Daily Lessons from Life 08 November 2010 - Jamie Oliver brings obesity food fight Down Under

Channel NewsAsia: "Jamie Oliver brings obesity food fight Down Under 08 November 2010

SYDNEY : British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is bringing his battle against obesity to Australia, setting up his 'Ministry of Food' in the Queensland town of Ipswich, he announced Monday.

Oliver said that diet-related disease was the biggest killer in the country, where two-thirds of men and half of women are estimated to be overweight or obese, according to a Sydney University study.

'Australia for me is a country full of open-minded cooking, incredible produce, some of the best chefs in the world,' Oliver said in a video message.

'And yet, even though there are cooking shows all over TV, there is this massive health epidemic related to food.'"

I liked this young chef. Though they called him a celebrity chef as he cooked on TV I find him to be relatively genuine unlike some other 'packaged' TV celebrity chefs!

It seems that obesity is a worldwide phenomenon though in the USA it is very bad. In Australia, it seems to be quite bad while in Singapore, accordingly to a latest survey, every 1 in 10 persons is overweight!

Lessons for me are:

1. we like food. We should! For some people, Chinese, Westerners or otherwise, food is their life! So, we must continue to enjoy our food. The challenge is: what is the appropriate amount of food to eat?;

2. the answer is: when you stomach feel full. The instant it sends you the signal, you are full and you stop eating!! The next question is: what type of food and what is the best way to serve it?;

3. the answers are: balance of all the goodness in life! Meat, vege, etc and best served non-fried!!

If Jamie can rekindle or remind someone in Australia to eat well and exercise, he would have achieved his goal of spreading healthy eating and cooking. There are many other celebrity chefs in Australia too. I am sure they too want to or already are helping to spread this message. One more does not harm!!