Choices 4 U

Food Champion application: Improving community diet and nutrition

A series of healthy eating sessions were developed and delivered to a local South Gloscestershire support group called Choices 4 U which aims to support adults with learning difficulties to access community and leisure opportunities.

Members are supported to:

Make choices to do activities that they are interested in as well as thinking about new interests;
Access leisure facilities that will help them feel healthier and confident;
Spend time with their friends and make some new friends;
Think about work opportunities and get help and advice on how to do this;
Learn how to travel independently with support from the Travel Buddy Scheme
Develop their independence skills in daily living;
Get support to look at what training courses they would like to do at college.

Many of the Choices 4 U aims and outcomes are linked with the Government’s White Paper Valuing People Now. This paper has four guiding principles that apply to individuals and services including:

Rights - People with learning difficulties and families to have the same rights as everyone else.
Independent Living – All disabled people should have greater choice and control over the support they need to go about their daily lives, greater access to housing, education, employment, leisure, transport and participation in community life.
Control – People with learning difficulties should be in control of decisions that are made about their life and understand options, implications and consequences to enable people to make informed decisions.
Inclusion – People with learning difficulties should be able to participate in all aspects of community.

The healthy eating project with the Choices 4 U group also supported a number of Council priorities. One aim of South Gloucestershire Council’s Plan and Sustainable Community Strategy is to improve health, and modernize community care and health services. As part of this priority the Council aims to modernise and develop first class services for adults with learning difficulties.

In addition, it aims to invest in additional resources to improve access to work for vulnerable adults and develop vocational services to offer increased levels of support into employment for adults with learning difficulties. The project also meets a Local Area Agreement for the number of local community health initiatives that are supported by the Council’s food and health promotion team.

Aims and Objectives

Aim

To provide a series of sessions on healthy eating and food related topics to a group of adults with learning difficulties.

Objective

To increase the knowledge of key healthy eating messages, such as 5 A Day, the Eatwell plate model, and having breakfast everyday.

To increase the knowledge of key food safety and hygiene practices.

Partners

Choices 4 U Adults with Learning Difficulties Community Group, Community Sports and Leisure Team, South Gloucestershire Council Food Team, and South Gloucestershire Council

Methodology

An initial meeting between the Choices 4 U Coordinator and South Gloucestershire Council’s Healthy Eating Coordinator was arranged to discuss the possibility of running some healthy eating sessions with the Choices 4 U group.

The Healthy Eating Coordinator then met with the Choices 4 U group to discuss what they would want the healthy eating sessions to cover and what areas of healthy eating they wanted to know more about. This information helped to shape a series of 6 healthy eating sessions that were held once a week, with the same group, to increase their knowledge and awareness of healthy eating and a healthy, varied and balanced diet.

The healthy eating sessions covered:

Week 1: The Eatwell Plate This session covered the basics of healthy eating, looked at the different food groups and used some fun, interactive activities about healthy eating and planning meals.
Week 2: Eight tips for making healthier choices This session looked at the 8 tips from the Food Standards Agency for a healthy lifestyle, with a specific focus on fat, salt and sugar.
Week 3: Composite dishes & shifting the balance This session uncovered how the meals and snacks we eat fit into the different food groups of the Eatwell plate, as well as how we can make small changes to the food we eat so that it is healthier for us.
Week 4: Smarter shopping & food labelling This session allowed participants to discover how they could eat healthily without exceeding their budget, and also help them understand food labelling and nutrition information labelling.
Week 5: Planning, shopping for and making a healthy and balanced packed lunch This session gave members of the group an opportunity to shop, plan and make a healthy lunch. It also allowed them to try new or different foods that they would not usually have.
Week 6: Food safety and hygiene This session covered the basics of food safety and hygiene, such as how to prepare food safely, understanding best before and use by dates, storing food properly and getting ready to cook.
Week 7: Cooking session This session allowed the group to do some practical food preparation and cooking. The group decided what recipes they would like to make and as it was Christmas participants made mince pies, and two dips (salsa and guacamole), as part of a pre Christmas celebration.

The information presented at the sessions was kept simple and the main messages that needed to be conveyed were discussed. This was done in an interactive way where possible, for example using photographs or real examples of fruit and vegetables, to help the group understand what would count as a portion of one of their 5 a day.

It was also helpful to use toolkits that showed the amount of sugar, salt and/or fat in typical everyday food and drinks. This helped the group realise what they were consuming when they have certain foods and drinks. Wherever possible the resources used were visual, bright and colourful rather than containing lots of text or long words that the group may not have understood.

Promotion

The Choices 4 U group coordinator recognised there was a need to provide some sessions on healthy eating to the group and therefore suggested this idea to them. The Healthy Eating Coordinator visited the group before the sessions commenced to see what information and topics the group would like to cover. As the group were keen to learn more about healthy eating and food related activities, there was not much need for the sessions to be promoted.

The Choices 4 U group is available for any individual who has learning difficulties that lives within South Gloucestershire Council’s locality. It is based in one of the Council’s priority neighbourhoods, helping to reach individuals with health inequalities.

Resources

The Healthy Eating Coordinator pulled together a range of free resources to be used in the sessions. These resources included:

Visual Powerpoint presentations;
Toolkits showing the amount of salt, fat and sugar in different foods;
Pictures of what counts as a portion of fruit or vegetable;
Photos of different types of oily fish;
Worksheets to write down what individuals had to eat over the course of a day.

Recipes - Members of the group are now working with the Healthy Eating Coordinator to develop a resource pack on healthy eating that they can take away and keep for their personal use. Information in the resource pack will focus on the key messages from each of the sessions detailed above, such as the Eatwell plate, 8 tips for making healthier choices, food safety and hygiene and healthy, easy to make recipes.

Evaluation

Individual user feedback forms were used to record individual’s comments and thoughts about the sessions. The forms also gave an indication of whether the sessions were thought of as good, bad or ok, and 90% of the feedback received shows members of the group enjoyed the sessions that were delivered.

Comments included:

“It was good to learn about eating healthily and learning about 5 a day”

“I enjoyed learning about all of the different types of healthy food”

“I enjoy all the different types of healthy food, and learning about what is good for you”

“I enjoyed healthy eating, learning about what to eat and what not to eat”

“I think healthy eating is good and enjoy the activities we do and learning new skills”

“I have learned about healthy eating and how to improve my diet. I enjoyed trying new food”

Lessons Learned

Although a lot of positive feedback about the sessions was received, one group member said, “I do not enjoy healthy eating, this is not for me”. None of the group members were forced to attend the sessions on healthy eating, and alternative leisure activities were available as the sessions were held at a local leisure centre.

Future Developments

To make the project sustainable some group members are considering taking the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) Level 2 Award in Nutrition, which will be delivered by the Healthy Eating Coordinator at South Gloucestershire Council.

This will allow these members of the group to deliver some sessions on healthy eating to new Choices 4 U group members in the future. The award will also give them a qualification that may help them return to work in food related employment. There is also an opportunity for members of the group to take the CIEH Level 2 Award in Food Safety, which will also be delivered by an Environmental Health Officer at South Gloucestershire Council, if this is of interest to them.

For members of the group who achieve these awards the Council’s Food Team will involve them, on a voluntary basis, in other similar projects around healthy eating and food safety, to allow them to get experience in this area of work.

Contact Details

Contact Name: Charlotte Musgrove

Job Title: Healthy Eating Coordinator

Phone: 01454 863499

Email: Charlotte.Musgrove@southglos.gov.uk

Organisation: South Gloucestershire Council

Address: Civic Centre, High Street, Kingswood, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, BS14 9TR

This case study was added 24 February 2010

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