Teaching people to ‘Be Food Smart

People in and around the Wakefield District have been getting food smart this summer with the community food and health team.

The community food and health team, which is provided by the Trust, work across the district to raise awareness of the health benefits of eating a balanced diet. They encourage local people to overcome barriers that stop them from enjoying a healthy diet and run cook and eat sessions that allow people to develop skills, build their knowledge and their experience of choosing and cooking with healthy food.

As part of their efforts to engage the local community the team ran a month of Be Food Smart Summer Roadshows to help people make a change to their eating habits and learn new recipes to cook for their family. Members of the team held cooking demonstrations and handed out Be Food Smart goodies, provided by the national Change for Life campaign, including a Change 4 Life meal mixer cook book and the team got everyone started by demonstrating the Vegetarian Chilli and Bean Salad recipes.

At the same time as sharing information about eating healthily, staff from the Wakefield Change 4 Life team were also on hand introducing the new national campaign ‘Get Going this Summer’ and providing information and freebies to help people make small changes to their lifestyle.

One of the roadshows stopped at Morrisons in Knottingley, where the team were supported by Morrisons Community Champion Kath. The supermarket also showed their support by providing the ingredients needed for the cooking demonstration recipe free of charge. Another national brand that supported the events was Warburtons, which donated the bread for all the roadshows free.

To find out more about the community food and health team call 01924 361212 ext 232 or email foodandhealthteam@swyt.nhs.uk You can also follow the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/communityfoodandhealth