Fancy A Chocolate Egg Or Two This Easter?

With around 80 million chocolate eggs likely to be consumed this Easter*, every Brit is now being asked a new and very important question - how big is your chocolate footprint?

While the words ‘carbon offsetting’ have become part of everyday life, the world’s first chocolate offsetting scheme is being launched to show people how much fruit and veg they need to substitute during their week and how much exercise they ought to take to offset the unhealthy effects of eating chocolate.

Although understandably not quite as beneficial for the health of the planet as its carbon counterpart, chocolate offsetting has the potential to improve the health of all those living on it who aren’t always quite able to resist the temptation of a little sweet indulgence.

To make the offsetting process simple and easy to understand a free calculator has been set up on Chocolateoffsetting.com which allows users to select their expected chocolate consumption and find out what they need to do and eat in order to positively compensate for it.

For example, if you want to eat just one chocolate egg this Easter (248g or 1,273 calories), then the offsetting calculator might recommend you substitute your fried sausages and bacon for a grilled tomato and mushrooms and go for a two-hour walk. If it’s more like five eggs (1,240g or 6,365 calories) you have in mind, you will need to substitute your packet of crisps and fizzy drink for a smoothie and piece of fruit and swim for about two hours per day for five days to positively offset the chocolate.

Claire Mac Evilly, communications manager with the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research says: “When it comes to our eating habits, Easter can be a risky time. There is nothing wrong with having a treat but people need to think wisely about their diet overall, include more fruits and vegetable and exercise regularly.

“We know from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey that adults on average are eating about two and a half portions of fruit and vegetables a day, only half of the recommended intake of at least five portions a day. This scheme provides people with some easy to follow tips and helps them to increase their intake.”

The chocolate offsetting scheme is being run by Eat in Colour – a new three-year campaign aimed at putting the enjoyment back into eating fruit and vegetables.

Eat in Colour chairman Anthony Levy says: “While we realise that our chocolate offsetting scheme has been created on the back of a very serious global issue, we feel that by adapting the offsetting principle we have come up with a fun and straightforward way of helping people to understand the impact of eating chocolate and, more importantly, getting them to do something positive to compensate for its negative effects on their health.

“We’re not saying that people shouldn’t eat chocolate, all we’re doing is informing people of ways they can offset the effect of that chocolate. This offsetting clearly has to be a combination of eating sensibly and taking exercise – not just at Easter but all year round. And, as people who try out the offsetting calculator will find out, the amount of fruit and veg they need to eat and the level of exercise they need to take, gets bigger the more chocolate they are planning to consume.

“Eat in Colour is the first campaign clearly focused on helping people to find practical, quick and easy ways to achieve a healthier diet every day by including more and varied fruit and vegetables alongside, or as part of, favourite dishes. Our website, which can be accessed through www.chocolateoffsetting.com is packed with serving suggestions, tips and advice for including more fruit and veg in the everyday diet.”

The Eat in Colour campaign – supported by Tesco, Asda, Somerfield and leading wholesalers and growers – aims to fill the nation’s newspapers and magazines with really simple ways to prepare, cook and enjoy the best convenience food of all – fruit and vegetables.

It also offers advice online at Eatincolour.com and on the road via a nationwide roadshow designed to re-introduce the great taste and simplicity of fruit and veg to people as they go about their everyday lives.

* According to the British Retail Consortium, April 2006.

** 248g is the average weight of 9 popular chocolate Easter eggs sold on the high street. Average calories per 100g – 512 calories. Average calories per chocolate Easter egg – 1,269 calories.