Eating Vegetables
Manila Bulletin - Sen. Edgardo Angara (10Oct10)Eating Vegetables
More Critical Than Ever
By SEN. EDGARDO J. ANGARA
October 10, 2010, 4:02pm
MANILA BULLETIN
NEW research shows that gardening projects, tasting parties, junior cooking classes, and cartoons can help increase vegetable intake in kindergarten children.
Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok found that children ate more vegetables after they took part in a program using multimedia and role models to promote healthy eating. The research subjects – kindergarden children aged four to five – practiced vegetable gardening in school plots, then harvested and cooked the vegetables. They were also made to view Popeye cartoons that showed the character eating spinach.
Vegetable intake doubled and the types of vegetables the children consumed increased from two to four. Involving children in food preparation activities, like measuring, pouring, and stirring helps them learn the names and colors of food, and develops their hand-eye coordination. Parents also reported their children talked about vegetables more often and were proud of their school activities.
In the Philippines, children eat too much saturated fat, sugar and salt, and not enough fruit and vegetables. Recent research shows only 5 percent of a child’s diet is dedicated to fruits and vegetables and 83% on carbohydrates. Most parents encourage kids to eat vegetables but do not really know the specific nutritive value of particular vegetables.
It is no surprise, therefore, that 26 out of 100 preschool children are malnourished. Common malnutrition problems are protein energy malnutrition, iron deficiency anemia, vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency disorders.
The solution is actually very simple. Eating and growing vegetables is a powerful and cost-effective solution to combat the problem of “hidden hunger” or micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition.
This is the rationale behind Oh My Gulay!, an advocacy program and tri-media campaign that aims to create awareness about the nutritional value of common vegetables. Its activities center on the belief that every Filipino child should have the chance to live a healthy, productive life. All of its advocacy efforts support this mission.
Activities include school feeding programs, vegetable backyard and school gardening projects, distribution of vegetable seeds and seedlings in schools and communities, and the teaching of vegetable cultivation in elementary and high schools.
The communication campaign involves print, music, TV, DVD, and online media, with one simple message: encouraging our children to have healthy diet that includes kalabasa, malunggay, sitaw and other readily available and affordable vegetables. Celebrities like Sarah Geronimo, Jericho Rosales, Anne Curtis, Christine Reyes, Eugene Domingo, and Manny Pacquiao are lending their names to this cause and endorsing it free of charge.
All of OMG!’s activities require intensive networking and awareness building. Fortunately, we have seen overwhelming response and heartwarming enthusiasm from various sectors – government, private corporations, individual volunteers – to support this advocacy.
DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman, DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, and DoH Secretary Enrique Ona have all committed to support the advocacy. The DoST Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DoST-FNRI), the Nutrition Foundation of the Philippines, the Nutrition Council of the Philippines, the Bureau of Plant Industry are part of the OMG! Consortium. Private corporations like Unilever, Fonterra, Novartis, Abbott, Wyeth and East West Seed Co are lending support to the program.
Experts emphasize that eating habits picked up in early childhood are sustained into adulthood. It takes extensive awareness and a massive call to arms against the threats of hunger and malnutrition to Filipino children.
E-mail: edgardo_angara@hotmail.com Website: www.edangara.com
LINK: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/281482/eating-vegetables
More Critical Than Ever
By SEN. EDGARDO J. ANGARA
October 10, 2010, 4:02pm
MANILA BULLETIN
NEW research shows that gardening projects, tasting parties, junior cooking classes, and cartoons can help increase vegetable intake in kindergarten children.
Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok found that children ate more vegetables after they took part in a program using multimedia and role models to promote healthy eating. The research subjects – kindergarden children aged four to five – practiced vegetable gardening in school plots, then harvested and cooked the vegetables. They were also made to view Popeye cartoons that showed the character eating spinach.
Vegetable intake doubled and the types of vegetables the children consumed increased from two to four. Involving children in food preparation activities, like measuring, pouring, and stirring helps them learn the names and colors of food, and develops their hand-eye coordination. Parents also reported their children talked about vegetables more often and were proud of their school activities.
In the Philippines, children eat too much saturated fat, sugar and salt, and not enough fruit and vegetables. Recent research shows only 5 percent of a child’s diet is dedicated to fruits and vegetables and 83% on carbohydrates. Most parents encourage kids to eat vegetables but do not really know the specific nutritive value of particular vegetables.
It is no surprise, therefore, that 26 out of 100 preschool children are malnourished. Common malnutrition problems are protein energy malnutrition, iron deficiency anemia, vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency disorders.
The solution is actually very simple. Eating and growing vegetables is a powerful and cost-effective solution to combat the problem of “hidden hunger” or micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition.
This is the rationale behind Oh My Gulay!, an advocacy program and tri-media campaign that aims to create awareness about the nutritional value of common vegetables. Its activities center on the belief that every Filipino child should have the chance to live a healthy, productive life. All of its advocacy efforts support this mission.
Activities include school feeding programs, vegetable backyard and school gardening projects, distribution of vegetable seeds and seedlings in schools and communities, and the teaching of vegetable cultivation in elementary and high schools.
The communication campaign involves print, music, TV, DVD, and online media, with one simple message: encouraging our children to have healthy diet that includes kalabasa, malunggay, sitaw and other readily available and affordable vegetables. Celebrities like Sarah Geronimo, Jericho Rosales, Anne Curtis, Christine Reyes, Eugene Domingo, and Manny Pacquiao are lending their names to this cause and endorsing it free of charge.
All of OMG!’s activities require intensive networking and awareness building. Fortunately, we have seen overwhelming response and heartwarming enthusiasm from various sectors – government, private corporations, individual volunteers – to support this advocacy.
DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman, DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, and DoH Secretary Enrique Ona have all committed to support the advocacy. The DoST Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DoST-FNRI), the Nutrition Foundation of the Philippines, the Nutrition Council of the Philippines, the Bureau of Plant Industry are part of the OMG! Consortium. Private corporations like Unilever, Fonterra, Novartis, Abbott, Wyeth and East West Seed Co are lending support to the program.
Experts emphasize that eating habits picked up in early childhood are sustained into adulthood. It takes extensive awareness and a massive call to arms against the threats of hunger and malnutrition to Filipino children.
E-mail: edgardo_angara@hotmail.com Website: www.edangara.com
LINK: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/281482/eating-vegetables
Comments
pero may kinalaman na naman ito sa politics 'di ba?. so eto na naman... politika na naman... haaayyyy...
(pero hindi naman pala siya lang nag-iisang artista dito)...
_god bless everyone!_
God Bless!
Thanks for sharing Nowelle.
Sooooooooooo love Sarah for this project.
Sana super active sya kasi tangkad nya,
she must have eaten lots of veggies in her
youth. We have to campaign more, kasi average
Filipino children now so pandak compared kids
in neighboring countries kasi veggies not regular diet.
Kaya me, I feed my
kids Sarah's ad noodles and 555 tuna with lots of veggies
for their normal growth para tangkad and health sila.