Portal de Murcia
www.portaldemurcia.com
More than 3,000 students learn to buy, cook and eat every school year in the workshop of the Classroom of Health, Senses and Sustainability, of the Plaza de Abastos de Verónicos, which manages the Department of Sports and Health.
Councilman Felipe Coello explained that "we offer an innovative program for the prevention of excess weight in children and the promotion of the Mediterranean diet focused on sensory aspects and perceptions. Bringing young people closer to the real buying environment and local and local cuisine Supply Squares is a very effective tool to promote healthy lifestyles. "
The Department of Sports and Health of the City of Murcia develops a program to promote healthy eating and physical activity.
The quality of this program has been recognized nationally by the Ministry of Health with the NAOS Strategy Award (Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity) in 2011 and as a Good Practice of Intersectoral Collaboration in 2017.
In addition, within the framework of the Local Strategy of Circular Economy, and as an entity belonging to the Spanish Network of Healthy Cities of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, this program incorporates strategic measures of healthy habits, promotion of responsible consumption and minimization of waste food
In the wide catalog of programs of Health Promotion of the Health Services of the City of Murcia, the Mediterranean Diet, Sustainability and Gastronomy Workshops are included in the Supply Squares that affect the modification of eating habits through the development of skills buying and cooking practices and the involvement of sensory aspects and perceptions in changes in attitudes and values, as well as peer learning.
The Classroom of Health, Senses and Sustainability is the framework in which this program is developed, a space dedicated to health and the quality of life through the promotion of the Mediterranean Diet that is developed in the Classroom of Raimundo Gastronomic Culture González Frutos of the Verónica Municipal Supply Square.
It is a workshop in which all aspects related to the purchase, processing and consumption of healthy, sustainable, use and sensory appetizing foods are worked on.
It is the participants themselves who carry out the activities in a real local purchasing environment nearby and in the kitchen classroom located on the first floor of the building.
The activity is aimed at organized groups of 25-30 participants, in different modalities according to population groups vulnerable to nutritional risks:
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A menu with senses: for Primary School students (5-12 years old)
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Cooking without my parents: for secondary school students (12-18 years old)
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Workshops "Together: healthy for you, healthy for two": for families in the reproductive stage and with children in their first 1,000 days.
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Workshops for chronic patients, general population and vulnerable groups: associations of chronic patients: patients with renal pathology, diabetics, celiac, health schools, etc.
The main objectives achieved in the program are:
- Develop skills that contribute to healthy eating, food use and adherence to the Mediterranean Diet model.
- Promote a socially and culturally healthy and sustainable purchasing model from homes and educational centers.
- Promote the consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, blue fish and whole grain products.
- Include the sensory dimension of food and perceptions to learn to value different flavors and textures and recognize the reasons for your own tastes and arouse interest in trying new foods.
- Recognize and value the local food heritage, the food culture itself and the market values ​​of fresh proximity products as fundamental elements of food sustainability and economic activation of the territory.
- Contribute to the development of autonomy and self-care through training in purchase and cooking techniques for healthy foods and adapted to different pathologies.
The workshops take place between 90 and 120 minutes long, are directed by a chef and a dietitian-nutritionist, also needing the participation and collaboration of teachers or those responsible for the groups involved.
All the materials and foods that are used are recyclable, sustainable, of proximity and season.
It is carried out in three phases: first, a purchase and sustainability workshop on a tour of the market stalls, making the acquisition of the food to be cooked, after which the cooking and nutrition cooking workshop is carried out, with demonstration of simple culinary techniques and in which attendees actively participate, manipulate, smell, taste and play with each food.
Two healthy recipes are prepared, of use and proximity, a whole wheat coca with seasonal vegetables and blue fish and a skewer or figuration with fresh seasonal fruits.
To finish a sensory workshop with tasting and evaluation of the recipes prepared.
The program has teaching materials such as cookbooks, a program guide and a student notebook as reinforcement for the educational center.
These materials have included a new food guide called "The plate of healthy eating. Healthy for you and for the environment" that proposes a balance between natural foods, which will be healthy for us and sustainable for the environment.
It is a graphic and simple way to understand how food should be and the quality of food to achieve balance in each meal.
Half of the plate should consist of fruits, vegetables and vegetables, seasonal and all colors.
A quarter of the plate corresponds to cereals, mostly in whole form and the remaining quarter is destined for quality protein, such as that provided by fish, lean meat, nuts, legumes and dairy products.
Olive oil and water always accompany this dish.
Since its launch in 2013, around 15,000 participants have been trained with this program, mostly students from schools, but also chronic patients and groups of families with young children.
Participation has increased by 75% in the last 3 years, and in 2018 56 educational centers in the municipality have participated with more than 3,000 students attending.
Teacher satisfaction with the program is 9.89 points on a scale of 10, considering it as an important complement to Health Education in the School for the intense active participation of children in all activities and for the initiation of many of them and them in the consumption of local and seasonal foods that they had never tried as broccoli, cauliflower, raw spinach or blue fish.
The sensory acceptability of the recipes tasted by the participants is measured with a hedonic scale (from "I really like it" to "I don't like anything") so that coca with vegetables and fish has an average acceptance of 8.5 points and the 9.2 point fruit, which means that these healthy recipes are consumed and appealing when children and young people are involved in the purchase and cooking making them protagonists of their own food.
There is scientific evidence that exposure to a wide variety of foods at an early age is related to a high adherence to the Mediterranean diet at later times of life, and this program contributes to increasing the number and variety of foods that children try and girls and young people.
The workshop has a great positive impact, developing individual and community empowerment and providing greater control over decisions and actions that affect your health.
Almost 60% claim to have reflected on their diet and that of their family and made changes because they perceive healthy eating as fun, creative and satisfying.
35% tried foods they had never eaten and incorporated them into their usual diet and 34% improved their breakfast.
All the documentation of the program can be consulted at https://www.ayuntamientomurcia-salud.es and requests for participation should be directed to alimentacionsalud@ayto-murcia.es
Source: Ayuntamiento de Murcia
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