[TIPS] Why is Healthy Catering Important? [EN]

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from http://www.food.gov.uk/healthiereating/healthycatering/healthycatering01

Why is healthy catering important?
Friday 30 September 2005


With more and more food being prepared and eaten outside the home, you are in a position of influence. If you work in a school or college, staff canteen or local sandwich bar, you may well be serving the same customers every day, so you will be serving up a significant portion of their diets. This means you can really make a difference.
Why does it matter?Almost 24 million adults in the UK today are overweight or obese and, if trends continue, by 2010 one in four of us will be obese. Levels of obesity have trebled in England over the past 20 years and they are still rising. Figures for Scotland are similar and Wales has one of the worst health records in Europe. But healthy catering is not just about reducing obesity.

Changing what people eat could also help avoid about a third of all cancers. For example, diet is thought to increase the risk of bowel, stomach and lung cancer, and high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis and tooth decay can all be diet related. Eating a healthy diet also helps protect against heart disease and stroke.

Many health risks can be dramatically reduced by choosing a healthier lifestyle including plenty of physical activity and a healthy diet. You might not be able to get people moving, but you are in a position to give your customers the chance to choose healthier food and to do it without compromising on taste.

Today, more and more consumers are looking for healthier options. And remember, by serving healthier options you could be improving the health of your customers and saving yourself some money. For example, you could increase the amount of cost-effective starchy foods you serve, such as rice or pasta, and reduce the amount of sauce, which can be more expensive. This will be good for your customers and good for you.

See the section Planning your menu for some more money saving ideas.