Hyperactive behaviour in children linked with artificial colourings
In the Guardian today (9th April 2008), the Food Standards Agency associated hyperactive behaviour in children to artificial colourings. The Agency wants six colourings to be removed from food and drink made in Britain by the end of next year. These are sunset yellow (E110), quinoline yellow (E104), carmoisine (E122), allura red (E129), tatrazine (E102) and ponceau 4R (E124). In the meantime, parents can choose to avoid buying products containing these additives.
You can read the full article here.
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These placemats are a resource that children will find fun and at the same time informative about healthy eating. They are part of the Uscreates project for promoting healthy living for children in primary schools. The placemats are based on the ‘Eatwell Plate’ and outline the portions of food groups. They were designed using the children’s original drawings.
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The Mental Health Foundation, a UK leading charity that carries out research on mental health problems, says that food has an immediate and lasting effect on our mental well-being. Common mood swings and feelings such as depression, insomnia, and stress are mainly a result of eating deficiencies. The Mental Health feeding minds’ web-page takes you through a user friendly interactive journey where you can specify what you are suffering from, and they will give you the exact vitamin or mineral supplements you need and the foods they can be found in. Lethargy for example can be overcome by eating Zinc rich foods such as fish, seafood, nuts and seeds.
Find out more here.
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In her latest book ‘Delia’s How to Cheat at Cooking’, Delia Smith has sourced a list of pre-prepared foods to give shortcuts for busy people who have no time to cook! What do you think about it?
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Apparently the average computer keyboard contains nearly 400 times as many microbes than a toilet seat. Add this to the fact that the majority of Brits eat at their bacteria-infested desk and its enough to make you ill.
Find out more about the 12 Workplace Health Sins that we are probably all guiltily of here.
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River Nene have kindly sponsored the Experience Food at Work initiative.
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The obesity epidemic will cost Britain £7bn by 2010. Now firms are taking action to combat the problem themselves.
Read the full article published by the Observer and written by Janice Warman here.
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The Health Minister Ivan Lewis announces £10 million of capital funding to finance improvements to occupational healthcare services offered to small and medium business.
Read the full Department of Health article here.
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Uscreates have developed a range of Healthy Living Challenge Sheets which encourage primary students to engage in healthy living messages. The sheets feature ‘Zug’ a character who accompanies students on their Healthy Living Challenge giving tips, inspiration and fun along the way.
Graphic Designer Hoo Yang Leung worked with Uscreates to design the sheets. Methods used to create shadow puppets inspired Hoo Yang to create the Zug character. Hoo Yang ripped up paper to create Zug’s strange, quirky shape.
The resources needed to be exciting and engaging but as they are to be reproduced in schools (black and white photocopying), minimal colour could be used. Hoo Yang’s shadow puppet method of character creation was an ideal and innovative solution.
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Uscreates have designed a range of 7 Healthy Living Challenge Sheets as part of a Teaching Resource Pack being developed for schools in Woolwich. The sheets challenge primary students to fulfill tasks that relate to the 7 Healthy Living Messages being introduced in classroom sessions. The sheets also use interesting games and activities to engage students and their families in the healthy living themes.
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Uscreates have developed a number of interventions to promote healthy eating behaviours in the workplace. For information on how to introduce health promotion interventions into your workplace download the Intervention Inspiration Resources here.
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As part of Uscreates project designing communicative material for schools in Greater Woolwich, we have designed the ‘breakfast helps me concentrate’ t-shirt. According to the Healthy Schools Coordinator, a large number of children come to school without eating breakfast. By the time they eat lunch, it is around 17 hours since they last ate a meal (dinner) and concentration diminishes. This t-shirt can be used as a pyjama top, with the aim of promoting and reminding parents and children to eat breakfast before school and uses a picture created by a pupil from a local Primary.
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Uscreates is listed as a company that is changing food in the workplace in a recent article for the Times Online. ‘What’s cooking in the canteen? – Is eating lunch at your workplace a risky business?’ reports on the problems surrounding employees’ health and eating habits at work. The article highlights some good examples food interventions and key points to change the catering facilities in your workplace.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink
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Concentrate has just launched their range of products to help students concentrate at school in John Lewis. The range includes a “Food for Thought” lunch box, which has been specially designed to hold fruit. Buy the Concentrate range and find out more here.
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As part of the Healthy Eating Pilot at Breckland Council, Uscreates organised the Visiting Chef event to provide healthy, and tasty, lunch ideas to the workforce.
Alex the Chef developed a range of recipes especially for Breckland employees. Cooking demonstrations and tasters were delivered throughout the day and recipe cards were produced for employees to take away.
Ask Alex
Alex the Chef is available for private catering events. Contact Alex the Chef by emailing Alex_Firman@hotmail.com
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Read more about the Unum Healthy Workplace Award by clicking here.
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Creative Partnership awarded students at schools in London a budget to change something about their school. The primary aim was to empower students to design and improve their learning environment.
We worked with a group of art students at Dunraven Secondary School to design an awareness campaign for the school canteen. The students produced a number of designs for a large-scale billboard advertisement and posters to communicate issues around food and culture to the rest of the school.
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Uscreates is working with three schools in Greenwich on a yearlong project to design teaching resources and communicative material to promote healthy living. The first design is a t-shirt/pyjama top to remind parents and children to eat breakfast before school. The final t-shirt is currently being designed using the Cardwell school pupils’ designs and will be mass produced and distributed around other local schools. For now, here is one of the pupils ideas!
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Everyday we hear more advice about what we should eat and what we shouldn’t eat. It’s all so confusing. Who should we listen to?
The Social Research Centre SIRC have composed a timeline detailing dietary advice reaching as far back as prehistoric times. Visit the timeline here.
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Following the Workplace Healthy Eating Audit that Uscreates carried out in Breckland Council offices, to identify barriers to healthy eating, Breckland Council commissioned Uscreates to design and implement methods of promoting healthy eating in the workplace. Below are the interventions that we are developing to be installed later this month.
An interactive poster promoting the ‘Five a Day’ message and providing fruit for the workplace.
Why?
The Breckland site has limited food-purchasing facilities. Breckland Council wanted to provide their workforce with healthy food opportunities within a limited budget.
What?
We worked with staff and health specialists to develop ideas to introduce to the Breckland site. Uscreates developed the honesty fruit bowl concept into a low cost product back up by a simple service to allow staff easy access to fruit but without high cost to the organisation.
A day of Health and Nutrition MOTs offering the workforce a fifteen minute one-to-one session with a qualified dietician.
Why?
Breckland Council wanted to provide opportunities and support for individuals who wanted to make improvements to their health and nutrition.
What?
We worked with dietician’s to develop a questionnaire and one-to-one session, which measured BMI, weight, and waist measurements. The sessions provided participants with a 5-point action plan to make positive changes to their diets. A personalised text service will send out relevant information supporting the action plans.
A lunch pack delivery service providing a minimum of 3 or your 5 A Day fruit and vegetables conveniently delivered to your desk.
Why?
Breckland Council offices are situated on an industrial estate in rural Dereham. There are very limited healthy food options available for staff for lunch.
What?
We worked with the local sandwich delivery van ‘Sandwitch’ to develop a healthy food pack that contains at least 3 or your 5 A Day fruit and veg.
This service is still under development but other plans include devising a system where packs are delivered to employee’s desks which will help to make the healthy option the easy option.
A Breakout zone providing the workforce with an area to eat lunch away from their desks.
Why?
The audit showed that the majority of staff ate lunch and took their lunch break at their desk. Breckland Council wanted to provide opportunities for staff to take a quality lunch break away from their workstation.
What?
We are working with the staff to transform the staff room into a Breakout Zone refreshing the current interior and providing dinning furniture. New signage for the Breakout Zone will encourage staff to use the space and to take quality breaks away from their desks.
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Uscreates is part of a team that has devised a project to design a healthy take-away service and interactive tools encouraging better food habits for people using mental health services.
Evidence shows people with long-term mental illness also suffer from poor physical health. A causing factor is unhealthy nutrition caused by lack of cooking and budgeting skills; inadequate cooking facilities; difficulties in obtaining food; and side effects of medication. As a result many people with long-term mental illness rely heavily on take-away food, which may not promote good nutrition or be the best use of a limited income. A healthy alternative to take-away food could benefit both mental and physical health and provide education and employment opportunities.
Uscreates is currently working with three mental health trusts in London and the University of East London to source funding for this work.
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To all Breckland staff
This is your opportunity to raise your dietary concerns with a leading expert in the field of diet and nutrition. Your dietician will be able to chat through your nutritional and health concerns and will point you in the right general direction and make recommendations about what you may need to do next.
You will also receive a body composition measurement from TANITA. This is a very quick and easy way for you to find out about your body’s content of fat, muscle and water, and it will help the dietician check whether this is in the normal range
Breckland are providing employees with free Nutrition and Health MOTs as part of the Experience Food at Work Healthy Eating Pilot.
There are limited places so email zoe@us-creates.com to register your interest ASAP. (Time slots below).
What?
15-minute one to one session with a qualified dietician focusing on any aspect of your diet or eating habits that you want to address. You will leave with a 5-point action plan to make changes.
Who?
The MOTS are available to anyone who wants to improve their health and nutrition. You might want to get fit, lose weight, lower cholesterol, get more energy, or continue to be healthy.
When?
Thursday 24th May from 1pm – 4pm. NEXT WEEK so book in quickly.
Where?
Breckland Council Offices (Elizabeth House)
Private room to be confirmed.
Want to sign up?
There are limited places so please email your preferred appointment time from the list below to
zoe@us-creates.com.
You will receive confirmation of you appointment and more information.
Times:
1.00 – 1.15
1.20 – 1.35
1.40 – 1.55
2.00 – 2.15
2.20 – 2.35
2.40 – 2.55
3.00 – 3.15
3.20 – 3.35
3.40 – 3.55
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‘Hungry Planet’ is a photographic study of families around the world, revealing what people eat during the course of one week. This link shows highlights from the book. From the Natomo family gathering for a communal dinner of millet porridge with tamarind juice in Mali to the Caven family enjoying corndogs-on-a-stick in the USA, there are some really interesting images and surprising facts and figures.
For information on where to purchase the book click here.
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If you are a Breckland employee and are interested in registering your interest in the Experience Food at Work pilot click view below and leave your contact details.
NB: Contact details will be used solely for the Experience Food at Work pilot and will not be passed on to any third parties.
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As part of the Healthy Eating Pilot at Breckland Council, Uscreates carried out both quantitative and qualitative research.
Whilst researching the culture of Breckland Council, Uscreates asked employees to choose songs that they would include on the Breckland Office Sound Track.
If you would like a free copy of the sound track please click on view comments and leave you contact details.
Breckland – The Sound Track
Track 1 -The Future by Leonard Cohen
Track 2 – On the good ship lollipop by Tiny Tim or Shirley Temple
Track 3 – Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf version) by The Pixies
Track 4 – 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton
Track 5 – Don’t Look Back by Lucie Silvas
Track 6 – Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves! By Aretha Franklin & Eurythmics
Track 7 – The Best by Tina Turner
Track 8 – I Only Want to Be With You by Dusty Springfield
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Experience Food is an initiative by Uscreates to use design to improve eating habits.
- Experience Food Related Articles
- Experience Food at Work
- Experience Food Learning
- Experience Food Mental Health
- Hyperactive behaviour in children linked with artificial colourings
- Eatwell Placemats
- Feeling tired? Eat more ......
- How to Cheat at Cooking
- 12 Workplace Health Sins
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Uscreates is dedicated to designing social change