QUEZON CITY, Oct. 25 (PIA)—The National Nutrition Council (NNC) asked the help of daycare workers in the promotion of proper nutrition guidelines among pre-school children and parents in Metro Manila. The NNC- National Capital Region and its regional media group, NCR Nutrition Communication Resource Group (NCR2), in cooperation with the Department of Social Welfare and Development-NCR convened some 500 daycare workers from Metro Manila for an Advocacy Forum on the Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos (NGF) with Daycare Workers in NCR.

The event was held at the Grand Ballroom of the Century Park Hotel in Malate, Manila, Friday. “The NGF are primary recommendations to promote good health through proper nutrition. They are simple statements that give advice on eating right and living healthy. The promotion of these guidelines is an important strategy to improve the dietary and related health practices of Filipinos”, Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Milagros Elisa V. Federizo said. Federizo also explained the need for spreading the NGF in Metro Manila saying that currently the region is facing a double burden of malnutrition where there are both cases of undernourished and overweight and/or obese children. The situation is attributed to inadequate food intake, poor food choices and unhealthy lifestyle and shows that good eating habits, nutrition practices and healthy lifestyle should be instilled among children while they are young, according to Federizo. “Our daycare workers can help a lot in reaching out to the children and their parents to teach them correct nutrition practices by promoting the NGF,” Federizo said.

Helping the NNC-NCR in the promotion of the NGF in Metro Manila is Ms. Daisy G. Reyes, a beauty queen, TV personality and Municipal Councilor of Pateros who has been chosen by the NNC-NCR to be its Ambassadress of Good Nutrition in Metro Manila. Reyes said that daycare workers as teachers of pre-school children play a great role in shaping the minds and behavior of children. She said that they can also influence the children’s parents to practice and teach good nutrition at home. “We are hoping that with day care teachers as our partners in promoting the NGF, we can do so much in fighting hunger and malnutrition in our region. As the Ambassadress of Good Nutrition in NCR, I encourage everyone- daycare workers, teachers, health and nutrition workers, students, parents, professionals- to support, promote, and practice the Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos and work together to end hunger and malnutrition,” Reyes said. (NNC/RJB/SDL/PIA-NCR)

– See more at: http://ncr.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=231382669096#sthash.Wh2BWTCt.dpuf