 This month with Easter on the horizon we are focusing on healthy eating choices and suitable portion sizes, which can help to reduce obesity which is an increasing problem in the UK.
 By learning more about healthy eating for children and doing all you can to serve the right amount of the right food, each mealtime, you will be taking a huge step forward to looking after the general wellbeing of your children. This approach, plus encouraging your children to be more active on a daily basis will also help to steer your children away from becoming one of the statistics that contribute to the high child obesity levels in the UK. It will help you start tackling the issue if any of your children are already overweight. Nearly a third of children aged two to 15 are overweight or obese (source: gov.uk). The NHS Better Health Programme now includes the Change4Life resources including a YouTube video that talks about 'me-sized' meals which may be useful to use for staff meetings or share with your parents.
Earlier this month saw Food Waste Action Month. Around a third of the food produced globally is lost or wasted and it’s having a real impact on climate change, contributing 8–10% of total man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
That is why Love Food Hate Waste are dedicated to raising awareness of the environmental consequences of wasting food, and promoting activities that help to reduce the amount of food we waste. The global impact together with rapidly rising food prices make it more important than ever to only buy what we need, so now is an excellent time to forge new habits by wasting less and in doing so reduce your food bills. You may also save on your energy bills by not having to run extra equipment to store excessive amounts of food. Love Food Hate Waste have some useful recipes on their website as well as advice on portion sizes and their portion planner.
 Top tips for parents about child-sized portions
Getting it right doesn't have to be difficult - just share these tips about portion sizes from the NHS Live Well Campaign with your parents.
Try to avoid feeding your child oversized portions. There is very little official guidance on precisely how much food children require, so you'll need to use your own judgement. As a basic rule a portion often equates to the size of their palm. A good rule is to start meals with a small serving and let your child ask for more if they are still hungry.
Try not to make your child finish everything that is on their plate or eat more than they want to as this can encourage overeating.
Avoid using adult-sized plates for younger children as again it encourages them to eat oversized portions.
It can help if you encourage your children to eat slowly and have set mealtimes. If you sit with them then you can use mealtimes as an opportunity to catch up on what has happened during the day.
Explain to your child how to get the balance of their diet right using the Eatwell Guide. It shows how much they should eat from each food group.
 You can make this as an occasional treat with any fruit you have that needs using up, e.g.
- 1 speckled banana, peeled and sliced
- 1 over-ripe peach, any brown bits removed, chopped and stone removed
- A few blueberries, strawberries or any other soft fruit
- 125ml of milk or orange juice
- Put the ingredients into a blender and whiz until smooth (or if you haven't one, put the fruit into a cup or bowl and mash with the back of a fork until smooth before slowly adding in the fruit juice or milk)
- Pour into a cup and serve
 Physical activity also helps to promote a healthy lifestyle. Why not try one of these 10 minute Disney shake up activities to help your children towards their recommended 180 minutes of activity per day for those children who can walk independently.
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