Change4Life Program Case Study

In this essay, we seek to analyze and evaluate the Change4Life program benefits, its downsides, its benefits, as well as, what could be done for the program to be more effective. One of the proposals by the program to reduce calories intake is by fully doing away with sugar cola and adapt other sweet drinks that are friendly to the body, such as diet versions. This was the first proposal after a study revealed that the intake of sugar cola drinks is at its peak, mostly due to its cheap price. These drinks are heavily advertised, and easily available to the adults and also to the children as well. For this reason, the intake of sugar cola is very high, and with the amount of sugar in the cola being very wanting, it is advisable for families to keep away from the sugar cola and embrace diet versions of sweet drinks.

In today’s world and even the past few decades, the use of cheese in the UK has been tremendous in most cooking. Most of the delicious and tasty recipes in the United Kingdom contains cheese. From the famous pizza, bread, and even home food, cheese delivers a tasty and yummy flavor to almost every dish. However, the downside of full-fat cheese is that it increases fat content and calories in our bodies. Regular intake of full-fat cheese can very well lead to overweight conditions, which is not a healthy condition for any person (Hancock, 2009). While it is reasonable to recommend low-fat content dairy products, the program also does not encourage consumption of processed foods, arguing that they lack the nutrients that are considered useful in the body.

In addition, the recommended swap that raises a lot of eyebrows is where they indicate that people should swap butter products for low-fat spreads. This raises most eyebrows because butter is known to contain natural fats, which may be useful to the body if taken in the correct amounts. However, the proposed low fat spreads, such as margarine, have been researched to contain trans fats, which according to Gao (2015), are considered as a danger to health if they get consumed regularly, and in huge amounts. Another criticism to the Change4Life program is that while some of their recommendations on dairy swaps are questionable, they did not sensitive on alternatives and swaps for some of the well-known foods that are considered to be a problem.

He also argued that the School Food Trust has not paid off in improving the meals being offered in schools. Instead, he argues that the program has made more students keep off from eating the school food. What the School Food Trust should have done is introduce the healthy meals in portions, and try to educate the students on the benefits of eating healthy meals. Another criticism by Sanders is that there is no evidence which indicates that eating five portions of fruits and vegetable will contribute to a decrease in obesity. Sanders is a recognized expert on diet and cardiovascular health, which means that he is stating these facts from an expertise standpoint. The Change4Life Program can be considered as a health awareness campaign, which is designed to look at the daily unhealthy activities that most people in the United Kingdom undertake on a daily basis, and propose swaps and alternatives to a healthier lifestyle.

The program aims at improving the health of the UK citizens in both the short-term and the long-term basis. The Change4Life campaign entails giving motivational and educational messages to the people of the United Kingdom in a bid of helping them minimize the chances of getting or developing certain health conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and stroke (Evans, 2011). However, one thing that the Change4Life program should focus on, is how they can change the eating culture of the people of UK. This is because, while it is easy stating that this and this kinds of foods lead to unhealthy conditions, the real work or the challenge that most people would experience, is how they can transition from what they have been taking for years, to a more healthier plate.

Nonetheless, if the Change4Life program would follow the above recommendations and improve their approach on convincing the public to mind their health, there would be fewer mortality rates that are as a result of overweight conditions, which will make the United Kingdom a free calorie nation. Targeting parents to change their eating habits, would help a lot in the campaign, since the parents would be urged to pass down the message to their children, for a healthier family. At the same time, the students through the School Food Trust and the Change4Life program will also be taught on the best eating habits that will lead to a healthy lifestyle. Teaching the students and young adults on how they can live healthier can also be a good way of reaching out to the parents.