BAGUIO CITY – Almost half of government workers employed in the different regional agencies are obese based on a recent food preference survey that was conducted to help in the preparation of the composition of the Pinggang Pinoy for the guidance of health conscious individuals.
The food preference survey was initiated by the Cordillera office of the National Nutrition Council (NNC-CAR) headed by Rita Papey wherein questionnaires were distributed to some 20 regional agencies to ascertain the nutritional status and food preference of the employees in the said offices.
Based on the survey results from the 19 agencies that submitted their survey forms, 47 percent stated that they are normal, 36..6 percent of the 200 respondents claimed that they are overweight, 11.4 percent said that they are obese, 3.5 percent admitted that they are underweight while 1.5 percent had no response.
82.7 percent of the respondents admitted having no food allergies while 16.8 percent claimed to have food allergies and 0.5 percent had no response to the said question.
50.5 percent considered health and nutrition as reason for avoiding some food while 46.5 percent responded in the negative and 3 percent had no response.
25 percent of the respondents claimed to be avoiding fatty foods, 15 percent admitted to be avoiding meat, 10.8 percent stated to be avoiding foods with MSG and preservatives while 5.9 percent avoid artificially flavoured drinks and 5.2 percent avoid sweet foods.
Most of the surveyed workers prefer rice for breakfast while 68.8 percent prefer vegetables as viand for breakfast, 51.4 percent prefer fish or seafood while 40.1 percent had no response.
63.9 percent of the respondents admitted having snacks in the morning and afternoon while 34.2 admitted having no snacks in the morning and 33.7 percent do not have snacks in the afternoon.
43.6 percent prefer to cook vegetables by souteing, 23.3 percent by steaming, 20.8 percent by boiling, 5 percent by frying, and 2 percent by grilling. While 29.2 percent prefer to cook meat by boiling, 21.8 percent by frying, 20.3 percent by grilling, 10.9 percent by sauteing, 8.9 percent by steaming and 2.5 percent by baking.
38.6 percent prefer to cook fish by frying, 19.3 percent by steaming, 17.3 percent by grilling, 14 percent by boiling, 4.5 percent by souteing and 1 percent by baking.
18.6 percent of the respondents divulged adobo to be their favourite dish, 16 percent claimed to prefer pork adobo, 14 percent love chicken adobo, 13 percent want sinigang, 7 percent want fried chicken and 5 percent want grilled pork and steamed chicken.
8.9 percent prefer fried fish, 7.4 percent want grilled fish, 6.8 percent love paksiw, 5.8 percent prefer sinigan nab angus. 2.6 percent want fried tilapia and fried bangus among others.
21.8 percent of the respondents prefer chopsuey as their favorite vegetable dish, 21.2 percent want pinkabet, 14.5 percent love sauted vegetables, 9.5 percent want dinengdeng, 5.7 percent prefer vegetable salad and 4.5 percent want all kinds of vegetables.
3.6 percent of the respondents dislike ampalaya, 3.3 percent do not like beef and pork, 2.5 percent do not like junk foods, 1.8 percent dislike spicy foods, kilawen, fatty foods and crabs among others.
69 percent of the respondents strongly agree to accept rice alternatives during trainings and seminars as well as other activities, 27.2 percent agree to the same while 2.5 percent disagree.
47 percent of the respondents often consider health in choosing the food that they eat, 26.7 percent consider the same once, 23.8 percent always consider health on the food that they eat while 0.8 percent do not consider health for such.
26.2 percent of the respondents prefer pasta as energy food, 23.3 percent want corn, 21.8 percent like rice, 16.3 percent love banana, 6.4 percent prefer noodles, 3.5 percent want oatmeal while 2 percent want other energy foods.
81 percent of the respondents prefer fruits as alternative snacks while 72.2 percent prefer water over softdrinks and other beverages and 67.8 percent want vegetable salads in lunch and dinner as well as 64 percent prefer more vegetable servings in meals.
68.8 percent of the respondents strongly agree to the adoption of Pinggang Pinoy during the preparation of menu for meals during activities, 31.2 percent agree while 0.5 percent have no response at all.
Under the standard Pinggang Pinoy, 33 percent should be composed of rice, 33 percent vegetables, 17 percent meat and 17 percent fruits.
Papey claimed that the results of the survey show that government workers are now health conscious and that most of them are open to embrace health foods in their daily menu for them to be able to work in a healthy environment.
By HENT
