Nestlé Launches Choose Wellness,

a movement for a healthier Middle East

19 March 2014: Nestlé, the world’s leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company, is inviting everyone across the Middle East to join its new “Nestlé Choose Wellness” movement by pledging to eat healthier, move more and live better.

“Designed to encourage the adoption of healthy habits through a series of fun and interactive initiatives, Nestlé Choose Wellness will provide tips and tools to help people take simple steps on their journey to making a real difference,” said Zeinab Maktabi, Nutrition, Health & Wellness Manager at Nestlé Middle East. “Leading a healthy lifestyle starts at home, with family and friends, and we believe every single choice counts.”

The movement, which includes Lebanon, Jordan and the GCC, aims to help combat the growing rates of lifestyle diseases and obesity. The region has one of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in the world. Six out of the top ten countries for prevalence of diabetes are in the Middle East according to the International Diabetes Federation. Additionally, Obesity rates in the region are among the highest in the world, according to the United Nations. 

Choose Wellness is reaching people through initial presence at retail outlets such as Carrefour, LULU and Geant, through an interactive phone App (Nestlé Choose Wellness) and its own Hashtags: #ichoosewellness; #الصحة_إختياري on social media pages including Facebook (Nestlé Choose Wellness), Instagram (Nestlechoosewellness), Twitter (Nestlewellness), and YouTube (Nestle Choose Wellness).

The App prompts users to take a daily pledge to eat healthier, move more and to live better, which it then follows up with simple tips that can be shared on social media and which allow for points collection and prize winning by tracking personal progress.

As a start, supermarket-goers region-wide are being offered the chance to win a wellness pack, which includes discounts on fitness equipment, a gym pass, and a Nestlé 21-day meal planner, which essentially is a guide to healthy eating that also includes sweet delights based on a 2000kcal diet of an active healthy adult.

They also receive nutritional consultations and are able to participate in games encouraging them to get active. Lucky winners are rewarded from a range of health and fitness prizes including gym memberships, fitbit® wristbands and much more.
In addition to downloading the App, people can join the movement and download a special 21-day kids meal planner by visiting www.nestlechoosewellness.com.

Thousands of Nestlé Middle East employees and retail customers have already pledged their commitment to Choose Wellness by embarking on a series of nutrition classes and activities designed to promote and encourage healthy eating habits and an active lifestyle.

Additional activities will be announced regularly, “as this really is a movement for life, and we plan to be there with the people of the region as they eat, move and live better over the years,” concluded Maktabi.