Angeles mayor urged public to eat more vegetables

Tuesday 3rd of July 2012

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga, July 3 (PIA) -- The mayor of Angeles City has urged his constituents to eat more vegetables to be able to get more nutrients and prevent diseases.

“All we need is a sustainable and a continuing effort to address nutritional disadvantage. With the intensification of daily backyard gardening activities together with other health and environmental programs, there is no wonder that Angeleños could change their health habits for the better,” said Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan during the launch of the Nutrition Month in the city.

Pamintuan said the city government has already prepared Nutrition Month programs, which include nutritional supplemental feeding in barangays Sapalibutad, Pulung Cacutud and Ninoy Aquino.

The Rotary Club of Angeles North will also launch a year-long feeding program on July 13 at Enrica Sandico Elementary School in Maragul. The Department of Education in Angeles City will hold an on-the-spot poster-making contest on July 20 and a nutria-jingle competition on July 27 at Marquee Mall.

There will be a cooking contest, a search for the healthiest child and a diabetes forum on July 26 at the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center.

The city government will also distribute vegetable and fruit-bearing seeds from the City Agriculture Office. They will also open a school garden at Barangay Pulung Bulu and do backyard gardening at Barangay Sapangbato.

The 38th Nutrition Month celebration carries the theme, “Pagkain ng gulay ugaliin, araw-araw itong ihain.”

This year’s Nutrition Month theme gears towards addressing the declining consumption of vegetables among households and emphasizes the importance of vegetables as main sources of vitamins and minerals needed in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes as part of a healthy diet.

Nutrition Month is an annual event held every July in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 491 known as the Nutrition Act of the Philippines. (CLJD/JGB-PIA3)