27th November 2009
From: NHS
Families throughout NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are being encouraged to get smarter together about their health. The ACES programme has been launched by NHSGGC in conjunction with local authority partners as a response to the increase of childhood obesity.
ACES takes place in the evenings or after school and in local schools, leisure centres and / or community venues and it aims to assist children and young people, in cooperation with their families, to either lose weight or not gain further weight.
Anne Gebbie-Diben, NHSGGC’s Health Improvement Lead, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Weight Management, said:
“ACES is designed so adults, children and young people can learn some ‘tricks of the trade’ about healthy eating and have fun doing physical activity together. Sessions take place with groups of children or young people of similar ages and parents or friends join in.
Each session has been designed with practical solutions in mind to help families make realistic changes that suits their family, help them identify the ‘trigger points’ and what to do and how to best support their children become more active and eat more healthily. Some weeks involve practical food sessions but there will be games and activities every week – so remember your trainers!”
ACES coaches are experienced at working with children and young people and have undertaken over 70 hours of training. The coaches provide support and motivation for each family as well healthy eating advice such as how to make sense of food labelling or how healthy is a milk shake? They will also provide tips to reduce sedentary behaviours such as computer use and introducing new ideas for physical activity so each group can try something they haven’t tried before.
ACES incorporates changes into daily family life and participants set goals on a weekly basis, use lifestyle diaries to record progress and reap the rewards but most importantly it’s about having fun together - whether that’s playing dodge ball or learning to cook pizza!
Feedback from Participants:
“It’s great to be able to share your worries etc and get help form people in the same situation.”
“Staff make you feel at ease and don’t judge you.”
“My girl have lost 3lbs, myself a stone and my husband two stones (Mother to young girl)”
“The cookery sessions has been at the perfect level, just what he is capable of doing himself (Mother to young boy)”
“I can run and exercise much easier than before, it has been easy to make the changes (Boy 11)”
“Couldn’t believe how much sugar it was in a milkshake and I used to drink that all the time, thinking it was healthy (Mother young girl)
ACES is being widely promoted through GP practices, schools and children’s services but
anyone who wants to take part can contact the service directly on freephone 0800 027 0291.
