“Age is an issue of mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!” – Mark Twain

This saying is peculiarly evidenced by Lola Loreta Camarao, 67 years old and her grandson Vin Jorzen Camarao, 8 years old from Poblacion, Itogon, Benguet – the eldest and youngest participants of Nutrition School in the Air (NSOA), a nutrition promotion program of National Nutrition Council featuring the 12 episodes on 10 Kumainments aired at DZWT AM, Baguio City.

Lola Loreta, despite a senior citizen, managed to tend their family garden or farm where they grow vegetable crops to sell and for home consumption. Even when she is in the garden, she brings her battery-operated radio inorder to listen to the NSOA episodes aired over DSWT-AM and she makes sure that she participates in the quizzes of the program. According to her, the episode that left a mark on her mind was the 8^th Kumainment which says: “Hinay-hinay sa maaalat, mamantika at matatamis.” Her health is slowly weakening as part of aging, hence, every time she eats her meals, she is reminded to cut down the fats and sweets and limit use of condiments.

On the other hand, her grandson is currently a Grade 3 student at Itogon, Benguet. Being an honor student, he takes every opportunity to learn and discover new things, hence, he considered the NSOA as a great avenue to learn particularly on health and nutrition. Accordingly, since the program was scheduled on a Saturday, he managed to listen to the program while doing some minimal household chores. Episodes that he likes most were Kumainment No. 1 “Kumain ng iba’t-ibang pagkain” and No. 3 “Kumain ng gulay at prutas araw-araw.” Since nutrition is integrated in the Dep-Ed curriculum, this helped him understand better that proper food choice is fundamental in having good nutrition and in achieving good health.

Lola Loreta and Vin strongly recommends to every individual regardless of age to seize every opportunity to learn like the NSOA which can help achieve good nutrition and health. The mag-lola depicts a picture of enthusiastic and eager learners above having extreme ages, as no one is old enough not to learn and no one is young enough not to understand as long as there is interest and willingness. Indeed, age doesn’t matter even in education and advocacy to achieve good nutrition.