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BNF to Educate Millions of School Children on Healthy and Sustainable Diets during Healthy Eating Week

The British Nutrition Foundation is preparing to raise awareness about healthy and sustainable diets, and empower millions of children and adults to make positive changes, during its 10th anniversary Healthy Eating Week, which will take place 13-17 June 2022.

With the aim of helping to debunk misunderstandings and empower teachers, school staff and students to achieve a diet that is both healthy and sustainable, British Nutrition Foundation Healthy Eating Week 2022 will focus on how to ‘Eat well for you and the planet’.

Sara Stanner, Science Director at British Nutrition Foundation, said: “School children today are more aware of the need to protect the environment than those who were in school even ten years ago, when we held the first Healthy Eating Week. However, they aren’t yet necessarily making the connection between their food and eating habits and the health of the planet. The volume and proliferation of information sources that children are consuming ten years on – many of which are sharing misinformation – is also causing confusion and may negatively impact healthy dietary behaviours.

For the last decade, Healthy Eating Week has been helping and inspiring people to lead healthier lives by providing nurseries, schools, universities, workplaces, health centres, communities and individuals with a wide range of free activities and resources, based on five daily challenges.

Millions of children and adults participate in Healthy Eating Week each year and, since it launched in 2013, the campaign week has received more than 58,300 registrations to take part from schools, nurseries and workplaces across the UK. The roots of Healthy Eating Week lie in engaging children and young people with healthy lifestyles and, on average, there are more than 5,600 school and nursery registrants in the UK each year.

Healthy Eating Week has continued to expand its reach each year and the event now welcomes universities, workplaces, families and individuals to take part, with resources and activities tailored to different age groups and demographics.

As we look to the future, ensuring our diets are not just healthy for us, but for the planet, is critical. Food production currently contributes around 37% of all greenhouse gases. While the environmental impact of different foods can vary widely, there are some general principles we can all follow to aim for a healthier and more sustainable diet. When Healthy Eating Week launched in 2013, 67% of men and 57% of women in England were classified as overweight or obese. This number is now 68% and 60% respectively and obesity levels among children are also rising. So, it’s clear more work needs to be done and raising awareness of how to achieve healthy eating and lifestyles needs to remain a top priority.” said Stanner.

Healthy Eating Week centres around five daily challenges, supported by a series of informative, evidence-based resources and fun activities suitable for the classroom to take on. The Healthy Eating Week 2022 challenges are:

  • Focus on fibrefor meals and snacks.
  • Get at least FIVE A DAYput plenty on your plate.
  • Vary your proteinbe more creative.
  • Stay hydratedfill up from the tap.
  • Reduce food wasteknow your portions.

To find out more about Healthy Eating Week 2022 and to register, please visit: https://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthy-eating-week/

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