BNF Healthy Eating Week 2019 attracts over 4,000 school registrations

4,473 schools and nurseries, representing nearly 2 million children and young people, and 1,850 workplaces (or workplace teams), colleges and universities, representing over 800 thousand adults, have already registered to take part in the British Nutrition Foundation’s (BNF) Healthy Eating Week 2019 (10 – 14 June); with many more expected to register over the coming weeks.
BNF Healthy Eating Week aims to promote and celebrate healthy living – with a focus on eating and drinking healthily, being physically active and sleeping well – by providing schools and workplaces with activities and informative resources to support the five daily challenges: Have breakfast, Have 5 A DAY, Drink plenty, Get active, and – new for 2019 – Sleep well.

Now in its seventh year, BNF Healthy Eating Week provides schools and workplaces with an opportunity to focus on a healthy diet and lifestyle with free, evidence-based resources available for all involved. Participants are encouraged to complete a series of challenges during the week; and materials are designed especially so that activities can be continued all year round.
Roy Ballam, Managing Director and Head of Education at the BNF said: “There are a number of barriers to healthy eating for both children and adults, and this is a real cause for concern. A survey of 2,707 11-16 year olds in the UK, conducted as part of BNF Healthy Eating Week 2018, showed us that 12 percent of young people are not sure what the healthiest foods are. 36 percent of secondary school pupils commented that they don’t like healthy foods and 20 percent said that healthy foods are boring.** BNF Healthy Week aims to address some of these barriers, by providing schools with important information and resources on nutrition, cooking, food provenance and physical activity.”

A new focus for this year is sleep, and resources will highlight that getting enough good quality sleep is a key element of healthy lifestyles. Where a poor night’s sleep can make people feel grumpy and irritable, regular lack of sleep can have a negative impact on dietary choices including higher intakes of calories and more frequent snacking on less healthy foods.
Ballam continues: “With emerging research linking poor sleep quality to less healthy food choices and increased risk of obesity, we felt it was important to introduce the new ‘Sleep Well’ challenge for 2019. As part of the challenge, we are providing a ‘Sleep well’ webinar, where registrants can find out about sleep/wake cycles, how sleep might affect health and bodyweight, as well as sleep recommendations for children and adults.”
For more information about BNF Healthy Eating Week 2019 and to register your nursery, school, college, university or workplace, please visit: www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/hew/bnfhew19.html