Thailand’s student monks get diet overhaul to combat obesity

After a recent study concluded that over a quarter of student monks in the Phra Pariyatti Dhamma General Education schools nationwide are overweight, a new food and health programme has arrived. The National Health Commission Office has launched the project together with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences of Chulalongkorn University, and six other organisations.

The goal is to curb child obesity in the group of 33,000 students. Prateep Thanakijcharoen, the NHCO secretary-general says making healthier choices is a must.

“We want them to understand food nutrition and maintain a healthy routine instead of choosing only food they prefer such as sweets, snacks or deep-fried food.”

Statistically, the novices are averaging about 4% higher than boys in the general population. As monks are not allowed to eat after midday, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation says they have noticed a trend of the novices stocking up on high-calorie, high-sugar foods. Such things as sweet milk, sweet green tea, and soft drinks are their items of choice when hydrating in the afternoon.

The project to help educate the students includes four methods of learning. Infographics, a set of 10 nutrition and exercise books, an app to provide education about food choices, and an animated graphic platform will be introduced by December. The manager and professor at Chulalongkorn University say with increased education, the number of students that are overweight should decrease. He also says that the app will make it fun for the students as they will offer rewards for exercising and healthy eating when they record their habits in the app.

News of monks being overweight has been growing in recent years as CNN published a story in 2019 about the increase in obesity among Thailand’s monks. Thailand’s National Health Commission Office said back in 2019, that nearly half of the number of monks in Thailand at that time, were considered overweight or obese. It went further to say that the monks were experiencing diabetes, eye issues, high blood pressure, and osteoarthritis in their knees, but were ill-educated about healthy eating habits.

Now, the commission has ordered mobile health units to monitor monks’ health at the temples by making rounds regularly.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post