Healthy Diet and Healthy Weight

 

The cost-of-living crisis is impacting everyone. Increases in food prices and utility costs mean people often have very little budget to provide essential food for themselves and their families.

Foodbanks, such as The Trussell Trust (Stop UK Hunger) provide nationwide access to support in the local community. The Trussell Trust offers food parcels, emergency food supplies, support helplines, a benefits calculator and advice on energy bills.

Web: trusselltrust.org/get-help/

SSAFA Crisis Fund - cost-of-living support
SSAFA's Crisis Fund (2022/23) was relaunched in June 2022 as part of SSAFA’s response to the cost-of-living crisis. The aim of the fund is to provide support to an identified crisis* short-term immediate need. It enables a local branch to be identified and a caseworker to be assigned for onward support; this fund is not a replacement for normal casework.

People who meet the following criteria will be eligible for support:
• Anyone that would normally be eligible for SSAFA support;
• An immediate need has been identified due to the cost-of-living crisis;
• They are unable to access local provision such as food banks, statutory services or in-service welfare teams. 

Please note that the crisis fund team cannot provide financial assistance if:
• An application for assistance has already been submitted on Mosaic (CMS2) for support;
• Crisis support has already been provided.

The fund assists with:
• Food vouchers – These are provided on a case-by-case basis with an individual 
receiving up to ÂŁ50 and a family with two children or more, up to ÂŁ200.

Crisis Fund support will only be provided via the 'Regional Hubs'. To request support an 
individual or SSAFA volunteer must contact their local Regional Hub. Hub staff will complete the 
application form and email it to: crisis.fund@ssafa.org.uk. Hub staff are required to ensure all 
requests are recorded on Mosaic.

Vouchers will be sent directly to the Hub for onward distribution to the beneficiary. The Welfare 
team will not deal directly with any beneficiaries or branches. Please note that, in line with SSAFA policy, retrospective payments cannot be made.

*A crisis case in relation to the 'cost-of-living crisis' is defined as someone unable to feed or clothe themselves.

The Benefits of Eating Well

Whether you're trying to lose weight, get in shape or just live a healthier life, eating well has lots of benefits. From improving your health to saving you money, there are lots of reasons to eat well. If you eat too many foods that are high in fat and sugar, you're more likely to put on weight. You can still enjoy the foods you love by making some small changes and food swaps to help you cut back. Switching from dairy products that are full fat and high in sugar to ones that are low fat and have less sugar can really help.

The Eatwell Guide (NHS)

The Eatwell Guide shows how much of what we eat overall should come from each food group to achieve a healthy, balanced diet. It will help you to balance your meals on a continuous basis. You do not need to achieve this balance with every meal, but you should try to get the balance right over a day or even a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please click on the photo for more information on the NHS Eatwell Guide

Very Brief Intervention

Ask

How important is it for you to eat healthily?

  • Empathise that it is not always easy to eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day but we can all cut down on fat, salt and sugar whenever we can.
  • Eating healthily and the right amount can help you feel your best, stop you gaining weight and lower your risks of getting some diseases.
  • When it comes to watching your weight, it's not just food you need to watch out for as some drinks can also be high in calories.

How would you most like to improve what you eat, if you could?

  • If the answer indicates a desire to increase fruit and veg into the diet then you may wish to signpost them to the NHS '5 a day' top tips and guidance (see Act section).
  • If the answer indicates a desire for healthy food recipes then you may wish to signpost them to the NHS's Better Health Healthier Families guidance (previously Change4Life) which has some useful resources for healthy meals and lunchboxes (see Act section).

Do you check the labels on food packaging when you are out shopping to help you make healthier choices?

What types of drinks do you have in a typical day?

Assist

Explain that some food manufacturers and supermarkets display nutritional information on packaged foods and this can be useful when comparing different food products

  • Front-of-pack labels, such as the label in the image, usually give a quick guide to: 
    • Energy 
    • Fat content 
    • Saturated fat content 
    • Sugars content 
    • Salt content

  • Some front-of-pack nutrition labels use red, amber and green colour coding.
  • The colour-coded nutritional information, as shown in the image above, tells you at a glance if the food has high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt:
    • Red means high 
    • Amber means medium 
    • Green means low 
  • In short, the more green on the label, the healthier the choice if you buy a food that has all or mostly green on the label.

Explain that the Eatwell Guide shows how much of what you eat overall should come from each food group

  

(Image: NHS, The Eatwell Guide)

A balanced diet contains foods from all the five major food groups. The Eatwell Guide encourages us to: 

  • Eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day 
  • Base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates; choosing wholegrain versions where possible; have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks); choosing lower fat and lower sugar options
  • Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including two portions of fish every week, one of which should be oily) 
  • Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and eat them in small amounts 
  • Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of fluid a day

If consuming foods and drinks high in fat, salt or sugar, have these less often and in small amounts.

Would you consider swapping some high sugar drinks for low sugar alternatives?

  • Did you know that swapping one sugary soft drink with water can have huge benefits to your health. One typical can of a regular soft drink can have around 7-10 teaspoons of sugar, which is around the 39 grams of sugar that itself exceeds the recommended maximum sugar intake for an average adult for a whole day.
  • Did you know that tooth decay from high sugary food is the biggest cause of hospital admissions among young children? Would you be interested in some information on sugar swaps for food and drink?

Act

Self Care

  • The NHS Eat Well website contains a wealth of information on different food choices and healthy recipes.
  • The NHS Healthier Families pages have loads of great information about food and drink swaps for a healthier diet.
  • Try the new NHS Food Scanner app! See how much sugar, saturated fat and salt is really inside your food and drink, and find healthier swaps - just by scanning the barcode from your mobile phone (Android and iPhone apps are available).
  • Visit the recipes page on Healthier Families for an extensive list of recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and lunchboxes!
  • NHS Live Well has a useful 5 A Day section with information on what counts towards your 5 a day and recommended portion sizes.