9 - 15 October
In October every year South Africa celebrates National Nutrition Week. The focus of this year’s campaign is "Healthy eating in the workplace"- targeting public sector employees and food service providers for workplaces.
In line with Outcome 2: A long and Healthy life for all South Africans, The National Development Plan, Vision 2030, commits government to improving long-term health outcomes by prioritising, amongst other things, nutrition and physical activity.
Furthermore, the Department of Health and several government departments (education; sport and recreation; transport; cooperative governance and traditional affairs; trade and industry; and public service and administration) have committed to support and strengthen efforts to prevent and reduce the prevalence of obesity by 10% by 2020. One of the ways this reduction will be attained is by strengthening settings-based interventions such as in schools and workplaces.
General guidelines for healthy eating are to eat:
- at least three healthy meals, which consist of a variety of food every day
- plenty of vegetables and fruit every day
- fats and foods and drinks containing sugar sparingly.