We are what we eat and a good diet is for life. Junk food brings an early death. IT’S YOUR CALL!

Is it possible to solve the obesity epidemic?

TO TRULY PREVENT/CONTROL OBESITY AND WEIGHT GAIN, WE NEED LARGE-SCALE, MULTI-FACETED TEAM EFFORT! A POSITIVE CHANGE MUST COME FROM ALL PARTS OF SOCIETY: government, schools and the department of education, individuals and families, academia and food scientists, health care practitioners, junk and fast food companies, media and celebrity endorsers. Together, we can bring about change if everyone will work for the common good! This article concludes the ideal solution for the obesity epidemic, which accomplished through a multi-faceted team effort of all sectors of society.

MEDIA The Philippines quickly adopted the fast food revolution. We have 2,000 national and global brand fast food chain restaurants. Junk food companies spend millions of pesos on marketing, and they intentionally target the majority of their advertising toward children. For example, the average American child sees a whopping 10,000 ads per year for things to eat and drink, and 95% of these ads are for fast food, candy, soft drinks and cereals- none of which are nutritious. This type of marketing also puts psychological pressure on parents who want to give their child what they want, to please and make them happy with a hamburger, French fries and probably more so with the toy. This scenario is a no-win situation for parents, children, physical health and medicine. Targeting children through marketing, in a sense, targets adults. Parents purchase meals for the entire family. This means marketing a kid’s meal turns into a multiple meal purchase, which is costly in terms of finance and also for health.

CELEBERITY ENDORSERS Glitz, Glamour, and Obesity for the Filipino children – Celebrities have enormous influence over their legions of fans and our children nationwide. A study by the University of Liverpool published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that celebrity endorsement of a food product effectively encourages children to eat more of the endorsed product. It also found that children were prompted to eat more of the endorsed product when they saw the celebrity on TV in a different context.

“This research has consequences for the use of celebrities in advertising unhealthy or high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) products

If celebrity endorsement of HFSS products continues and their appearance in other contexts prompts unhealthy food intake then this would mean that the more prominent the celebrity the more detrimental the effects on children’s diets.”

Dr Emma Boyland, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society. Our kids are growing up overweight, malnourished and prone to chronic diseases from a diet of processed, junk and fast foods, and today’s children will be the first generation ever to live shorter lives than their parents. Is this what we want for the Philippines?

Parents and educators, we should ask our celebrity endorsers to think about the health of our children before signing BIG deals with junk, processed and fast food companies. The irony is that most of these celebrities are eating organic foods in their homes, but are endorsing products with addictive ingredients like sugar, artificial flavorings/sweeteners/coloring, chemical additives, MSG, fats, bad salts to our children and to the general public. I am almost positive that these celebrity endorsers are not fully aware that the products that they are endorsing are linked to various cancers, heart diseases, diabetic diseases, high cholesterol and these products most definitely contribute to obesity.

Current celebrity fastfood endorsers, now with families are not just well-known celebrities, but also moms and dads. Our celebrity endorsers are one of, if not the most, influential voices in our country today. If they endorse healthy eating, we will achieve a genuine food revolution. Food revolution is a national movement to change the way the Filipinos eat and live a healthy lifestyle again, just like our ancestors. This nationwide initiative can inspire, educate and empower us to improve our diet, stand up for real food and strengthen our local food economies. If you believe in taking responsibility for your health and that there is an important link between the quality of the food you eat and the quality of your life, you are part of this movement.

Meanwhile, here is the green secret’s healthy green juice to stop processed food cravings. It is loaded with super anti-oxidants. (Make sure to scrub and wash all vegetables and fruits well before juicing). It is a MUST to use organic vegetables only.

• 2 cucumber
• 1 apple or pear (peeled if not organic)
• 3 Calamansi (juice with skin on)
• 3-5 celery stalk
• handful of kale or Camote leaves or spinach

Juice all ingredients with your masticating juicer. Stir and serve at room temperature or chilled, as desired. Remember … a green juice a day keeps the doctor away.

Weight gain and the obesity crisis are the greatest threats to our nation’s future. At home, school, and in the workplace, the terrible toll of suffering is being felt. Obesity plays a central role in creating our major causes of death and disability. Our failure to act would dramatically compromise so much that we care about and love. For questions or more information, email me at [email protected]

Christine E.V. Gonzalez is a doctor of naturopathic medicine and holds PhDs
in holistic nutrition and natural medicine. LLM (MS Environmental Laws & Labor)
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