FRESH DRIVE TO GET KIDS EATING A HEALTHY DIET

The initiative, organised by Llucmajor council and Nutricion Balear S.L., will take place in the Plaza de España and will begin at 9.30am with a healthy breakfast for all the students so that they can later take part in a wide range of activities, which have been grouped by their difficulty level, in six tents erected in the square.

For the youngest, workshops such as “The processing of food”, “What gives us our food”, “Hammer workshop” and “Games from National Nutrition Day” have been prepared, while the older children will take part in games such as “The nutrition twister” and “Food bingo”.

From 6pm there will be a children's party in commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the Fada Morgana infant school with a performance by the animation group Spaguetti.

Finally, at 8pm in Ca Ses Beates there will be a round table discussion about the importance of a healthy balanced diet for children followed by a gastronomic workshop.

In fact, since 2002 Llucmajor has been battling child obesity as a member of the “Improvement of eating habits in the student population” project.
One of the organisers of the day, Nutricio Balear S.L., is the nutritional consultant in charge of the project and, among other activities, it reviews Llucmajor's school menus and those of the town nurseries, and every three months gives classroom talks to impart knowledge about nutrition and eating and to teach healthy eating habits to boys and girls as young as three-years-old.

The council has recently published the results of this project in the Spanish Magazine of Regional Nutrition (January to March 2006) under the title “Changing student eating habits in the town of Llucmajor after two years of educative talks”, where evidence shows that the project has been “effective and fundamental for teaching children to follow good eating habits and therefore prevent obesity”.