Nutrition Month is a campaign held annually every July, as mandated by Presidential Decree no. 491, also known as the Nutrition Act of the Philippines. The National Nutrition Council (NNC) leads the observance of National Nutrition Month together with this year’s theme: “Kumain nang wasto at maging aktibo…push natin ‘to!”.
The objective of this campaign is to bring awareness among the Filipinos about the important role of nutrition to an individual’s overall health and wellness and to promote the Philippine Plan of Action (PPAN) 2017-2022, which is to address malnutrition in the country. The PPAN 2017-2022 is a results-based plan of action to stem the progression and improve Filipino problems on nutrition such as wasting, stunting, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight and obesity.
The purpose of this campaign is to help everyone to become aware of the importance of having good nutrition and having a healthy eating plan. A healthy eating plan has been proven to provide numerous health benefits, such as reducing your risk of several chronic diseases, heart diseases, and keeping your body healthy.
In line with this year’s theme, we have assembled a few tips that can help you in getting a nutritious diet that promotes your overall health:
1. Eat fruits and vegetables. Eating a wide assortment of healthy whole foods like fruits and vegetables helps ensure that you get all of the health-promoting benefits that foods can offer.
2. Limit fast and processed foods. Processed foods undergo some form of processing before consumption. More highly, processed foods have generally undergone industrial processing and are often higher in energy and lower in micronutrients.
3. Portion Control. Control the size of your food by eating from a smaller plate. It has been proven that the size of your dinnerware can affect how much you eat. Eating from a large plate can make your portion look smaller, while eating from a small plate can make it look bigger.
4. Be active. Doing 150 minutes of physical activity weekly like walking, riding a bicycle, running and dancing raises your heart rate and helps you release lots of sweat, which flushes cholesterol out of the body.
Individuals can do this by being aware of how to eat a balanced diet and how to read nutrition facts labels.
Some of these tips will help you keep your portion sizes reasonable, while others will help you add nutrients to your diet or adapt to something new. When followed, they’ll have a big impact on making your overall diet healthier and more sustainable, without a huge change in your habits.