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07 OCTOBER 2009
NUTRITION IMPROVES QUALITY OF HEALTH
Written by: Press
Nutritional choices and practices have been described as essential in maintaining a healthy lifestyle as it’s important in the quest for good health, increased performance capacity and reduced absenteeism. Speaking at a Wellness Summit organised by Hygeia Health Management Organisation (HMO) in Lagos recently, Head Personal Training for Clear essence California Centre Nigeria, Mr. Sunny Eresanya noted that nutrition plays a very essential role in an effort to maintain good health.
He described nutrition as the science of food, the nutrients and the substances therein, their action, interaction and balance in relation to health and disease, while food, according to him, is any substance that can be metabolised by animals to provide both the energy and materials needed to build and maintain all body cells and mental stimulus for thinking.
He emphasised the need to maintain a healthy diet, which, according to him, is to intensify performance at work, keep a good cholesterol level, prevent obesity and ensure longevity, noting that all could be ensured by keeping a food plan and eating at least five to six times daily.
Eresanya listed food pyramid as: fat, oil and sweets used sparingly, milk, yogurt, cheese group, vegetable, fortified cereals, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin-12 supplements, meat, poultry, fish, dry beans and nut group and fruits.
The expert advises that it is good to eliminate fizzy drinks and instead one should take natural fruit juice and drink at least 8-10 glasses of water daily. In his welcome address, the Managing Director of Hygeia HMO, Mr. Kola Awokoya, noted that the company, as a healthcare practitioner, is interested in the wellbeing of individuals and, in fact, the wellbeing of Nigeria as a whole.
“Our country has its fair share of challenges, so if we can help to suggest solutions and tips which can assist you in better managing those challenges, then we will be satisfied and if we can go even further to make at least half of this audience take one step towards leading a healthier lifestyle, we will be very pleased indeed”, he noted.
Talking about the activities of the company, Awokoya described the managed care plans of the company as health insurance plans which integrate the financing and delivery of healthcare through contact with hospitals, and carrying out a satisfactory, due-diligence exercise and negotiate agreements with them (the hospitals) to offer healthcare to its clients.
Speaking further, Awokoya said, “our clients, who are referred to as enrolees, pay their fees in advance. We attempt to streamline costs by negotiating with clinicians and hospitals in exchange for a steady flow of patients, developing standards of treatment for specific diseases and carrying out, as vigorously as possible, case management which involves visiting all patients who are admitted”.
Health plans, in his view, run under managed care principles, have continued to grow because it is a response to skyrocketing healthcare costs which have negatively impacted the finance of companies and families, stressing that under the fee-for -service or pay-as-you-go model, companies and families often found themselves faced by unexpected, high healthcare costs.
On some of the changes that have taken place in the company since the last summit, Awokoya said the company has since opened office in locations such as Calabar, Enugu, Kano and Maiduguri, bringing the total number of offices nationwide to nine, saying such will enable the company to maintain constant contact with its clients and provider alike.
He said the hospital network continues to expand. According to him it now has over 370 providers with foot-prints in 140 cities, whilst under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) formal sector programme, the company has contracted with 1400 hospitals.
