The Beagle
Feb 21, 2018
Schools across Southern NSW Local Health District will join a state-wide effort to break the
record for the number of students crunching vegetables simultaneously on Thursday 1 March
in The Big Vegie Crunch, part of NSW Health’s Vegetable Week.
According to the 2014-15 National Health Survey, 19 out of 20 Australian kids are not eating
enough vegetables. The survey found that while 68% of children are eating the
recommended serves of fruit every day, only 5.4% are eating the recommended serves of
vegetables.
Simply encouraging children to eat vegies because they are ‘healthy’ sometimes isn’t good
enough. Vegetables need to be fun and appealing to get children excited about eating them.
So schools in Southern NSW Local Health District, with the support of the Healthy Kids
Association, are participating in The Big Vegie Crunch – a record-breaking attempt to have
the most Aussie kids eating vegies simultaneously.
Southern NSW Local Health District will be represented by 20 schools, who will join with
thousands of other primary school students from across NSW to all crunch on vegies
together. The Big Vegie Crunch is being held as part of Vegetable Week which runs from 26
February to 2 March 2018.
The schools will be aspiring to break the previous record of 29,067 students crunching
vegetables simultaneously. This experience aims to increase students’ knowledge, exposure
and positive attitudes towards the vegetables.
Emma Woolley, Health Promotion Coordinator at Southern NSW Local Health District, said
that fun, interactive, school-based campaigns such as Vegetable Week and The Big Vegie
Crunch can help to influence the variety and amount of vegies kids choose to eat.
“It is recommended that children between the ages of 4 and 12 eat around five serves of
vegies each day. Events like this in the school setting, combined with positive peer influence
and education around food, can improve awareness and inspires kids to try different types of
vegies. The aim of this event is not only to get kids excited about breaking a record, but to
encourage them to choose more vegies every day,” said Ms. Woolley.
For more information on Vegetable Week and The Big Vegie Crunch, go to:
http://healthy-kids.com.au/teachers/vegetable-week-the-big-vegie-crunch/
.