New initiative aims to combat child obesity

A new Government initiative is being launched this month to head off the UK’s snowballing child obesity epidemic. Without positive action, experts predict that by 2050, nine in ten of today’s children will be obese and at risk of serious diseases in their adult lives. Under the banner Change4Life, the Government is galvanising support from millions of people across the country.

More than 12,400 grass roots organisations, charities, supermarkets and commercial organisations have signed up to the campaign. Their aim: to encourage families to apply new behaviours to their eating habits and lifestyles. Everyone who wants happier, healthier kids is being advised to practise the following eight easily adoptable behaviours. They have been put together by health professionals and will help kids to eat well, move more and live longer.

Parents are being encouraged to consider the following:

Sugar Swaps – Swap sugary snacks and sweets for ones that are lower in sugar, i.e. dried fruit instead of biscuits, diluted fruit juice instead of cola.

Meal Time – Organise the day around three regular mealtimes and eat together when you can.

Me Size Meals – Make sure children are getting the right sized portions. Kids aren’t as big as adults and as such require smaller meals.

Snack Check – Keep an eye on how many sugary, salty, fatty and calorific snacks children. Keeping count makes it more likely they’ll cut down and saves money too.

5 A Day – Using frozen and canned fruit and veg and encouraging kids to drink a glass of fruit juice or smoothie every day are among many ways to simplify giving kids their daily five portions.

Cut Back Fat – Grill or bake instead of fry, keep foods like crisps, buns, cakes and pastries to a minimum, trim fat off meat and skin poultry before cooking.

60 Active Minutes – Kids need at least this much exercise every day to help them stay happy and healthy. But it doesn’t have to be sport – running around and having fun outside helps too.

Up And About – Set limits on how long children can sit still in front of the TV or PC or while they’re on the phone. ‘2 Hours Max’ is a good rule of thumb. Get them running after school. Inactivity means they don’t burn fat.

A third of Britain’s children and two thirds of adults are currently either overweight or obese. Change4Life is offering them clear advice like this and support via community resources, guidance from local health professionals, web tools, and television programming. At Change4Life.co.uk visitors will also be able to do a postcode search to find initiatives such as cookery clubs, sporting facilities and after-school activities in their local area. There are no limits to the number who can participate and Change4Life is now calling for further volunteers to sign up to one of the biggest movements our nation has ever seen.

For more information visit nhs.uk/change4life.