A Change for Life?

I'm sure we have all seen the NHS advert about healthier eating for families, or more specifically, children. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's called 'Channge4Life' and it aims to get families eating healthier together, swapping suggary snacks for more nutritious ones. It certainly gets its point across- life is so easy and laid-back for us. We need to ensure that parents are feeding their children fruit and veg, and exercising for at least 1 hour a day.

Most of us eat what we want to- perhaps we look at the calories on a product but never really add them all up. I love my food, never check the calories, and admittely eat a lot of rubbish and not enough fruit and veg! I guess it's just convenient, I'm at university and when I'm not there, I'm working part-time in retail. I do try and eat the "good stuff" but I know I never eat as much as I should.

The Change4Life campaign was first shown on TV a couple of months ago, but I heard about it on the news the day before. They also sent out leaflets to every UK household with a pull-out chart so families could monitor what they eat. I think it was thoughful idea as children take more interest when they are actually doing something practical.

I just hope people don't get the wrong idea about this campaign. It frustrates me when people think that a packet of crisps will ruin their healthy diet and they will never forgive themselves. Its a packet of crisps! A balanced diet is crucial, there's no point nibbling on carrot sticks, apples and grapes all day, everyday. You can have a bag of chips, no really, and still be healthy! Just make sure you balance it out with an apple later on.

I like this campaign, especially the way NHS have got their message across. Using a family structure, but without real people. It makes the whole campaign fun and not over-serious. It is however, committed to helping families with tips and advice to enrich their lives. There is even a list of local sports centres so children can exercise and have fun with their friends. Here is a link to the website ">http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/default.aspx

It makes me think, we could all look after ourselves a bit more, or do a little more exercise couldn't we? Any campiagn that makes you think about the topic and refer back to yourself has definetly achieved it's goal.