KUCHING: People have been advised to maintain a healthy lifestyle by practising moderation in their eating habits and staying physically fit.
Diabetes Malaysia Sarawak Branch chairman Dr William Voon said this in view of the fact that the rate of obesity in the state is still very high.
“Here in Sarawak, the percentage of people who are overweight is very high and Malaysia is one of the most ‘heaviest’ countries in the world.
“Thus, we should seriously look into our overweight problems,” he told New Sarawak Tribune during the Diabetes Food Camp held at the Diabetes Resource Centre, here on Sunday (Sept 3).
Aside from the non-governmental organisation, he said the government has been doing its part to encourage people to eat healthy.
“This is something which we have always talked about. But talking is something, and people believing is another thing.
“The challenge is to get people to follow this type of setting – eating healthy is a bit difficult because food is such an addictive thing and in Malaysia, we have so much nice food,” he said.
To encourage people to eat healthy, Dr Voon said for a start, government departments could incentivise their employees to keep a healthy lifestyle.
“For instance, if the staff maintain a body weight within a certain period of time, then they can be given special rewards, this might be a better incentive.
“Another one is that the government departments can get their staff to exercise either once a week or twice a week and if their body weight remains normal for a certain period, then they can be rewarded,” he said.
He also encouraged the corporate sector to do the same for their staff as it could encourage them to stay healthy.
