The more we know, the better we will eat

Promoting healthy eating and habits must increasingly be a priority, not only for health institutions and entities, but also for the food industry and specialists in various areas. But to promote healthy eating – something that may seem like a relatively simple thing – I actually need to talk about many other factors first, such as the lack of food literacy or the type of environment that surrounds us, which directly affect our food choices.

On this World Food Day, this was the central theme of the event organized by Expresso, with the support of Continente and the Portuguese Nutrition Association, which throughout the morning led professionals from different areas – from health to the food industry – to debate what needs to change in order to have a healthier diet. And also how it relates to a healthier lifestyle, in which the importance of sustainability and reducing food waste are fundamental concepts.

“It is an absolutely essential topic”, reinforced Rita Sá Machado, general director of health, who highlighted how inadequate eating habits lead to excess weight and diseases such as obesity. Conditions that put considerable pressure on the country’s health system, meaning that, to promote a more balanced diet, which should be everyone’s responsibility, considers Rita Sá Machado, it is necessary to invest, among other things, in innovation. An example of this is a new tool that was launched by the DGS National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Eating, which will serve as a digital catalog of 2000 food products, in which it will be possible to consult the ingredients and nutritional information of these food products.

And if we talk about food products, it is impossible to escape the food retail industry, which plays a determining role in the food choices we make. In this sense, according to Gonçalo Lobo Xavier, general director of APED (Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies), there is an effort on the part of retailers to offer more competitive prices and to have a more varied offer. Policies such as the nutritional reformulation of foods and the introduction of visual codes, such as the nutritional traffic light, also help to make healthy choices easier to make.

On the other hand, the environment that surrounds us, the social circles in which we belong, our level of education, our economic conditions, and even the content we consume, are aspects that impact the way we see food. Luís Mira, general secretary of the Portuguese Farmers Confederation, Teresa Horta Colaço, cook and digital influencer, and Helena Real, general secretary of the Portuguese Nutrition Association, were some of the speakers who highlighted food literacy as a key tool for people to have healthy eating habits.

The event, presented by SIC Notícia journalist Nelma Serpa Pinto, was attended by José Fortunato, MC administrator; Rita Sá Machado, general director of health; Paulo Baldaia, author of the Expresso da Manhã podcast; Lara Castro Nunes, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist; Gonçalo Lobo Xavier, general director of APED; Luís Mira, general secretary of the Portuguese Farmers Confederation; Ondina Afonso, director of quality and research at Continente; Francisco Goiana da Silva, doctor and professor; João Filipe Raposo, doctor and clinical director of the Association for the Protection of Diabetics in Portugal; Rodrigo Ayoub, orthomolecular medicine doctor; Joana Barrios, author, digital influencer, actress and presenter; Teresa Horta Colaço, cook, author and digital influencer; Catarina Gouveia, digital influencer; Alice Trewinnard, digital influencer; Mayumi Delgado, nutritionist; Margarida Graça Santos, doctor and author of the podcast Consulta Aberta; and Helena Real, general secretary of the Portuguese Nutrition Association.

Find out the main conclusions.

“Eating better is living better”

• Health professionals, including Rita Sá Machado, warned that unhealthy eating is one of the causes of obesity or being overweight.
• A healthy diet, combined with physical exercise, can prevent obesity.

Food illiteracy is a problem

• For Luís Mira, for example, there is no food illiteracy, but rather illiteracy. The population does not know what they are buying and, therefore, they do not know what they should buy.
• We have to learn to read expiration dates, argues Gonçalo Lobo Xavier, and we have to invest in communicating the nutritional information of food products on the labels, believes Ondina Afonso, director of quality and research at Continente.
• “We don’t have the right communication strategy” and “we have to do much better”, said João Filipe Raposo, doctor and clinical director of the Associação Protetora dos Diabéticos de Portugal.
• According to Helena Real, general secretary of the Portuguese Nutrition Association, there is a “lack of information” on food labels, such as their life cycle, for example.

There are many factors to take into account

• Economic conditions and level of education, as well as the food environment in which we live, impact our food choices.
• We must take sustainability and food waste into account.