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Golborne rises to the Change4Life
Healthier Snack challenge
Over the February half-term Go Golborne
encouraged families to take part in a healthy snack challenge that
forms part of a new Change4Life
campaign to promote healthier snacks.
Local schools, Children’s Centres and
community organisations got behind the campaign and organised lots
of activities to raise awareness of the fact that over half the
sugar that children eat comes from sugary snacks and drinks, and
that by making simple changes when it comes to snacking we can help
to protect children from serious health problems.
The campaign challenged families to try
a different healthy snack every day for seven days, sticking to the
following guidelines:
- When choosing packaged snacks for your
children, use this helpful tip: look for 100 calorie snacks, two a
day max!
- Remember, fruit and vegetables are
always the best snacks! But keep fruit and vegetable juice,
smoothies and dried fruit to mealtimes only
Local schools helped to spread the
message by showing children an interactive Change4Life presentation
called
The Healthier Snacking Show in classrooms and assemblies,
organising healthy after-school snack stalls in partnership with
Mytime Active, and distributing healthy half-term ‘challenge packs’
for children to take home that included copies of a
snack challenge sheet and healthy snack
recipe idea card.
Lots of healthy eating themed activities
took place over the half-term to help children with the challenge.
Highlights included:
- An event in Kensal Library where
children took part in lots of healthy snack themed arts and crafts
and listened to local musician Alexander D Great sing his healthy
eating themed songs, including 5ADAY
Your Way!
- The launch of a new Be
Food Smart promotion in three local corner shops in Golborne, which
have introduced new ranges of healthy snacks and promotional
materials to help shoppers identify healthier choices
- A ‘Snack Attack’
workshop that took place at Al Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre –
where 25 children took part in fun activities to explore different
100 calorie snack ideas
- Healthy cooking
workshops at Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre – where over
50 children and parents enjoyed learning about and testing healthy
snack recipes
- A healthy eating
workshop at the Dalgarno Trust – where a trained chef helped young
people to whip up healthy treats in the kitchen
- A family outing to Kew
Gardens organised by the Golborne Community Champions that included
a talk about healthy snacks, healthy snack packs, and a visit to a
fruit and vegetable garden
Parents are being encouraged to
sign up to
Change4Life to receive free healthy snack vouchers and reward
stickers for children who participated in the challenge. Schools
have been helping to celebrate children’s efforts by distributing
Go Golborne certificates and pencils to children who bring their
completed challenge sheets back to school.
Reflecting on the success of the
campaign, Zohra Davies from Al Hasaniya said ‘Our
workshop was packed with fun and games to help families understand
that 100 calorie snacks are the best way forward. Many of the
mothers fed back that they will be more mindful when it comes to
snack time and make sure they will try to stick to 100 calorie
snacks.’
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