THE country is celebrating its 45th Nutrition Month Campaign this July. Presidential Decree 491 in 1974 declared that Nutrition Month shall be celebrated every July to create greater awareness on the importance of nutrition among Filipinos. The law mandates NNC to coordinate and lead the nationwide campaign.

Themed “Kumain nang wasto at maging aktibo… push natin ‘to!”, this year’s campaign encourages everyone to advocate and realize the consumption of healthy diets, increased physical activity and reduced sedentary behavior. Pushing the advocacy means that each and every one can contribute to better nutrition and physical activity for better health. The Nutrition Month logo for the theme shows the balance that needs to be achieved through healthy diet as symbolized by the leaf of a vegetable and physical activity by moving figures of people.

The campaign aims to catalyze actions to promote the consumption of healthy diets, increased physical activity and reduced sedentary behavior through activities of daily living among individual sand families, encourage the food industry including farmers, manufacturers, distributors and food establishments to produce and make available healthier food options and advocate for the enactment of national and local legislation and policies at the workplace, school and other venues that are supportive of an enabling environment for healthy diets and physical activity.

Here are some ways to celebrate Nutrition Month: conduct seminars and other fora to discuss the Nutrition Month theme, conduct physical activities appropriate for audience intended and conduct other activities that will highlight and promote healthy diet and physical activity.

A healthy diet is one that is able to maintain energy balance to carry out everyday tasks and ensure proper functioning of the body. Further, it provides all the nutrients in the right amount needed by the body. Healthy diet emphasizes vegetables, fruits, legumes and nuts. At least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables is recommended per day by the World Health Organization. Further, healthy diet refers to less intake of free sugars, fats and salt.

Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. This includes walking, exercise, sports, active forms of recreation (Zumba, yoga, etc.) and tasks in the house (cleaning, carrying, etc.).

People who engage in regular physical activity may experience the following benefits: prevention and delay of non-communicable disease, weight management, muscle and bone strength, mental health, better sleep, sports and promotion of overall well-being.

The Department of Health formulated the Philippine National Guidelines on Physical Activity (PNGPA) to spell out physical activity recommendations for various age groups. Children 5-12 years old and adolescents 13-20 years old are encouraged to engage physical activity for 60 minutes daily, while adults are to accumulate 30-60 minutes of daily physical activity. Elderly persons are encouraged to be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day.

As a family, members of the household are encouraged to eat a variety of foods every day, grow their own produce in their home garden and choose healthy foods even when eating away from home. Special care must be appropriated to pregnant women, and infants must be exclusively breastfed up to six months. As a community, neighbors can agree to plant and maintain fruits and vegetable gardens in vacant lots and advocate for healthy food options in carinderias and restaurants in the neighborhood. Schools must also strictly implement DepEd Order No. 13 s. 2017 which is about the guidelines on healthy food and beverage choices in schools. Constituents can unite in urging their local government to formulate policies to support the consumption of healthy diets and promotion of good nutrition. Workplace must also advocate the serving of nutritious snacks in their respective cafeterias and in during meetings, seminars and similar activities. Non-government organizations are urged to form networks and groups to promote availability of healthy foods. They can lobby for the food industry to make low sodium and low fat foods, reformulate recipes and menu to produce healthier products and introduce new products with better nutritional value.

The National Nutrition Council (NNC) Northern Mindanao spearheads the annual celebration of the Nutrition Month in the region. Among their major activities this month are Short Filmmaking Contest (open to junior and senior high school students, click here for the mechanics), Talakayan sa PIA on July 15 and the Nutrition Month Culminating Activity on July 30.

While Nutrition Month is observed during July, holistic actions are expected to be sustained to achieve the desired outcome which is overall improvement and maintenance of one’s health. (Business Week Mindanao/NNC X)