It is heartening to read the National Kidney Foundation's suggestion that Singapore look into "delivering healthy eating messages in bite-sized, digestible and practical ways so that the public can easily learn, adjust and adopt" (Make lifestyle changes now to reverse rise in chronic conditions in Singapore, Nov 25).

I am a nurse who has been counselling patients on their diet and exercise regimens so as to better manage their chronic conditions.

In recent years, many patients have given me feedback about the lack of healthy choices when dining out. To improve the health of residents here, I believe it is critical to improve available food choices.

In the Health Promotion Board's My Healthy Plate concept, a healthy, balanced meal would have half a plate filled with fruit and vegetables, and a quarter filled with whole grains. But the food sold in Singapore does not reflect these proportions.

One step that could be taken is to require stalls at hawker centres and coffee shops to sell basic meals with a higher proportion of vegetables while lowering the amount of carbohydrates.

The amount of deep-fried food that can be sold could also be restricted.

Another move could be to require restaurants to serve fruit with each meal. Or the authorities could provide better incentives for entrepreneurs to sell nutritious and tasty meals to the public.

If left to one's personal choice without intervention from the authorities, any improvement to one's diet would be slow.

Candice Yeo Chay Hoon