What are the basic nutrition for Filipinos?

Filipinos are labor oriented provoding them a need for energy and muscle strength, i suggest a diet concentrated on protein and less carbs

The effects of improper nutrition is appearing more and more in our population because in the current century, people are living longer. There are more cases of degenerative diseases like cardiovascular diseases (heart disease, stroke, hypertension) and cancer than in the past. Killer diseases wherein we do not have a cure can be seen in the very high rate of death in the population that develop these diseases. Based on DOH statistics for 1991, eight Filipinos die out of ten who get sick of heart disease and six die out of ten who develop cancer. Pneumonia, the greatest killer of Filipinos, has a death rate of only 1-2 out of 10 who develop the disease.

The best approach to the management of incurable diseases is primary prevention. Since, degenerative diseases can be traced back to a lifestyle that includes poor nutrition, primary prevention of nutrition-related diseases should be initiated early in life. Lifestyle consists of habits and nutritional-lifestyle consists of eating habits with regards to choice and how we prepare our food. A nutritional-lifestyle or behavioral change consists of changing our choices of what we put into our mouth.

Our food behavior is influenced by many factors;

• genetic makeup (ethnic identity)
• knowledge on nutrition (occupation, education)
• behavior
• perception (health beliefs, religious beliefs)
• environment (childhood experiences, peer influences, where we live, food flavor, food texture, food appearance, availability, convenience)
• status (health status, income)

The philosophy behind a healthy diet consists of three principles; namely, (1) variety within a food group, (2) pyramidal balance from the five major food groups, and (3) moderate intake of favorite foods rich in salt, sugar and fat.

The five food groups are: (pyramidal proportions in parenthesis)

• milk, yogurt, and cheese (2-3 servings/day)
• meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts (2-3 servings/day)
• fruits (2-4 servings/day)
• vegetables (3-5 servings/day)
• bread, cereal, rice, and pasta (6-11 servings/day)

The suggested servings will provide from 1600 kcal/day at the lower values of the recommended serving range to 2800 kcal/day at the higher values of the recommended serving range. Fruits and vegetables should be raw. Bread and cereal should be from whole grain. Rice should be unpolished.