St Lucia hosts Nutrition fair in Piaye Secondary School

Chief Nutritionist Lisa Hunt stressed the importance of a healthy eating plan and staying physically active to prevent chronic non-communicable diseases.

St Lucia hosts Nutrition fair in Piaye Secondary School
St Lucia hosts Nutrition fair in Piaye Secondary School

Castries, St Lucia: The Nutrition Unit within the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs of St Lucia recently conducted a nutrition fair at the Piaye Secondary School. The fair is aimed to provide students with information about healthy eating, active living and overall wellness.

Chief Nutritionist Lisa Hunt stressed the importance of a healthy eating plan and staying physically active to prevent chronic non-communicable diseases.

“The reason we are here is to instill healthy eating habits and to encourage you to be more active. Every one of you students knows someone with a chronic disease whether it is diabetes, hypertension, cancer or other chronic diseases. Why are there so many people burdened with these diseases? It is because they are lifestyle diseases and up to 70 percent of them can be prevented. What we eat and our lifestyles will determine our health.”

Minister for Health Moses Jn Baptiste said he is pleased with this activity and expresses hope that lessons learned at the fair will be used to change the chronic disease profile in Saint Lucia.

“Exhibitions and workshops like these bring awareness to the health problems we have in Saint Lucia. You are not too young to know and to make changes in the way we eat, how we exercise, and to create a healthy living environment to protect ourselves in the future.”

Students of the Piaye Secondary School also shared their experiences at the nutrition fair.

Angel Mc Farlane said: “The fair explained the importance of eating properly, and the percentage of salt and sugar that some snacks contain—mostly the snacks I eat. It taught me how to be aware of that.”

Nakim Joseph said: “The health fair was educational and taught what we should do to keep our bodies healthy for long life.”

Petal Thomas said:” As students, we eat junk food every single day and today we learned better ways of eating. I really appreciated that.”

The nutrition fair also offered the students with information on nutrition, dental hygiene, substance abuse and stress management, to name a few.