Are you eating healthy foods? If not, maybe you’re one of the fast growing numbers of people in South Cotabato who has acquired diabetes, the most common disease associated with food intake nowadays.
So, what makes your plate healthy?
Maria Ana Uy, Provincial Nutrition Action Officer of South Cotabato, said the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) developed a new food guide t promote healthy eating-related habits.
“Ang makasasala nga baba!” (The sinful mouth) Uy jokingly said, pointing the real culprit is the mouth that quickly attacks food without complaining.
She added, “We are what we eat!”
Filipinos are known for their big appetite and because of this, five of the common causes of disease and death in South Cotabato is because of poor diet.
Uy said FNRI produced a visual representation of what an adult Filipino through its Pinggang Pinoy that translates as Filipino Plate.
“It is a plate-based food guide that features the right proportion of food that contains the right nutrients needed by the body of an average Filipino”, Uy explained.
An average Filipino meal is comprised of fruit, vegetable, meat or fish and grain.
“Pinggang Pinoy emphasizes the need for eating a variety of foods”, Uy said.
Uy also said to take time when eating a meal. “Eat like a princess!”
The Filipino version of a healthy plate is a new, easy-to-understand food guide that uses a familiar food plate model to convey the right food group proportions on a per-meal basis to meet the body’s energy and nutrient needs of adults.
Pinggang Pinoy serves as a visual tool to help Filipinos adopt healthy eating habits at meal times by delivering effective dietary and healthy lifestyle messages.
Using the three basic food groups: Go, Grow and Glow, Uy said healthy diet should deal with in and cheaper food like banana, Malunggay and rice.
“Always eat in moderation”, Uy reminded.

Annaliz Cabrido/The Informant/Nutri-DOSE