President’s wife: Don’t glamorise bad eating habits

Harrysingh-Carmona also called for proper food labelling legislation, saying there must be more visual and real information on eating healthy.

“We must not glamorise bad eating habits and unhealthy lifestyles. Legislation must, therefore, be in place to ensure that all foods sold are properly labelled in terms of fat content, cholesterol level and calories.

They must form part of the advertisements on radio, television and social media so that informed choices can be made by the public,” she said.

Harrysingh-Carmona made the suggestion on Saturday while delivering the feature address at the opening ceremony of a two-day children’s camp hosted by the Diabetes Association of Trinidad and Tobago (DATT).

The association hosted the event at the Preysal Secondary School at Couva.

Emphasing that there is need to devise innovative ways and means of arresting this health crisis in the Caribbean, she added it was why she promotes the child advocate model as a means of trying to push and encourage the message of a healthy lifestyle. The child and not an adult, Harrysingh-Carmona said, becomes the messenger among his/her peer group.

She urged coordinators and facilitators of the camp to ignite in the child that kind of child advocacy so that the youngster can spread messages of good health, well-being and exercise.

“The child advocate can warn his parents, friends and schoolmates about improper eating habits that can lead to diabetes and other health issues.

An informed child advocate can, therefore, trigger a veritable health revolution in the society at large,” she said.

Harr ysingh-Carmona is the patron of DATT, a non-profit organisation.

Those in attendance were President Carmona; Health Minister, Terrence Deyalsingh; DATT’s President Praimraj Boodram; and First VP Andrew Dhanoo (symposium chair).

She said too many persons in the country were hospitalised due to diabetes, which accounts for 28 percent of patients.

“Amputations because of diabetes mellitus are simply too high,” she added.

“Prevention starts at home, in the kitchens and in the lunch kits of our children. Our local cuisine can be a mind field given our obsession with oil, lard, butter, MSG and our well-known Siamese twins- salt and sugar,” Harrysingh-Carmona said.

However, she acknowledged that one can eat ‘local’ and still eat healthily.

“Our advocacy can, therefore, involve influencing the manufacturing world to do the right thing through legislative means because collaboration on such entities like issues of health has not proven to be very successful,” she told the gathering.

To the children of the camp, Harrysingh- Carmona encouraged them to maintain their focus in their advocacy against unhealthy lifestyles and non-communicable diseases. She publicly thanked Deyalsingh and the authorities for listening and hearing the cries of DATT and mandating the exclusion of drinks and juices with high sugar content from all cafeterias in schools.

Pledging her support to the association, Harrysingh congratulated members for their genuine and selfless volunteerism aimed at creating better lives for those who are vulnerable.

The association will host an expo from September 29- 30 at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya. The aim of this event is to bridge the gap between health care providers and the public. Organisers promise a healthy and delicious food options in a fun atmosphere in IN ORDER to grow its Food Zone.