TRA, THE RIGHT APPROACH TO WEIGHT MANAGEMENT, COMBINES THE RIGHT NUTRITION, THE RIGHT EXERCISE AND THE RIGHT SUPPLEMENTATION TO KEEP A FIT AND HEALTHY BODY. I occassionally have my lunch or dinner at fast food restaurants because they are convenient and affordable. However, I sometimes feel that these places may not always have a wide selection available for healthy eating. Also, as they need to serve quick and standardized meals, they may need to use preservatives on pre-prepared food in order to increase their shelf life instead of using fresh ingredients. So, I was surprised to hear about this initiative from the HKSAR Government and these restaurants in providing nutrition information and serving healthy options to their clients. I think that this is a good idea for the Government to use these establishments to educate the public as these places are popular and have a high influence on the eating habits of the people.
From the Department of Health website, EatSmart@restaurant.hk campaign is a major health promotion programme of the Department in collaboration with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and various professional and academic bodies, with support and assistance from the catering industry and the management associations concerned. Staff of the restaurants, through taking part in the programme, will master the basic knowledge of food nutrition and techniques of healthy cooking, which will then be applied to provide dishes with more fruit and vegetables and less oil, salt and sugar to customers, so as to let public have more healthy and delicious food choices when eating out. Full cooperation from restaurants is key to the achievement of this goal; while customers' awareness and pursuit of healthy eating is critical to the success of the programme.
On their menus, participating restaurants shall make reference to the guidelines to provide some healthier dishes of two kinds:
| Symbol for "Fruit and Vegetables" |  |  Simplified Version | Dish with more Fruit and Vegetables means that either fruit and vegetables are the sole ingredients of the dish, or they have at least twice as much the amount |
| Symbol for '3 Less' |  |  Simplified Version | Three Less Dish means that the dish has less fat or oil, salt and sugar, meeting the 'three less' requirement |
Good effort from the HKSAR Government!
For more information on the programme and the list of participating restaurants, please click here.
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