Eat healthy, FEEL healthy, BE Healthy Get Checked Supermarket Campaign kicked off on Saturday with the first outreach activity at Le Grande Marche Bush Road. Between the peak hours of 10am-12pm fresh watermelon, papaya, pineapple, melon and 100 bottles of water provided by Le Grand Marche were handed out to customers by the Minister of Public Health Cornelius de Weever, along with Nutritionist Swinda Richardson, Public Relations Officer Alissa Rios, and two volunteers Kito Thomas and Walcott Richardson III
This campaign initiated by Collective Prevention Services (CPS) of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor is geared towards motivating the general population of St. Maarten to check their nutrition intake starting with drinking plenty of water and incorporating fruits and vegetables into their daily diet. “Through these outreach activities CPS aims to spread awareness about good eating habits in order encourage behavior change to prevent the people of St. Maarten from future health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure amoung others. Consuming balanced meals is essential to one’s health and wellbeing as food provides our bodies with the energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals to live, grow and function properly. Therefore it is important to have a variety of different foods to provide the right amounts of nutrients for good health”, said Minister de Weever in an invited comment.
In addition to the outreach activities this campaign includes a variety of promotional material that is on display at the various supermarkets including banners and cut outs. Each supermarket will also be offering special Get Checked Discount Promotions each month in order to make fresh produce items more affordable for their consumers. The eight supermarkets who have endorsed this campaign include Le Grand Marche Cole Bay and Bush Road, Afoo (Town), Fresh Market (Madame Estate), Food Club (Dutch Quarter), Daily Extra (Cole Bay), Sunny Food, and Cost-U-Less. The next outreach initiative will take place at the Fresh Market Supermarket in Madame Estate.