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New Year, new you?

10th January 2008, 11:38am

As we recover from the excesses of Christmas and enter the season of good intentions and resolutions, contract caterers 7 Day Catering are plugging the healthy gap with their Healthy 4U programme.

Throughout January 7 Day Catering will be promoting their healthier food options to customers across the UK.

Their approach is based on key Government reports aimed at reducing the intake of fat, sugar and salt whilst increasing dietary fibre.

Starting the day with a good breakfast for example is key to keeping hunger at bay as it kick starts the metabolism. Yet for many when temperatures plummet, a yoghurt will not suffice.

Healthy 4U will be providing a range of wholemeal toast and poached eggs, homemade porridge with fresh conserves and bagels with grilled mushrooms and scrambled egg, to start the day in a tasty warming way.

Grilling rather than frying, using polyunsaturated rather than saturated fats, wherever possible introducing fibre into dishes, and offering vegetarian meals is the ethos behind the programme.

Mark Johnson, sales director at 7 Day Catering comments on the programme: "Healthy habits are life skills we all need, yet for some reason we all indulge a little over the festive period. Come January there's usually a few more pounds piled on the waistline and people take stock of their lifestyle and wellbeing. We see it every year; gym membership reaches an annual peak as we struggle to find a running machine. Magazines run top tips features for weight loss and ironically, TV advertising for slimming clubs jostles for airtime with the sofa ads.

"Our catering managers are supplied on an ongoing basis with comprehensive operational and training packs. This provides them with scores of menus and recipes, which contain vital information about nutritional values, and the level of calories, total fat and dietary fibre content per portion.

"In the catering world it's imperative we offer healthy options that are appealing to avoid waste. Healthy 4U fits the bill perfectly, we use simple fresh and naturally low fat ingredients like poached chicken, cod, and roasted vegetables and put them with vegetable kebabs, paella, pitta bread and baked potatoes.

"Veggie soup always goes down a treat; soup and has the added benefit of keeping hunger at bay for longer. The menu is hearty without being laden with fat and won't pile the pounds on."

7 Day Catering Healthy 4U minimum standards are:

All milk used is either semi or skimmed
Where possible, food is baked, poached or steamed
Minimum amounts of salt used in cooking
Offer low fat margarine as an alternative to butter
Offer a sweetener alternative to sugar for beverages
Fresh whole fruit or fruit salad to be available at all times

Mark continued: "We're not quite doing a Jamie Oliver, but our healthy campaign for the workplace, makes sense. What we eat affects everything, moods, behaviour, and concentration so to get the best out of the workforce it makes sense for employers to get their catering right. Keep it fresh, tasty, nutritious and exciting and your customers will love you for it!"

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