By MILDRED KATONGO –
PROPRIETOR of Sylva Catering, Sylvia Banda (left) has said Zambians need to abandon fast foods such as chicken and chips and revert to consuming healthy traditional foods to curb obesity and its attendant results of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
Ms Banda, whose company has won international awards for promoting healthy eating anchored on traditional dishes, said in an interview yesterday that obesity and being overweight were a real problem in Zambia.
“People know that kind of food to eat, but they choose to go for the fast foods. There is food for different ages, the young, middle aged, the elderly, so it is not just important to cook one meal for everyone, the problem of obesity is serious and it needs to be dealt with,” she said.

BANDA

She was speaking in the wake of concerns by the National Food and Nutrition Commission in yesterday’s Times of Zambia about the rising cases of non-communicable diseases among Zambians highlighted by a survey that showed an alarming trend among women.
Ms Banda said her institution had produced a number of books on how to help people understand the need for healthy eating and how to prepare the right meals.
“We have young people who are married and yet they do not know how to prepare certain healthy meals, so we provide handbooks on how to prepare such foods,” she said.
Ms Banda also warned that some eating outlets used recycled cooking oil to prepare food such fast foods as chips, fried chicken, among other unhealthy meals.
She said the practice by fast food outlets was both unhealthy and unsafe.
Nutrition expert, Musonda Mofu said on Tuesday obese and overweight citizens are weighing down the nation’s health service system as cases of non-communicable diseases rose, mostly in urban centres.
Mr Mofu, the deputy director of the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) said this was happening even as the nation struggled to bring down cases of malnutrition, at the other end of the scale.
He said an analysis of the 2013-15 Zambia Health Demographic Survey dealing with health indicators relating to women, had shown that the trend was growing at an alarming rate in urban centres, with 35 percent of Lusaka women now considered obese or overweight.
The Copperbelt ranked second with 30 percent and 22 percent for Southern Province. Eastern Province was at 20 per cent, while Central and North-Western provinces trail at 19 and 15 percentages, respectively. Western, Northern, Luapula and Muchinga trail with no significant impact, due to issues of malnutrition.
Last week, Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya said with the rising middle-class, non-communicable diseases were causing a lot of disabilities and premature deaths among Zambians and placing a heavy burden on the healthcare system.
Addressing the 2017 African Healthcare Summit in London, Dr Chilufya announced that his ministry had set up a directorate to provide health promotion packages to ensure that Zambians were kept healthy and away from the common practices that triggered non-communicable diseases.