Our two boys look thin. It has always been my concern as well as those around us that our two toddlers seem to be underweight. There are a number of times that they don’t like to eat much. But when they love the food on our table, I see to it that they finish what’s inside their plate, and often, add some more.
From my readings, I learned that the country has been facing the rise in the number of underweight and overweight Filipinos for more than 20 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined this phenomenon as the “Double Burden of Malnutrition.” Or it is also referred to as the “prevalence of both undernutrition and overweight in the same community, nation, or region.”
Pinggang Pinoy to end the double burden of malnutrition
Our government launched the Pinggang Pinoy® campaign in 2014 to address the problem of malnutrition. Pinggang Pinoy® is an easy-to-understand food guide showing proper food group portioning on a per-meal basis. This reflects the principles of MOderation, VAriety and BAlance (MOVABA) to promote healthier eating habits.
It is only now that I heard about Pinggang Pinoy. I do not want to question how our government does its information dissemination campaign. I want to be grateful that I learned about it, even just now. And so I am also writing about it now to help in the dissemination of information. I bet many parents, too, are concerned about their children’s eating habits.
Now, here is the part that I love the most.
Ajinomoto Philippines supports Pinggang Pinoy
Break Free from #MalnutritionTraps with Pinggang Pinoy
To help solve the Philippines’ Double Burden of Malnutrition, any support from private sectors is very much welcome. Good thing that Ajinomoto Philippines Corporation partnered with our government agencies. Ajinomoto conducted education programs with the goal to raise awareness and promote the practice of Pinggang Pinoy® in malnutrition hotspots. These hotspots are where incidences of Double Burden Malnutrition are high. Homemakers and mothers who have malnourished school-aged children underwent training. Youngsters considered as malnourished are those underweight, stunting, wasting, overweight and obese.
The pilot run resulted in improvements in the knowledge and attitude of households related to the practice of Pinggang Pinoy® within target areas. However, behavior changes towards healthier eating habits remain to be a challenge. The program uncovered a number #MalnutritionTraps that some Pinoy households easily fall into. The following #MalnutritionTraps provide a picture of how unhealthy eating habits may lead to Double Burden of Malnutrition:
Overconsumption of carbohydrates
Voracious rice eaters can easily fill half of their plates with rice. Others have pandesal & noodles as regular meal deprived of other nutrients derived from a well-balanced meal.
Under consumption of vegetables and/fruits
It is common for some to be content with rice and meat to satisfy their hunger and take an insufficient amount of vegetables or fruits. Fact is, the variety of colors found in Glow foods are important sources of vitamins & minerals to sustain our energy & keep us from getting sick.
Overconsumption of protein
Typical Filipino “SILOG” meals include a double serving of proteins (e.g. Tapa+Itlog, Tocino+Itlog, Longanisa+Itlog, Bangus+Itlog). Eating different kinds of protein is fine for as long as they are taken in moderation. We must also avoid protein dishes served high in fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
Break free from #MalnutritionTraps
More stories about #MalnutritionTraps are easily explained from different documentary videos produced by Ajinomoto. From the four, I think my little one falls under Pamilya Unlirice. He loves to eat by himself and weird as it may, he likes to eat by hand and would pick rice only. He could consume a plateful of rice.
More than the training and house-to-house campaign, Ajinomoto’s Culinary Nutrition Team prepared Healthy & Delicious Pinggang Pinoy® Recipes. This is to make sure that Filipinos will be able to break free from #MalnutritionTraps. We can download them through https://bit.ly/2HIsfkj. Even the busy and budget-restricted homemakers will find these Pinggang Pinoy® recipes useful. Most methods here are easy-to-do and affordable (P250/day fora family of five).
So how about checking out the Pinggang Pinoy® recipes now and together, let us break free from #MalnutritionTraps.
Momi Berlin Directory
Ajinomoto Website
ajinomoto i will check tge pinggang pinoy
Yan poblema ko sa oldest ko momshie so thin tapos pihikan sa pagkain . Pero yung tatlo kong mga anak ok naman .. ayae talaga kumain ng gulay
Thank you for sharing this very helpful information to us Momi Berlin. ^_^
Thank u Mamsh for sharing this Marami talagang malnourished na Bata ngaun kaya maganda itong campaign ng ajinomito na Pinggang Pinoy
Thank you so much for writing about this momi Berlin. 5 years na pala yung program, OMG. But really, siguro kahit gaano tayo kasigasig sa pag dessiminate kung pasaway ang pinoy, pasaway talaga. So ako I will really focus on my son’s diet. Sabi nga, start them young.
oo, naniniwala ako sa sinabi mo. minsan, andyan na ang tinuro pero pasaway pa rin talaga tayo. the best way na nga lang is to start sa sarili nating bahay at pamilya.