“Round Table” tackles Healthy Eating

(ZIZ News) — As part of Consumer Rights Awareness Week 2015, Health and Consumer Rights officials discussed ways of helping persons choose healthy diets on Monday’s edition of ZIZ’s “The Round Table”.

Director of Consumer Affairs, Paul Queeley spoke of why it is necessary to address this topic.

“It has been realized that unhealthy diets contribute to over 11 million deaths each year. This means it is now a bigger killer than tobacco and as you are aware in the Caribbean we are plagued with cases of diabetes and hypertension and even forms of cancer,” he said.

Nutritionist, Latoya Matthew-Duncan said one of the most common complaints is that eating healthily is expensive but she said this can be overcome with proper planning.

“You need to plan where you’re going to buy. You need to look at how you’re going to cook your family’s food this week for yourself. Those are things you need to think about. And when you sit down and plan, you decided where you’re gonna buy from and what you’re going to be eating this week then you can eat healthy and you can also shop within your budget,” she said.

The panellists also noted that time management is crucial. This would allow persons to prepare a healthy meal instead of resorting to fast food alternatives.

The theme for this year’s Consumer Rights Awareness Week is “Helping Consumers Choose Healthy Diets”.