We've been working away on doing the research and getting the groundwork organised for development of a new, locally relevant, teaching resource for healthy eating. What's happened over the years is we have been using various tools ranging from plate models to plastic food to printed handouts, posters, booklets, fridge magnets etc...trying to line them up with versions of pyramids (and other shapes) and different styles of eating and it's all left us feeling like it's all a bit complicated.
It's not as though there aren't enough different variations of healthy eating teaching tools out there, for example, when doing the background research we found over 1.5 million references came up when searching for 'healthy eating plate model'. The current resources also all go in and out of favour depending on what version of what guidelines are popular. The comment "but I don't eat like that" when using a healthy eating resource...isn't that uncommon, and it's not really unexpected... no one 'static' resource is going to meet all the incredibly varied needs there are out there.
So what we envisaged was something that's a bit of a mix of a range of tools, taking good points and bringing them together. We wanted this resource to be practical, endlessly modifiable to the individual/culture/learning style, be mostly self explanatory, and be able to line up with different ways of eating/changed guidelines etc.
We knew our idea was worth taking further when each time we discussed it with someone, suddenly there were suggestions and more thoughts for improvements, and other ways of applying it. So here it comes, our prototype prototype, nearly ready for consultation, discussion and collaborative design. Many thanks to Phillip Norcross of Integral Print for getting behind the idea and producing a test sample of what the resource could look like.
The next step is consultation which will be ongoing until January 2024. If you'd like to be involved, send an email to kate@diabetesfoundationaotearoa.nz. We want wide representation and different opinions to take this further!
Kate discussing the hot-off-the-press resource prototype with Phillip Norcross of Integral Print.
