking heritage meals, and planting small gardens are practical steps where circumstances allow. But people also need affordable options, useful information, and support to put that information into practice. In a country facing the double burden of stunting and obesity, these choices matter. So does making them possible.
This Nutrition Week, “eat better” should be the start of a conversation—and a commitment to helping people do it.
References
- Rossouw, H. A., Grant, C. C., & Viljoen, M. (2012). Overweight and obesity in children and adolescents: The South African problem. South African Journal of Science, 108(5–6), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajs.v108i5/6.907
- World Health Organization. (2023, September 19). Noncommunicable diseases. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases
- Lugumira, R., Tafiire, H., Vancoillie, F., Ssepuuya, G., & Van Loey, A. (2025). Nutrient and phytochemical composition of nine African leafy vegetables: A comparative study. Foods, 14(8), 1304