Parents in UAE get crash course in preparing healthy meals for kids

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Parents in UAE get crash course in preparing healthy meals for kids
Dietician, chefs teach parents to prepare healthy meals.-Supplied photo

Ajman - The programme, which was launched on August 24, has been educating parents across the UAE.

By Saman Haziq

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Published: Tue 10 Sep 2019, 7:00 PM

Last updated: Tue 10 Sep 2019, 9:10 PM

 A new crash course offered by the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) will help parents prepare healthy meals for their kids. The event taught parents to read labels while shopping for food items; prepare healthy food and present it in such a way that it appeals to the kids.
A team of chefs, nutritionists and MoHAP officials were stationed at the 'back to school' section at the Ajman City Centre's Carrefour to organise the Healthy School Lunchbox programme.
Another section of the store was dedicated to just children, where they were given colouring sheets with pictures of different fruits and vegetables. They were asked to identify their favourite fruit or vegetable and colour it.
The programme, which was launched on August 24, has been educating parents across the UAE. Dr Fadila Mohamed Sherif, director of MoHAP's health education and promotion department, said: "The programme is part of the activities of a national initiative to scale down the rate of lifestyle-related diseases and reducing obesity rates among children by 2021."
Sherif noted that the school lunchbox is one of the main reasons for obesity among children owing to the improper choice of meals by parents.
Nouf Khamis, deputy director of the MoHAP's health education and promotion department, said: "This initiative aims to provide parents with the skills and knowledge to prepare healthy lunch boxes for their children as many complain of lack of healthy options. We have brought in chefs that teach parents healthy ways of preparing lunch meals. We also have a clinical dietician who is raising awareness about the appropriate shopping skills, by educating them how to read the label of food products and how to choose the healthy food alternatives for their children.
"We have prepared a recipe book with 20 quick and healthy recipes using different products, taking into account the views of families coming from various nationalities and cultures."
The clinical dietician at the ministry, Reem Adel Alsardi, said: "We have displayed a number of products in this mock-up section and we ask people to come and choose the product they would like to eat. I then help them to choose a healthier option. We teach them how to read the label and see the level of sugar, fat and salt content."
DID YOU KNOW?
The level of sugar, fat and salt in your kids' lunchboxes should not be above 20 per cent and below 5 per cent.
saman@khaleejtimes.com
 


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