The intake of nutritious and healthy food is essential for all, more importantly for children, but the 21st century generation is being brought up on junk food.

A six-weekend awareness campaign held to diagnose health problems caused by eating poor quality food, was launched by Princess Doaa bint Mohammed Ezzat, the wife of Prince Mohammed bin Abdullah Bin Turki Al Saud, under the slogan, “Let’s eat right.” The campaign was organized in cooperation with the Health Ministry and officials to spread awareness about good health and to avoid junk food.

The campaign started off in the Mall of Arabia with more than 400 volunteers, nutritionists, doctors and medical students to create awareness about eating healthy and the problems caused by junk food.

“The campaign is to let people know how important it is to eat right. I was very interested in the subject of healthy food and this is why I launched this campaign. I believe that a healthy body gives you a healthy mind. I am against fast food and fizzy drinks, especially for children and people under 15,” she said.

She further said that this is the optimum period of growth and body building so it is particularly important to eat healthy food.

“So if your children are not taking care of nutrition or vitamins their body will be weak, and undergo harmful effects in the long term.” She pointed out that the popularity of fast food among the youth is an alarming phenomenon as it is unhealthy.

“So I want to spread awareness of healthy food and its importance through this campaign,” she explained. She emphasized that parents should play a major role in putting grains, vegetables and fruits on their children’s plates and if they refuse, take these healthy foods yourself and ask them to taste them.

The best time to teach children about healthy eating is when they are very young. Parents should have a variety of vegetables, fruits and beans to offer their children so they will get into the habit of eating healthy, she said.

She also emphasized on children having breakfast in the mornings as it is healthy. “Give your children an excellent breakfast, a good lunch and then if they don’t want dinner, they can do without it,” she said.

Abdullah Zahrani, a medical student at King Abdul Aziz University and the campaign supervisor at Mall of Arabia told Arab News that they had arranged 9 sections displaying healthy food, the effects of junk food on the body such as blood pressure and diabetes, dental care, monitoring the health and growth of children through checkups, physical activities, especially for obese and pregnant women, awareness and information with entertainment to attract children and their parents who had come for shopping.

“We are also giving awareness on different salads and juices and how they help to promote a healthy life style. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world with 45 percent of the population being affected by the disease. Last year, 100,000 people were diagnosed with diabetes,” he said adding that the disease was more common in women than in men because of their unhealthy life style.

Doing exercise is the solution to many problems. Even if you are sitting, move your hands and body, he advised.

There was also a photo competition about healthy eating to enhance the participation of the children.

Zahrani explained that the campaign will continue for six weekends in different malls in Jeddah to help children and people understand the importance of healthy food.