fooddudes

This term our school has decided to participate in the Food Dudes Healthy Eating Programme, a programme available nationally to primary schools in Ireland.  We took  part in this programme back in 2008 and it was a great success.Now,  funding has been made available for schools that previously ran Food Dudes to implement it for their new intake of students. The Food Dudes programme aims to encourage children to eat more fruit and vegetables. Health experts recommend that children (and adults) eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables each day. However, many children (and adults) currently eat less than this. The programme is managed by Bord Bia. It is based on a very successful large scale study developed by the Food & Activity Research Unit at Bangor University, Wales. It was trialled in schools in England and Wales and has reached more than 3100 schools in Ireland with outstanding and long lasting results. The programme in Ireland received a “counteracting obesity” award from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2006. The programme has two phases. Phase 1, where children receive free fruit and vegetables in their school for 16 days and are rewarded with stickers and small prizes for eating these foods, and Phase 2, when children are rewarded with certificates of achievements for bringing in and eating fruit and vegetables from home as part of their daily lunch diet. Please see overleaf for some suggestions and lunchbox ideas. The programme depicts positive role models – young superheroes (the Food Dudes) involved in saving the ‘life force’ from a gang of baddies (the Junk Punks), who plan to take away the energy of the world by depriving it of fruit and vegetables. In a series of DVD adventures the Dudes to battle with the bad guys, whilst eating lots of fruit and vegetables. There are also Food Dudes letters read out in class that urge children to help keep the life force strong by eating fruit and vegetables. Stickers and small rewards are offered for participation in the programme. The small rewards are designed for primary school children aged 4 years and over.  The aim of the programme is to encourage children to emulate the superheroes and repeatedly try fruit and vegetables so that with each successive trial, the children come to enjoy the taste of the foods and eat them for this rather than for the reward. They also come to think of themselves as healthy eaters who enjoy fruit and vegetables. The programme takes only a small amount of time in school but will hopefully result in health benefits for all who participate.

We hope you and your child have fun with the Food Dudes!