Saturday, February 23, 2013

Health is Wealth: The Eatwell Plate

I have watched the news last night that our Department of Health (DOH) wants food manufacturers, including fast food chain, to have their foods properly labelled. DOH want them to indicate the calories per serving as well.

A study conducted by Department of Science and Technology's (DOST) Food and Research Institute showed that about 10 millions Filipinos are suffering from diabetes and 25 million have hypertension caused by high salt intake and obesity.

In this regard, DOH wants to create an awareness about the calories Filipinos are taking in. So this is where the eatwell plate comes in.

The Eatwell Plate
To make it simpler, here's another  healthy plate diet. This actually replace the food pyramid.

Choose My Plate
Below is the estimated calorie needs per day by age, gender and physical level.
Estimated calorie needs per day
And to guide us on what we should eat, here's a chart of the caloric values of the common Filipino foods. Images are from Food and Nutrition Research Institute. Just click on the photos to enlarge.

Caloric value of most Filipino foods

Caloric value of most Filipino foods
I have been telling Daddy about this. I told him we should start to be conscious on what we are eating. We will also train our son to eat a well-balance diet. And I promise to do even just a 30-minute cardiovascular exercise once a day.

It would be better if all Filipinos will be aware of the calories or nutritional values of the the food they eat. But because of our current economics and increasing population, a below average families will never mind the food they will eat. What matters to them is that they have something to fill into their empty stomachs.

Anyway, please expect more posts about calories here. You can also share with us your healthy experiences. Please do share, okay?

Be healthy and happy!

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