Fork Our Nutrition and Dietetic Health Improvement Team works with colleagues and partners from across the voluntary, local authority and NHS sectors and liaise closely with Oral Health and Health Promotion teams. Our work is driven by local and national policy documents. We engage with local communities to empower and support healthier food choices. We use a person centred and asset based approach to improve communities nutrition knowledge and cooking skills and provide access to nutrition resources, food activity grants and accredited training around food and nutrition.

Community Nutrition

Nutrition in the News

***New Choose To Lose – Practitioner Pack now available!!

Community Dietitians from the NHS Forth Valley Nutrition & Dietetic Weight Management and Health Improvement Team are delighted to announce the launch of their new Choose To Lose – Let’s talk about weight – Practitioners Pack.

This pack has been developed to support healthcare professionals to raise the issue of weight in a positive and consistent manner and with consideration to the words they use to encourage and support people to make positive lifestyle changes.

Starting a short conversation of around 2 to 3 minutes about weight can support a person to start thinking about making their own lifestyle changes. Everyone in direct contact with the general public has an opportunity to raise awareness, motivate and signpost people to help them manage and maintain a healthier weight and improve their overall health and wellbeing. It’s useful for practitioners to use the opportunity at follow up appointments to review weight change progress with their patients.

This pack offers suggestions on how to link weight to a person’s existing medical condition – it provides prompts, conversation starters, practical advice and signposts individuals to useful weight management resources and local services.

Visit Choose To Lose website for further information and practical advice on losing weight.
Let’s talk about weight – Practitioners Pack

Food Activity Grant Scheme

Our Health Improvement Team are pleased to open this years grant scheme. Grants ranging from £50 for short term pieces of work and up to £400 for larger projects will be available to apply for.
These grants aim to support local food activities and initiatives across Forth Valley.

Closing Dates: 15^th May; 15^th Sept; 15^th Dec and 15^th Feb 2020.

Let’s take salt off the menu!

Many of us eat too much salt. Too much salt can raise your blood pressure which can increase your risk of developing health problems such as heart disease and stroke. The UK Department of Health estimates that for every 1g reduction in daily salt intake, 7,000 deaths could be prevented and 4,000 of those deaths would occur before the age of 70.

Adults should aim to eat less than 6g of salt a day – that’s around one teaspoon. Children should eat even less!

It’s worth bearing in mind that as much as 75% of the salt we eat is hidden in the everyday foods we buy. Some foods can be high in salt even although they don’t taste salty. Foods such as breads, breakfast cereal, takeaways and ready meals can contain high amounts of salt.

Remember to check the food labels and choose foods labelled ‘No Added Salt’ or ‘Reduced Salt’.

It’s a good idea to get in the habit of tasting your food before sprinkling the salt.

Smart Salt Swaps

Use black pepper, herbs or spices to add extra flavour to soups, stews, stir fries and other dishes.
Instead of salt try using herbs, spices, chillies, pepper, garlic, ginger, lemon and lime juice.
Reduce your intake of salty snacks – crisps, salted nuts, salted popcorn or salted biscuits.
Cut back on salty foods such as cheese, bacon, pickles and smoked fish.
Watch out for cooking sauces and seasonings like soy sauce – some of these are very high in salt.
Make your own stock and gravy instead of using cubes or granules, or look out for reduced-salt products.

Further Information

Sprinkle Less..Taste More.. – NHS Forth Valley – Leaflet
Salt – Food Factsheet – British Dietetic Association
Tips for a lower salt diet – NHS
Low Salt Shopping Guide
Low Salt Recipes – World Action on Salt & Health
Why not try the Foodswitch App, it’s free, download it and start scanning the barcodes as you shop, it can help you make healthier choices.

Help For Low Income Families – Best Start Grant

The Best Start Grant – Pregnancy and Baby Payment has been launched in Scotland. From the 10th of December, you’ll be able to apply online, find out more here or by calling Social Security Scotland on 0800 182 2222. The Pregnancy and Baby Payment will replace the Sure Start Maternity Grant in Scotland. The Best Start Food Scheme will replace the UK Healthy Start scheme in Scotland, this will be introduced during 2019.

Best Start Grant – Flyer
Best Start Grant – Q and A Sheet

Nutrition and Dietetic Health Improvement Team

Find out more about our nutrition agenda, who we work with and our main work strands:

Nutrition and Dietetic Health Improvement Plan – 2018 – 2021

Find out more about the work our team has been involved in over the past year:

Nutrition and Dietetic Health Improvement Team – Annual Report 2017 – 2018