If before we talk about a balanced diet, now it is a healthy diet. Again, good nutrition is a prerequisite to good health. Yet malnutrition problems in different forms remain to pose challenge at the individual, family to national levels. Because malnutrition is multicausal in nature, we need multidisciplinary actions.
The Nutrition Month theme “Healthy diet gawing affordable for all!” aims promote food and nutrition security, specifically affordability, and ensure the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food and be free from hunger. The campaign calls for relevant stakeholders to transform the food system and its key internal drivers to ensure affordability of nutritious foods as part of a healthy diet. The campaign calls for actions towards encouraging more Filipinos to support macro and micro-level efforts to reduce inefficiencies in food systems, thus, making healthy diet more accessible, available, and affordable for all.
What is a healthy diet? It is one that is able to provide the right quality and quantity of food such that the body’s requirements are met. It is one that observes the principles of variety, moderation, balance and calorie control.
Let’s talk about the dietary principles – variety, moderation, balance – all of which can be gleaned from the food pyramid in which foods in one group can be interchanged. No one food can provide you the nutrients you need so we need to eat from all food groups daily. Next is moderation. The no. of servings are prescribed so you wont have so much of one group and to make sure you get the nutrients from other food groups. How much of each food item are you consuming? The 5-8 servings of rice and alternatives can be translated to 2 ½ – 4 cups of rice. If you are within your normal weight range, better adjust your intake of this food group. If you have pinikpikan as a viand, how many slices do you consume in a meal. Regardless of the kind of meat, adults are limited to 3-5 servings a day. Then there is calorie control.
Now on affordability. Nevermind if vegetable prices keep increasing, now, mostly P50/kg compared to P200+/kg pork or chicken, P350 beef. Plant-based diets are cheaper and the healthiest much more so with no or minimal processing. When buying especially fruits and veggies, choose those in season as these are always cheaper.
Do away with unnecessary items. Sugar for instance, and even sweeteners for calorie-conscious and diabetics. NO to junk foods and colored drinks. Fats and Oils? These are needed for the body to use fat-soluble vitamins – A, D, E & K. But fats and fatty foods need to be reduced. You don’t only cut down on expenses but you also do away with extra fats and oils in your diet. Go for steaming, baking, sauteing rather than frying. Cooking oil is also expensive and can provide 2x as much calories than carbs and protein. The saturated fats are implicated in cardiovascular events.
Do not eat in Eat-All-You-Can restos if you can’t control your food intake. It is unnecessary expense and calories, mostly from protein & fat-rich foods. If you do, balance intake for the next meal/s. CDC recommends the following: Eat on a budget without sacrificing nutrition. Nutritious foods do not need to be expensive. Plan your recipes/menu. Shop with a list thereby reducing impulse buys and take home only the items you need. Consider buying in bulk to save money. Buy and use locally grown foods. Have a garden. Don’t go to the grocery on an empty stomach. Eat simple. After all, the plants easily grown near your homes are more nutritious that what you buy in the restos.
