Malnutrition. Not a word I’d think I would use for myself in, like, ever.

And yet, after looking up the definition of it according to the World Health Organization, I have to agree, that I might actually be malnourished.

‘Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients.’

It’s not just deficiencies, as extremes it’s not just this image of a starving African child whose every single bone you could count through his skin, or of that one anorexic tumblr girl whose hip bones look like they might just cut you up if you hugged her.

It’s also excesses. It’s also that image of the 1000 pound sisters, of Tammy Slaton sitting on the couch and seemingly eating anything she can get her hands on.

But it’s also, on a smaller scale, that friend who refuses to eat anything green or anything based on tomato who end up eating mostly carbs and dairy. Or that acquaintance who went vegan because it’s healthier but ends up only eating fast food and ready meals because they don’t know how to cook or because they don’t like the taste of most veggies.

If you actually take it to the definition, most likely, a large portion of the world is malnourished. So many of us don’t even know in the first place what our body needs. Or they might know but don’t have the energy, time or money to actually get their body what it needs. Or they know and have the means but just don’t care about it. After all, they’re not going to be malnourished. That’s something that happens to other people.