Wimmera Health Care Group’s Health Promotion team has won the prize for ‘Best Exhibit’ in the Moore Exhibition Pavilion at this year’s Wimmera Machinery Field Days.
The Health Promotion team focused their exhibit on Healthy Eating, and featured cooking demonstrations which proved to be popular with dozens of visitors. The exhibit displayed suggestions for the recommended five servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day.
Pam Marshman, Dietitian at the Wimmera Health Care Group, said the Healthy Eating message is an important one that is easily missed.
“One of the important focus areas in health promotion is making sure people get enough fruit and vegetables in their diet. We know that people tend to miss out on five serves of vegetables each day, so we have come up with quick and easy ways to add a few more serves of vegies to meals,” she said.
Ms Marshman said fruit and vegetables provide much of the vitamin and fibre content our bodies require, and are important for general health and wellbeing. Poor nutrition can lead to obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in adults, while in children, it can lead to poor oral health which can have long-term effects.
“At the Field Days we demonstrated lots of quick and easy main meals that contain two or three servings of vegetables, such as tuna salad, lentil soup and vegie fritters. We used ingredients that a lot of people would normally have on their shelves, or things people can pick up at the supermarket. There is no need to buy fancy or expensive items to get your proper vegetable intake.
“One serve of vegetables is about half a cup of a cooked vegetables or one cup of leafy salad vegetables. If you only eat vegies with your dinner five nights a week, you are not getting your recommended intake,” she said.