Community Education Needs to be Supported by Strong Public Policy to Tackle Food Poverty

Community education needs to be supported by strong public policy if it is to be fully effective at tackling food poverty and obesity, a project evaluation by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) has found. In its evaluation of Decent Food for All (DFfA) - a major project to improve community diet and health - IPH found that where people live and shop had a greater impact on their diet than their own individual awareness and attitudes. Access Tackling Food Poverty: lessons from the Decent Food for All intervention at www.publichealth.ie DFfA was funded by safefood (the Food Safety Promotion Board) and the Food Standards Agency Northern Ireland. The project lasted four years and included hundreds of community education activities designed to improve diet in poorer parts of Armagh and South Tyrone. safefood commissioned IPH to undertake the evaluation of DFfA. Dr. Kevin Balanda, IPH Associate Director, said 'The aim of the project was to reduce food poverty (this is defined as not being able to consume adequate healthy food) and improve health in the target communities. DFfA delivered over 370 core activities to 3,100 residents including local education talks on diet, cookery workshops, fresh fruit in schools, healthy food tastings and information stands. One in eight residents in the target areas participated in at least one of these activities.' The evaluation found that over 1 in 5 adults in the target areas reported they had cut their weekly food spending in the last six months to pay other household bills such as rent, electricity and gas. During the four years of the DFfA activities, this percentage had not changed significantly. There were mixed changes in the nature of food in local stores. While the overall availability and price of food increased, both ﾓhealthierﾔ food and ﾓunhealthierﾔ food were included in that increase. It was only in the larger ﾓmultiple/discount freezerﾔ type of shops that the overall price of food had decreased.

Consumer Focused Review of Fruit and Vegetables

This review provides an update on the fruit and vegetable review conducted in 2007. It collates and considers the information available – academic, regulatory, public health – on the health and food safety implications of fruit and vegetables. It focuses on ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh fruit and vegetables which are consumed raw, whether whole or prepared, and includes products packaged under vacuum or in a modified atmosphere that have not undergone any treatment (chemical, physical or biological) to ensure preservation, other than chilling. The key finding was that 75% of Irish consumers are now able to identify that they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but only a third (36%) of consumers say they are doing so. The average intake of fruit and vegetables is currently less than half that recommended, at 2.4 portions per day. Issues to do with cost, shelf life, preparation time and habit were seen by consumers as barriers to buying and consuming more fruit and vegetables. his review provides an update on the fruit and vegetable review conducted in 2007. It collates and considers the information available – academic, regulatory, public health – on the health and food safety implications of fruit and vegetables. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/Consumer-Focused-Review-of-Fruit-and-Vegetables.aspx#sthash.T98zN2UU.dpuf This review provides an update on the fruit and vegetable review conducted in 2007. It collates and considers the information available – academic, regulatory, public health – on the health and food safety implications of fruit and vegetables. It focuses on ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh fruit and vegetables which are consumed raw, whether whole or prepared, and includes products packaged under vacuum or in a modified atmosphere that have not undergone any treatment (chemical, physical or biological) to ensure preservation, other than chilling. The key finding was that 75% of Irish consumers are now able to identify that they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but only a third (36%) of consumers say they are doing so. The average intake of fruit and vegetables is currently less than half that recommended, at 2.4 portions per day. Issues to do with cost, shelf life, preparation time and habit were seen by consumers as barriers to buying and consuming more fruit and vegetables. This review provides an update on the fruit and vegetable review conducted in 2007. It collates and considers the information available – academic, regulatory, public health – on the health and food safety implications of fruit and vegetables. It focuses on ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh fruit and vegetables which are consumed raw, whether whole or prepared, and includes products packaged under vacuum or in a modified atmosphere that have not undergone any treatment (chemical, physical or biological) to ensure preservation, other than chilling. The key finding was that 75% of Irish consumers are now able to identify that they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but only a third (36%) of consumers say they are doing so. The average intake of fruit and vegetables is currently less than half that recommended, at 2.4 portions per day. Issues to do with cost, shelf life, preparation time and habit were seen by consumers as barriers to buying and consuming more fruit and vegetables. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/Consumer-Focused-Review-of-Fruit-and-Vegetables.aspx#sthash.T98zN2UU.dpuf This review provides an update on the fruit and vegetable review conducted in 2007. It collates and considers the information available – academic, regulatory, public health – on the health and food safety implications of fruit and vegetables. It focuses on ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh fruit and vegetables which are consumed raw, whether whole or prepared, and includes products packaged under vacuum or in a modified atmosphere that have not undergone any treatment (chemical, physical or biological) to ensure preservation, other than chilling. The key finding was that 75% of Irish consumers are now able to identify that they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but only a third (36%) of consumers say they are doing so. The average intake of fruit and vegetables is currently less than half that recommended, at 2.4 portions per day. Issues to do with cost, shelf life, preparation time and habit were seen by consumers as barriers to buying and consuming more fruit and vegetables. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/Consumer-Focused-Review-of-Fruit-and-Vegetables.aspx#sthash.T98zN2UU.dpuf This review provides an update on the fruit and vegetable review conducted in 2007. It collates and considers the information available – academic, regulatory, public health – on the health and food safety implications of fruit and vegetables. It focuses on ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh fruit and vegetables which are consumed raw, whether whole or prepared, and includes products packaged under vacuum or in a modified atmosphere that have not undergone any treatment (chemical, physical or biological) to ensure preservation, other than chilling. The key finding was that 75% of Irish consumers are now able to identify that they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but only a third (36%) of consumers say they are doing so. The average intake of fruit and vegetables is currently less than half that recommended, at 2.4 portions per day. Issues to do with cost, shelf life, preparation time and habit were seen by consumers as barriers to buying and consuming more fruit and vegetables. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/Consumer-Focused-Review-of-Fruit-and-Vegetables.aspx#sthash.T98zN2UU.dpuf This review provides an update on the fruit and vegetable review conducted in 2007. It collates and considers the information available – academic, regulatory, public health – on the health and food safety implications of fruit and vegetables. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/Consumer-Focused-Review-of-Fruit-and-Vegetables.aspx#sthash.T98zN2UU.dpuf

A Happy and a Healthy 2012

Many of us start the New Year with the best of intentions to lose weight, get fitter and eat well. It's that sense of new possibilities and fresh beginnings that can also help motivate changes in lifestyle. The Public Health Agency advises that making small changes to your own and your family's lifestyle can have a significant impact on improving overall health. Taking time to reflect, and making a plan, can all help. Choosing healthier food and increasing your physical activity will help maintain a healthy weight and prevent unwanted weight gain, which can have serious implications for a person's physical and mental health as it is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, respiratory problems, joint pain and depression.What can I do to improve my health?Make 1 or 2 small changes at a time - don't try to change your lifestyle radically or all at once as you're more likely to fail. Small changes in what you eat, or how active you are, are easier to make and more likely to be maintained.Mary Black, Assistant Director of Health and Wellbeing Improvement, PHA, said: "The New Year brings a time when many people reflect on their lives and very often eating more healthily is one of things they identify for change. I recommend setting a couple of small, achievable targets that can then be continued in the long term, for example:Eat breakfast everyday;Eat an extra portion of vegetables every day;Swap deep fried chips for oven chips;Choose fruit for between-meal snacks instead of a biscuit or bun;Begin to enjoy a hot drink on its own without feeling the need to have something sweet at the same time.Be active. Any sort of activity will be good for you. Think about how you can be more active each day. This doesn't have to involve running a marathon or joining a gym. Some suggestions include:· Go for walks with the children/family or friends. It's free! Walk on your lunch break;· Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator;· Park further away and walk to work/school;· Get off the bus a stop earlier and walk the rest;· Minimise the amount of time you are sitting down - take breaks from the computer at work or watching TV at home and walk around;· Children and adults can build up to the recommended daily activity levels in 10 minute sessions rather than doing it all in one session.Adults need at least 30 minutes, five days a week of moderate physical activity and children need 60 minutes of physical activity every day.Mary continued "It's easy for people to get into the habit of spending their spare time sitting down - watching TV, playing computer games, listening to their MP3 players - but being active will help you maintain a healthy weight and generally make you feel better. It can also improve your mood, reduce anxiety and protect against depression."It is what you do most of the time that really matters, so if you eat too much or don't exercise on any one day, don't worry too much - just accept it and get back to your new way of eating and being more active as soon as possible.

Fruit and Vegetables

This review showed that, based on the balance of current scientific evidence, organic fruit and vegetables are no safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced varieties.

Fruit and vegetables

You’ve probably noticed that people are getting more and more into their health these days: going to the gym, buying fancy ‘functional foods’ packed with extra vitamins, calcium, and so on. That’s all great, but what people may not realise is that some of the most ordinary foods are actually quite extraordinary. Genuine ‘superfoods’, in fact. Fruit and vegetables are superfoods. Why? Because they contain awhole lot of different vitamins and minerals, they’re low in fat and calories and also have some fibre. All that, and flavour and colour for your meals as well.

Cut down on salt

Adapted from the Irish Heart Foundation We all know that too much salt is bad for our hearts. But what can you do to cut down? Between 65% and 70% of the salt we eat comes from processed food, fast food, and canteen and restaurant food – so as well as reducing the amount of salt that you add to food, it’s especially important to cut down on the amount of salt you get from processed food. Getting to know your way around nutrition labels will go a long way to help you do this.

Behaviour change at population, community and individual levels: NICE Public Health Guidance 6

This guidance is aimed at those responsible for helping people to change their behaviour to improve their health. This includes policy makers and those working in local authorities and the community and voluntary sectors. It gives advice on how to plan and run relevant initiatives. The recommendations include the following advice: base interventions on a proper assessment of the target group, where they are located and the behaviour which is to be changed: careful planning is the cornerstone of success  work with other organisations and the community itself to decide on and develop initiatives build on the skills and knowledge that already exists in the community, for example, by encouraging networks of people who can support each other take account of and resolve problems that prevent people changing their behaviour (for example, the costs involved in taking part in exercise programmes or buying fresh fruit and vegetables, or lack of knowledge about how to make changes) base all interventions on evidence of what works train staff to help people change their behaviour evaluate all interventions.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

WALK Community Garden

WALK operate a Community Garden in Dublin 12 which promotes the growing of fresh fruit, vegetable, salad leaves and flowers which change seasonally. The garden helps create a sense of community and advocates the benefits of growing healthy food, environmental awareness and sustainability. It offers an opportunities for people to take part in hand-on, activity based learning with some formal training offered to local groups and individuals with varying levels of skill and ability. This outdoor space fosters an interest in growing and guides people in learning new skills which can be transferred to their own gardens or allotments. Dublin City Council Initiative Type Community Food Growing Projects Location Dublin 12 Funding Dublin City Council Partner Agencies Dublin City Council Dublin Mainstream Access Project Scoil Colm