To maximise promotion of healthy eating messages, the East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) publicises 5 A DAY messages alongside the area’s general obesity strategy.
As well as being a national priority, healthy eating is also a main focus of the East Riding Public Health Strategy. The PCT, which holds the licence to use the 5 A DAY Just Eat More (fruit and veg) logo, has opted to create a multi-agency partnership as part of its new local strategy to help tackle obesity.
After consultation between partners across statutory, voluntary and community sectors, a local obesity strategy and action plan has been developed, which includes the 5 A DAY programme as an inherent part of the approach to health improvement and weight management.
At East Riding PCT, we believe that healthy eating messages should be available to the public in many different areas of their life, such as GP practices, schools, leisure centres, workplaces, community and youth centres; this is why our action plan and strategy target these areas. The aim of the strategy is to improve the health of different groups of people, for example older people and children, with emphasis on reducing health inequalities.
We have developed local resources, which feature the 5 A DAY Just Eat More (fruit & veg) logo, to use alongside the different initiatives. For example, in conjunction with Hull Teaching PCT, a recipe book has been produced with easy-to-follow recipes using seasonal produce.
The recipes promote fresh, frozen, canned and dried fruit and veg, as well as 100 per cent fruit juices, which all count towards the 5 A DAY target; each recipe then indicates the number of portions each serving provides.
Traditionally, many of us are used to following recipes that include quantities of salt, sugar, or fat in the list of ingredients and, therefore, many people think if they miss them out, the meal will lack taste. However, none of the recipes in the book have salt, fat or sugar added. Instead, other additions such as herbs and spices are used in the dishes, providing people with ways to eat a healthy, balanced diet all year round.
The work of the partnership is constantly evolving, with new initiatives emerging all the time. Local play schemes are teaching children about the benefits of different coloured fruit and veg, and of the different vitamins and nutrients they provide.
The children use art as a means to express the message ‘Eat A Rainbow’ and to learn that eating a variety is important in order to achieve a healthy, balanced diet. The children’s art is then reproduced as posters and hung in leisure centres in the region. This work first began in Goole Leisure Centre and is now taking place in leisure centres across the East Riding.
As a PCT, we are committed to promoting the 5 A DAY message as part of our wider strategy to tackle obesity. We hope that all the different initiatives targeting a variety of groups in the region help communicate the messages in a fun and effective way.
