Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Recently, the World Health Organisation reported that Bahrain was the third fattest country in the Gulf and the 30th in the world.
According to the news report, the Health Ministry is launching a series of workshops, including a Five Day campaign, after the spring break in Bahrain’s government primary schools teaching young students to eat healthy.
The Health Ministry’s public health directorate senior nutritionist, Dr Zuhair Salman Al Dallal, said that the aim of this programme was to get children to eat five meals a day regularly.
McDonald’s has been working closely with the Health Ministry as well, on ways to educate and offer more variety to their customers. The fast food chain has been active in the community with a rich array of events and activities implementing a unique social responsibility.
Ali El Haj, managing director of McDonald’s said: “We have introduced a wider range of salads, fresh juices, milk, grilled products and are always looking to offer more choice for our customers in our drive to support them with their balanced choice of food. We are committed to providing high quality food, using the best ingredients, working with trusted suppliers, and ensuring consistent preparation standards to satisfy our customers’ tastes and nutritional concerns.
“Our menu consists of meat, fish, potatoes, vegetables, milk and bread. The more you know about the food you eat, the easier it is to incorporate them into a balanced diet. McDonald’s menu provides the variety that allows you to choose those food items that best suit your nutrition requirements.
“Diet is the totality of food a person eats over a period of time. McDonald’s foods can easily fit into a healthy, balanced diet. It is up to individuals to decide what they and their families will eat. We are committed to providing our customers with the food that is safe, wholesome, and of the highest quality. Body weight is the product of many factors, not just what a person eats. Lack of adequate physical activity is a major cause of weight problems today, especially in children. Energy balance is one of the keys to achieving optimal health,” he added.
“It is all about a balanced life style, in other words it is what you eat and what you do, a balanced lifestyle is the key to a healthy life. Nowadays, the changing lifestyle habits are a key element affecting our health, with more things that require us not to move and exercise we are getting overweight, lazy and living less of a healthy lifestyle. When kids spend hours in front of the TV.
Playstations, computers and stay indoors for most of their time without doing the necessary and needed exercises they gain weight and get lazy. In the old days, there were fewer attractions for us to stay indoors and we were spending much more time playing energetic games outdoors thus staying fit and living a healthier lifestyle.
“At McDonald’s we have been actively working to encourage a balanced lifestyle through our ‘what I eat and what I do’ campaigns giving healthy tips on exercising and eating right, all sectors of the community have an important part to play, from home, school, restaurants, governments and local authorities. We must all work together by each of us doing his part in educating people how to live a balanced lifestyle, eating right, working right, exercising right and reducing any of the bad habits that affect our life.”
Penny’s, McDonalds and the Health Ministry, each have contributed their bit to the community. Along with public initiatives and campaigns, with the right balance between eating healthy and regular exercises, obesity and weight problems will definitely be a worry of the past.
Shilpa Chandran
