The country has been facing the
rise on the number of underweight and overweight Filipinos for more than 20
years. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined this phenomenon as the
“Double Burden of Malnutrition” or the “prevalence of both undernutrition and
overweight in the same community, nation, or region.”
To address this problem, our
government launched the Pinggang Pinoy® campaign in 2014. Pinggang Pinoy® is an
easy-to-understand food guide showing proper food group portioning on a
per-meal basis. This reflects the principles of MOderation, VAriety and BAlance
(MOVABA) to promote healthier eating habits.
Solving the Philippines’ Double
Burden of Malnutrition should be a collaborative effort between the public and
private sectors as it is not an easy feat. With this, Ajinomoto Philippines
Corporation partnered with government agencies to conduct education programs to
raise awareness and promote the practice of Pinggang Pinoy® in malnutrition
hotspots, where incidences of Double Burden Malnutrition are high. This
training was given to homemakers/mothers who have malnourished (underweight,
stunting, wasting, overweight and obese) school-aged children.
The pilot run resulted to
improvements of the knowledge & attitudes of households related to the
practice of Pinggang Pinoy® within target areas. However, behavior changes
towards healthier eating habits remains to be a challenge. The program
uncovered a number #MalnutritionTraps that some Pinoy households easily fall
into. The following #MalnutritionTraps provide a picture of how unhealthy
eating habits may lead to Double Burden of Malnutrition:
1. Overconsumption of carbohydrates:
Voracious rice eaters can easily fill half of their plates with rice. Others
have pandesal & noodles as regular meal deprived of other nutrients derived
from a well-balanced meal.
2. Under consumption of vegetables
and/fruits: It is common for some to be content with rice & meat to satisfy
their hunger and skip/take insufficient amount of vegetables/fruits. Fact is,
the variety of colors found in Glow foods are important sources of vitamins
& minerals to sustain our energy & keep us from getting sick.
3. Overconsumption of protein: Typical
Filipino “SILOG” meals include double serving of proteins (e.g. Tapa+Itlog,
Tocino+Itlog, Longanisa+Itlog, Bangus+Itlog). Eating different kinds of protein
is fine for as long as they are taken in moderation. We must also avoid protein
dishes served high in fat, cholesterol and sodium.
More stories about
#MalnutritionTraps can be referenced from these documentary videos:
To help Filipinos break free from
#MalnutritionTraps, Ajinomoto’s Culinary Nutrition Team prepared Healthy &
Delicious Pinggang Pinoy® Recipes, downloadable through https://bit.ly/2HIsfkj.
Busy and budget-restricted homemakers will also find these Pinggang Pinoy®
recipes useful because all are easy-to-do and affordable (P250/day for family
of 5).
For updates about Mag-Pinggang
Pinoy® Tayo!, visit www.ajinomoto.com.ph
Comments
Post a Comment