Weight Wise
Weight Wise and Food First
Weight Wise is the British Dietetic Association's Nutrition Campaign. Weight Wise is a nutrition campaign to increase awareness of the benefits of a balanced and varied diet in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. It started in June 2002 and each year there will be a focus of activities during the British Dietetic Association's Food First month (June).
Weight Wise Aims
The aim of the Weight Wise campaigns is to increase public awareness of the benefits of a balanced and varied diet in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. The campaigns also seek to:
- raise awareness of the importance of diet and health amongst target audiences
- promote the delivery of evidence-based nutritional messages to the general public
- raise awareness of the role of registered dietitians, their unique skills and what they can offer to target audiences
- develop mutually-beneficial partnerships with industry, government bodies, media, other health professional groups such that we establish clear satisfactory outcomes of our partners
- make the BDA and registered dietitians be seen by our target audiences as a credible and authoritative voice on nutrition, diet and health.
Why has The British Dietetic Association selected Weight Wise as a theme for it's current campaign?
The number of people who are overweight or obese has been rapidly increasing in the UK. The latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey showed that 41% of men and 33% of women are overweight. A further 25% of men and 20% of women are obese. If this continues, nearly half of the British population will be obese by the year 2010.
What is even more worrying is that there has also been a marked increase in obesity amongst children in the UK. Around 1 in 5 children are now overweight and 1 in 10 are obese.
Being overweight or obese can affect nearly every part of your body. It can increase the chances of having a heart attack, developing diabetes and having high blood pressure, and particularly important for teenagers, it can affect self-esteem.
Being overweight also cost us all money. It has been reported that the cost to the NHS of treating obesity is about £485 million a year.
Weight Wise is supported by an interactive website www.bdaweightwise.com which provides free information and support for anyone wanting to reach a healthier weight and stay there. Found out if you need to lose weight, how to get started and how to keep going when the going gets tough.
The website includes:
- Reliable information based on sound science
- Interactive tools to help you make lifestyle changes
- Lots of practical advice to help you manage your weight effectively
- Independent reviews of popular diets
- Top tips on starting a home exercise program
www.bdaweightwise.com is developed and managed by dietitians and is funded by a grant from the Department of Health.
For information about this years campaign Weight Wise: The Next Generation click here
