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/ .
