– I was better at eating fish before, says nurse Maria Lund Saga. She comes home from the shop with a clothesline full of today’s dinner. Sweet potato, apple, pomegranate, kale, feta cheese and bacon. Maria Lund Saga is very healthy, but says that it is fish that she can be better at eating. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news Today’s catch consists of, among other things, sweet potato, feta cheese and bacon. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news How often did you eat meat then? – Bacon is not meat, it is a spice. My stepfather says so, he laughs. The fact that fish is less often on the menu has also become the norm for most Norwegians. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news From 2017 to 2023, Norwegians should ideally eat 20 per cent more fish, seafood, coarse grains, vegetables, fruit and berries, according to the national dietary targets. So far we have not succeeded, and the development is going in the wrong direction, shows a recent dietary report from the Norwegian Directorate of Health. – We are nowhere near the goals we set for ourselves in 2017, says Divisional Director in the Directorate of Health, Linda Granlund. Division director Linda Granlund at the Norwegian Directorate of Health sees it as happening that if the price of healthy food such as fish falls, more people will eat fish. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news This is far too little of the Directorate of Health, in our opinion, too little fish, seafood, fruit and berries. Since 2015, our consumption of fish and seafood has decreased by 13 per cent, while consumption of fruit and berries has decreased by 9 per cent. We are also not as happy with vegetables as we should be, although we eat more of them than before, according to the Directorate of Health. Between 2012 and 2022, consumption increased by 5 per cent, and in 2022 it decreased slightly. So we are far from the Norwegian Directorate of Health’s target of an increase of 20 per cent by 2023. Our consumption of vegetables, coarse grain products and meat has not changed that much since 2015. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news All in all, the consumption of vegetables and coarse grain product changes little. The same applies to our meat consumption, which according to the Directorate of Health is still too high. – We have been talking about meat for many years, and that consumption should decrease. Especially red meat and processed meat products, says Granlund. She would like to see more people replace some of the red meat with fish and seafood. In order to get people to do that, the Norwegian Directorate of Health must think anew. In order to get fish on the dinner table, the prices must go down, the director of the division in the Directorate of Health is to believe. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news The price is an important factor – Most of us know what is healthy and what is not. The Norwegian Directorate of Health must rethink, and we must make it easier for consumers to make healthy choices in a hectic weekday, says Granlund. Granlund believes that one part of this is to make it cheaper to eat healthy. – We know that what affects food intake the most is price and what is available. If we reduce the price, we get a change in consumption. The World Health Organization (WHO) is also clear on that, says Granlund. The Norwegian Directorate of Health’s own surveys show that taste and price are the two factors that people pay the most attention to when shopping for food. In 2023, 79 per cent place the most importance on price when shopping for food in shops. – It is therefore unfavorable that the consumer price index has increased significantly more for fish than for meat, says the report. Researcher Annechen Bahr Bugge at the Institute for Consumer Research sees several explanations for why a small fish. Researcher Annechen Bahr Bugge says everyone is talking about fish and seafood declining. This means how often people eat it, the trust that it is healthy or environmentally friendly and how good it tastes. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news – Fewer and fewer people think that fish tastes good. People prefer meat to fish, and trust in fish and seafood is a problem, says Bugge. In addition, the research shows a generational divide, where people under 50 eat much less fish and seafood than those over 50. Are the dietary recommendations realistic? The food that Saga chose cost a total of NOK 222, which she thought was a fair price. – Fuck it, it turned out well. This is a new regular dinner, says Saga and helps herself to portion number three. Maria Lund Saga thinks that lit candles make the dinner a few notches cozier. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news She has brought up a family that is healthy and usually healthy. What are you worst at eating healthy foods? – Maybe fish. I could probably get more fiber in as well. The Norwegian Directorate of Health will soon prepare new dietary advice. The question is whether they should look to the Nordic dietary advice for a healthy and sustainable diet. The council calls for a mainly plant-based diet with plenty of fish, limited consumption of meat and avoiding processed food. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news – I do not think it is realistic to reach the Nordic dietary advice. Especially if one is going to try to reduce meat consumption sharply, says Bugge. She thinks we are probably so conservative when it comes to eating habits. – Meat has an important position on the Norwegian dinner plate, says Bugge and adds that many probably agree with Sandra Borch’s statement that proper dinners must contain meat. Granlund from the Directorate of Health also does not disagree that the dietary advice can be unrealistic. – But then our job as authorities is to convey advice based on the best available knowledge, even if it is unrealistic, she says. Maria Lund Saga’s regular dinner is fried eggs with feta cheese in a tortilla wrap, and otherwise she is very fond of pot soup. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news Maria Lund Saga says that she thinks it takes a lot of planning to make good dishes with fish. – I love sushi then, but I don’t quite feel that it counts as fish, she says. – Count sushi? In that case, I eat fish once a week.
ttn-69
You ate far too little of this
