At Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT), we promote the 5 A DAY message through a variety of channels, writes 5 A DAY co-ordinator Brian Jones. In doing so, we hope to raise awareness of the benefits of eating 5 A DAY, and highlight that eating a variety of fruit and veg can help maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers. We also aim to address the main barriers to eating more fruit and veg by making it more accessible locally. In turn, we hope that this will motivate the public to include more fruit and vegetables in their diets.
Taste for Health is Liverpool’s Food and Health Action Plan, which aims to improve the health of people in Liverpool by making healthier foods easier to find, and by giving people the skills to make healthy choices. At the beginning of the year, we worked in partnership with high-street retailer Boots to provide healthy-eating packs which contained information about how to achieve a balanced diet. The packs featured the department of health’s 5 A DAY Just Eat More (fruit & veg) logo.
In addition to developing the healthy-eating pack, we also use the 5 A DAY portion indicator logo to raise awareness, by featuring it on coasters, mousemats, fridge magnets, seed packets and Liverpool PCT’s local fruit delivery van. We have even worked with local football clubs Liverpool FC and Everton FC to promote the 5 A DAY message to their fans.
We feel that it is important to communicate the 5 A DAY message to a range of audiences, and work on schemes to target the public in differing ways. In one programme named Fruit on the Front Desk, we are encouraging and enabling employers to provide free, fresh fruit to employees as a method of promoting healthy eating within the community and workplace. We hope that as a result of taking part in this project, participants will continue with the free fruit scheme, as an ongoing commitment to making the work environment more healthy.
We also help educate members of local community groups on the benefits of growing their own fruit and vegetables. During and at the end of the growing season, users can take home produce for their own consumption. Liverpool PCT also distributes recipe ideas using fruit and veg.
A recent initiative is the Healthy Vending pilot, allowing schools and businesses to trial a fruit and water vending machine as a healthy alternative to crisps, fizzy drinks and chocolate. Champion gymnast Beth Tweddle helped to launch the initiative at Park Road Sports Centre in Dingle, Liverpool.
Finally, to encourage those who feel that eating more fruit and veg can be expensive, Liverpool PCT operates a food co-operative which provides local people with the opportunity to purchase high-quality fresh fruit and vegetables at low cost. The fruit and veg are bought and sold at cost price, and the
co-operative allows people to buy small amounts to avoid waste.
For more information, please visit www.tasteforhealth.com
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