07 Feb 2020 Blackburn with Darwen prepares to #GiveUpLovingPop!
#GiveUpLovingPop arrives in Blackburn with Darwen for the first time ever this February, with secondary school pupils, staff and parents across the borough encouraged to switch sugary drinks for water and milk.
Children and young people are consuming more than three times as much sugar as the maximum recommended daily intake, most of which comes from sugary drinks. The recommended daily maximum of sugar in a person’s diet is no more than five cubes of sugar for four to six year olds, no more than six cubes for seven to ten year olds and no more than seven cubes for 11 years and older, including adults. One can of Cola can contain nine cubes alone, pushing a person over their recommended daily allowance before you even consider any added sugar contained within food and other drinks. This results in our risk of developing certain diseases such as tooth decay, weight gain and type 2 diabetes increasing, due to the high sugar intake.
An easy way to reduce sugar intake is to #GiveUpLovingPop! And not only that, by swapping to refilling GULP water bottles with fresh, healthy and tasty tap water, we are also reducing our use of single-use plastics – a win-win situation for our health and the environment!
As a result, this February, Blackburn with Darwen Council along with Food Active are running a targeted campaign across four secondary schools to encourage pupils, staff and local residents to Give Up Loving Pop (GULP). The GULP campaign is aimed at young people and families to encourage them to switch from sugary drinks to water or milk will involve working with schools and their pupils to encourage them to make healthy lifestyle choices through a series of educational PSHE sessions, assemblies and promotional materials. Pupils will also be challenged to sign up to the 21-day #GULPChallenge to help kick their sugary drink habit and see whether they notice any difference.
Blackburn with Darwen is now the 10th local authority across the North of England to have delivered the campaign, in a bid to help tackle the issue of sugary drinks in children and young people. We are looking forward to finding out how the pupils get on with the challenge, and whether it helps them to make healthier choices in the near future. Keep your eyes peeled for further updates from the campaign as it happens…
If you are interested in finding out more about the GULP campaign coming to your area, please email info@foodactive.org.uk or visit the GULP website here: www.giveuplovingpop.org.uk
To stay up to date with all the latest updates from the GULP campaign, follow us on twitter at @gulpNOW!
