Find Thirty It's Not A Big Exercise
That's the message delegates will hear at this week's series of regional Nutrition and Physical Activity Forums
organised by Agencies for Nutrition Action.
Rex Milligan, Coordinator, Physical Activity Programme from the Department of Health, Western Australia, will outline
the Australian campaigns' Find thirty, its not a big exercise, and 'Go for 2 & 5' aimed at getting Aussies more active and eating better.
'It will be a chance to compare the Australian experience with our own similar New Zealand campaigns, 'Push Play' and
5+A Day, which will also be presented at the forums" says, Agencies for Nutrition Action, Executive Officer, Christina
McKerchar.
'We need to be more effective at communicating nutrition and physical activity messages to the public, in order to stop
the confusion that the general public feel about this area. Simple changes such as eating more fruit and vegetables, and
being physically active thirty minutes a day can have very effective health benefits" say's Ms McKerchar.
Campaigns such as 5+ A Day and Push Play are key to encourage these simple but effective changes to improve nutrition
and physical activity levels in the population
5 + A Day has certainly made a difference, the number of people who know that eating at least five servings of fruit and
vegetables each day is important for health increased form 58 percent in 1995 to 87 percent in 1999" says Paula Dudley,
Campaign Manager.
The regional nutrition and physical activity forums are an opportunity for people working in nutrition and physical
activity to network and find out what each other doing so that we can all work together better to improve nutrition and
physical activity in New Zealand" says Ms McKerchar.