A healthy eating project is launched in New Plymouth

Balance ME, a pilot project to help people lead healthier lives, was launched at Children’s Day 2008 in New Plymouth.

Workshops on nutrition, budgeting, cooking, behaviour and healthy communities will give participants all the information they need to encourage good eating habits. The idea is based on an Australian programme called Parental Guidance Resource and has been adapted to suit people’s lifestyles in New Zealand as well as food standards here.

“The Children’s Day event was a great success because it was an opportunity to spread the word about Balance ME”, says the project coordinator, Jean Hikaka from Manaaki Oranga.

“During the day, a healthy eating competition saw two families pitting their wits against each other in the ‘whānau challenge’, undertaking a number of physical and nutritional activities.

“We also gave away hundreds of apples, pears and bananas, vegetable boxes and bottles of water.”

Training the trainers
Balance ME is in its first stage and Jean is currently recruiting trainers to run the project. Everyone is welcome to join up but there is a particular focus on Māori and Pacific peoples.

Nine people will be trained to run the five one-and-a-half hour workshops. The trainers will then go out into their communities and encourage people to join up. Each trainer will be expected to train 21 people over the year.

Balance ME will be piloted in three Taranaki areas – Opunake, Marfell, and Hawera. “The workshops are simple and give people tools they can use in their own home,” says Jean. “They will learn about reading food labels so that if the top ingredient on the label is sugar, they will know to put it back! People will have a go at putting together lunch boxes with low sugar and low fat options. They will even learn how to budget and plan meals so there are no temptations to snack on the wrong foods.”

By next year it’s hoped around 190 people will have taken part in the workshops. Jean has just two more trainers to find before the next stage of Balance ME will begin – training the trainers.

“We are really excited about the project because our tamariki are one of the most nutritionally vulnerable groups in our community. Evidence suggests poor eating and poor activity habits developed through childhood are continued through life, increasing the risk of chronic diseases.

“By February next year when the project ends we hope to see more families eating healthy foods like vegetables, fruit and bread, and drinking water and milk. Balance ME is a practical step through which we can help achieve those goals.”

The project is run by Manaaki Oranga Ltd in collaboration with the Taranaki Primary Health Organisations (PHO), Pinnacle Taranaki PHO, Te Tihi Hauora O Taranaki PHO and Hauora Taranaki PHO, and Taranaki District Health Board (DHB).

Tips from Jean

• Submitting the application form to Feeding our Futures for the launch of Balance ME on National Children’s Day was easy and it took two hours to fill out. The hardest part was working out a budget. We were awarded $5,000. “Getting your project off the ground is easy and anybody can apply for funding. If you’ve got a project related to nutrition, then go for it!”
• Feeding Our Futures gives you ongoing support so don’t worry about being on your own. They consistently showed their interest and kept in touch.
• Be optimistic and try everything. If it doesn’t work change it. “Push for things to change in whatever way you can and enjoy the buzz when it works!”
• Get lots of other agencies involved. Balance ME was a huge interagency collaboration including three Primary Health Organisations, TuiOra Ltd (a Māori health development organisation), Manaaki Oranga (Māori provider non-profit organisation), Taranaki DHB, Cheha (part of Health Eating Health Actioin), dieticians, nutritionists, Cancer Society, Heart Foundation, Sport Taranaki, New Plymouth Budget Advisory Group, Cook For Less (a non-profit organisation), Ngati Ruanui Health Centre, Toiora Healthy Lifestyles and six different local community groups. “Being a small organisation, we needed the expertise of other agencies. Try and work smarter and use other people’s knowledge instead of trying to do it all yourself.”
• Ask for help if you don’t have experience with the media. We didn’t know how to make them listen and didn’t know what they were looking for. As a result they did not report on our Children’s Day and the launch of Balance ME. “We could have put more resources into attracting and educating the media. Although the council included our event on a media release, I should have written our own media release and followed it up with a telephone call.”