Pupils tackle a weighty subject
AN innovative weight-loss scheme for pupils at a Swindon school has been a big hit.
Eight students from Greendown Community School took part in the 10-week course, which helps youngsters lose weight through a combination of physical activity and nutritional education.
And they all received certificates for completing the course.
The programme was run by MEND - Mind, Exercise, Nutrition. Do it - a healthy lifestyle programme aimed at seven to 13-year-old overweight children, and funded by Sainsbury's.
One of the children who benefited from the twice-weekly sessions was 11-year-old Mario Goncalves.
Mario, who is originally from Spain, but who now lives in Old Town, said he was more confident because of the course.
He said: "We do a lot of different exercises and we've learned about food.
"The teachers are really nice and I've made some good friends through the course.
Sophie Embling, 13, was another pupil who benefited from the sessions. She said: "I enjoyed the dancing lessons and I've learned about food.
"I don't eat as much fatty food now and I try a new fruit or vegetable every day."
Sophie's mother , Sandra, said: "There are also sessions for the parents, so we learn about different issues to do with nutrition and obesity.
Pat McDonald, Sainsbury's community food and health adviser for Swindon, said it was important to get the family involved.
She said: "The focus of MEND is not only on losing weight, it's also about learning ways to achieve a healthy lifestyle."
10:00pm Wednesday 26th March 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Captain Sensible, Near Swindon on 7:22am Thu 27 Mar 08
Its quite simple, eat less, exercise more and stop shovelling ready meals, sweets, burgers, KFC, chips and crisps down your throats.It a sad reflection on society when parents have to be educated about what to feed their own offspring to make them more healthy.
Its quite simple, eat less, exercise more and stop shovelling ready meals, sweets, burgers, KFC, chips and crisps down your throats.It a sad reflection on society when parents have to be educated about what to feed their own offspring to make them more healthy.
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
