Nestlé Healthy Kids
The Nestlé Healthy Kids programme is a global undertaking by Nestlé to improve the nutrition, health and wellness of school age children around the world, through better eating, greater physical activity and other key health measures such as hygiene.
In Singapore, we are collaborating with Health Promotion Board (HPB), the local health authority, to bring the Nestlé Healthy Kids programme to Primary 3-5 students in public schools. The aim is to educate and encourage these children to eat well and be active for healthy living.
Jointly with HPB, we develop the following 3 key nutrition messages.
- Eat BMV, choose HCS (Healthier Choice Symbol)
- Take more Wholegrain
- Consume Less, salt, fat, sugar
Exercise can be fun!
What do we mean by eat BMV? Well, simply that one should have a Balanced meal, consumer everything in Moderation and have a Variety of foods so our body has the necessary nutrients to grow and develop healthily. Children are also encouraged to have at least 2 servings each of fruits and vegetables as well as what one serving means.
For physical activities, students are taught that exercise can be fun and is necessary to complement a healthy lifestyle. They need 60 minutes of physical activities daily and these can be made up of bouts of 10-15 minute sessions throughout the day.
The highlight of this programme is the Recipe demonstration where the students are introduced to great tasting healthy meals. Simple ideas such as adding wholegrain cereals to their favourite beverage can easily help them incorporate more wholegrain intake into their daily diet. Healthier cooking methods such as baking instead of deep-frying can also result in great tasting chicken nuggets.
Now I know what’s one serving of vegetable
Besides the students, we believe it is important that their parents or care-givers are also made aware of simple steps towards a healthy life. That’s why we also develop “A Practical Guide to Nurture Active Healthy Children”. With this, we hope that the messages and practices can be reinforced in the home environment as well. This way, students and their parents can be on their way to an active, healthier life.
To date, we have reached out to more than 60,000 students since the programme was first piloted in 2010.