The change4life programme has been making a very real difference getting people healthier and fitter across the region. Hannah Davies reports on the programme’s champions.

HOW do you get the message of healthier living out to people? That’s the key question health chiefs have been asking themselves since the problem of rising obesity levels in the region has really hit home.

Getting the message of healthy eating and exercise out to people in the community is one proven way of changing people’s habits.

Change4Life Champions are local people who work in their community to make a difference to people’s lifestyles.

Often the first lives they change are their own, as Lynn Milburn, 30, a Change4Life Champion with Newcastle West, points out.

Lynn is a dinner lady at St John’s Primary in Benwell, Newcastle, and chair of the Riverview Community Nursery.

Lynn’s partner is Malcolm Clark, 36, who works in the biscuit factory at Team Valley, Gateshead. They have two children, Matthew, eight, and Alfie, two-and-a-half.

She says: “I’ve learnt a lot from the Change4Life Champions course.

“One of the surprising things was what I thought was healthy wasn’t actually healthy. When I was doing packed lunches for the kids, I thought I was putting healthy stuff in, but I wasn’t.

“I thought low-fat and reduced-salt crisps were good for you. But they still have quite a high level of both of those things in.

“I was also putting juice in that had no added sugar but it still had lots of other stuff in that was bad for the children.

“I found that replacing a chocolate bar by making my own oat bars, which were much more healthy, was a great way to still have a treat.”

Lynn has been chosen as a Change4Life champion as she is a parent’s voice representative for SureStart in Newcastle’s West end.

She comments: “I’ve lived in Benwell all my life, so it’s important to me to represent local people.

“The Change4Life is hugely important. It involves learning about healthy eating and following the national Change4Life campaign.

“There’s healthy eating activities, stuff for children to get involved in and a demonstration on how to prepare a healthy packed lunch and stuff like that.”

Lynn adds that her own family’s shopping trip is now very different.

She comments: “To the family, it’s made a lot of difference when I go shopping. I look at stuff I’m eating much more.

“We have things like natural yoghurts. My eldest son has special needs and learning difficulties and now he’s finding his food a lot more healthy.

“I have natural yoghurt and bananas and grapes for breakfast. We’ve been trying out all the recipes; he’s been making oat bars and he’s eating brown bread and wraps.” The healthy living has had another knock-on effect.

Lynn says: “I’m losing weight through it as well. I’m becoming more healthy, my sons have got much healthier.

“It’s very rare the kids will have a can of coke. Now they have water and smoothies. They’re playing outside much more as well.

“I just did the course before the six- week holiday. Now I’m going back in to the community nursery and I’ll be working alongside parents.

“I’m linking into the school I’m working with and I’ll do a demonstration on healthy eating to try to get parents signed up.

“I think what you get too much is people saying ‘this is bad for you’.

“This course does change your perceptions. A lot of people are learning what to do; it’s also showing you can do a packed lunch which would be £5 a week.”

Change4Life is funded by Newcastle PCT via public health consultant Dawn Scott. HealthWORKS manages the Change4Life in West Newcastle.

It doesn’t lecture people. Instead it helps people make better choices for themselves and their families.

Professor Chris Drinkwater, President and Public Health Lead for the NHS Alliance, comments: “People are fed up with being told to lose weight. They need to be given the resources and support so that they can make decisions for themselves and take control.

“The Change4life in west Newcastle initiative is precisely what this is about whilst having fun and losing weight at the same time.”

Sarah Cowling of HealthWORKS Newcastle says: “Change4Life Champions in west Newcastle is a model using real people in their communities to get the message across that small changes can make a big difference to their friends, family and neighbours.

“It’s non medical and de-professionalised and it’s not about calorie counting for a couple of weeks or dropping a dress size to go on holiday and coming back and putting it all back on again.

“It’s about smaller portions for good. Looking at people understanding what they eat is as important as how much they eat, alongside becoming more active.”