We have been recently awarded a small grant to run a Sugar Smart Campaign founded by the Jamie Oliver Foundation. The aims of the Sugar Smart Campaign (www.sugarsmartuk.org) in Glasgow are to:
- Improve understanding about the negative effects of a high sugar diet on health
- Increase awareness about the amount of sugar in different foods and drinks
- Make it easier for people to reduce the amount of sugar they eat and drink each day.
We have officially launched our campaign by running an event in partnership with the Glasgow Food Policy Partnership, involving the media and local councillors on the 6th of October at Chirnsyde Primary school. The children prepared the majority of the event, they have designed invitations but also they helped with the meal preparation and also they have made a video showing how they count the hidden sugar in foods. They were dressed in fruit and veg costumes and they invited the whole community to come along and celebrate the launch of the campaign. We managed to get support from local councillors, NHS health Improvement staff, City Council staff, the Community Food and Health Scotland and Partick Thistle. A follow up article was published in the Evening Times to further promote this.
Some of the work we have done has been mentioned at the Sugar Smart website, which you can check below:
https://www.sugarsmartuk.org/news/sugar_smart_glasgow_community_launch/
As an organisation we will run 12 nutrition workshops in the North of Glasgow primarily to primary schools and community groups, but if there are requests outside these groups we would be still happy to help. If you would like to be part of the campaign, check ways of how you can reduce the sugar consumption in your workplace and have access to useful resources please do not hesitate to contact me.
Possible actions you can take could include some of the following:
- Make fresh drinking water freely available to staff and service users (where appropriate).
- Help people make more informed choices by putting up posters and other campaign materials (particularly around vending machines or till points) that provide information about the sugar content of foods and drinks and the effect of sugar on health.
- Consider adopting retail policies that make low sugar drinks and snacks more affordable and/or more visible than high sugar alternatives.
- Incorporate the Sugar Smart campaign into existing initiatives such as cooking programmes, health eating/get fit programmes, children’s activities and clubs and community meals.
- Review menus, recipes and procurement policies to consider how sugar can be reduced in the food and drinks that are provided.
If you need any further information re this then please contact Lizzie, Milton Food Hub Coordinator on tel: 0141 558 2500