DID you know that when you walk at a speed of 2kph, you are able to burn 63 calories in 30 minutes? If you step it up a bit and go biking at 8kph, you burn a total of 78 calories in 30 minutes. But if you run at the same 8kph speed, you burn a whopping 246 calories. Different activities burn different amounts of calories, and the more active you are, the more calories you burn and the fitter you become.
To achieve optimal health and fitness, however, you cannot just be focusing on physical activity. You’ve got to have a good and well-balanced nutrition, too, and that means eating right. Achieving wellness can be done through a combination of nutrition and physical activity.
This was exactly the theme of the 2013 Nestlé Choose Wellness Expo which took place at the Megatrade Hall of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City last July 13 and 14, 2013. The major health and wellness expo, now on its sixth year, revolved its activities around the theme How to Achieve Wellness through a Balance of Nutrition and Physical Activity. It’s a seemingly simple theme that actually poses a real challenge to everyone.
“In 2005, our research showed that consumers equated wellness with more physical activity. However, consumer outlook changes over time. Now, when talking about wellness, consumers recognize the importance of food intake,” explains Leslie Go-Alcantara, corporate wellness unit head of Nestlé Philippines Inc., which organized the major annual health and wellness expo in observance of Nutrition Month this July.
Nestlé Philippines has nurtured generations of Filipino families with products that promote Nutrition, Health and Wellness, and these brands include Nescafé Classic (coffee that has only 6 calories), Milo (chocolate drink with protomalt that gives kids more energy), Bear Brand (milk that contains iron to help kids perform better in school), Nido (with protein, calcium and zinc to help kids grow taller), Coffee-Mate (has zero transfat), Maggi (contains 40% less sodium than table salt), and Chuckie (with Calci-N, a proprietary ingredient of Nestlé for better calcium absorption).
“With a heritage of good nutrition and its unmatched global scientific R&D network, Nestlé is committed to partnering with you on your journey to wellness. In our long-term advocacy of Nutrition, Health and Wellness, we want to reach out to different sectors of society, guided by the evolving attitudes and needs of consumers,” says Sandra Puno, director of communications of Nestlé Philippines Inc., in the press conference that immediately preceded the Nestlé Choose Wellness Expo.
Nestlé started this advocacy internally with its employees in 2004, helping them gain a deeper understanding of wellness and identify their personal wellness goals. The next step was to establish linkages with networks of nutritionists, dieticians and healthcare professionals through congresses in key cities in which wellness concerns and issues were discussed and addressed. The company has also worked with selected schools to improve nutrition for their students in school canteens as well as help other companies set up wellness programs for their employees to help improve their health status, quality of life and productivity.
The advocacy grew bigger when Nestlé started organizing outdoor wellness activities offering fitness exercises on a continuing basis. It also began offering sampling and promotions in supermarkets and other stores nationwide to provide free nutritional consultations for more than 6 million shoppers. Just recently it has partnered with FITFIL, the Fit Filipino Movement led by fitness expert Coach Jim Saret, via FITFIL Boot Camps. It has also tapped Tweetie de Leon-Gonzales to help Nestlé spread the word about health and nutrition through TV info-mercials.
The annual Nestlé Choose Wellness Expo, though, remains to be one of the company biggest and most ambitious efforts to put its nutrition and wellness message across, and this year’s event was no exception. People from all walks of life attended the two-day affair, which had nutritionist-dieticians doing nutrition counseling, lots of quizzes and Q&As to impart more nutrition knowledge with them, lots of product samplings and giveaways, and even more games, prizes and surprises that encouraged physical activity and at the same time subtly imparted more nutrition information to the participants. There was dancing, circus games, Limbo Rock, Wave Wave Wave, even mimes and photo booths to keep everyone actively busy. Quite a number of the participants got to bring home freebies, such as umbrellas, 2-liter pitchers, and Nestlé products.
The Nestlé Choose Wellness Expo also served as a venue for Nestlé Philippines to share its My Wellness Plate chart to help the general public determine what to eat to achieve good nutrition. Half of the plate consists of Glow Foods (that keep you healthy), and these include fruits and vegetables; while one-fourth of the plate must be made up of Go Foods (that give you energy), including rice, pasta, corn, root crops, bread, noodles and cereals; and the remaining one-fourth being the portion for Grow Foods (that build your body), such as fish, shellfish, meat, poultry, egg, beans and nuts.
CALORIES BURNED
Good nutrition must be balanced with physical exercise, and here’s how many calories you actually burn when engaged in everyday activities for 30 minutes:
• Lying quietly – 42 calories
• Sitting and writing – 51 calories
• Walking at 2kph – 63 calories
• Biking at 8kph – 78 calories
• Standing with light work, cleaning – 111 calories
• Swimming at 20 strokes per minute – 129 calories
• Recreational badminton – 147 calories
• Dancing – 183 calories
• Hiking at 5kph – 183 calories
• Playing basketball – 201 calories
• Running at 8kph – 246 calories
MYTHS DEBUNKED
Go-Alcantara also used the Nestle Choose Wellness Expo as a venue to debunk five common food myths that can interfere with a sound diet:
Myth #1: Rice that is bahaw or has stood for some time is fattening.
Fact: This is not true. All food, when eaten in excess, is fattening because of the intake of unnecessary calories.
Myth #2: Drinking cold water can make fat congeal and cause a blockage in the heart.
Fact: In reality, water cannot cause fat to solidify when you drink it, because it takes on the same temperature as the body. Actually, cold water is easier for the body to absorb than warm or hot water.
Myth #3: Sugar causes diabetes.
Fact: The three major factors that cause diabetes are being overweight or obese, family history, and lack of physical activity.
Myth #4: It is bad to eat sugar and sweet food every day.
Fact: This is a misconception. According to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), the recommended daily intake of sugar is the equivalent of 5 to 8 teaspoons. There are no good foods and bad foods. Moderation, variety and balance are key to a healthy diet.
Myth #5: If you want to lose weight, you should skip meals.
Fact: This is not a good practice. The proper way to lose weight is through moderation, variety and balance. Specifically, you need to make adjustments in your diet, so that you are not eating unwanted calories and your body is burning stored calories. Exercise should go hand in hand with your diet to make your body more fit and healthy.
THE PERFECT EXERCISE
Lastly, Coach Jim Saret also took the opportunity to teach everyone a good exercise regimen to follow every day. It’s something that even the busiest persons can follow because all it takes is 4 to 5 minutes daily to burn calories and keep the body fit and healthy.
The exercise regimen, in the exact order:
10 Jumping Jacks
10 Squats
10 Push-ups (*can be done against the wall instead of on the floor)
10 Lunges
As Go-Alcantara puts it, “We are on a journey of wellness together.” Nothing can be more true.
