As part of our commitment to improving the nation’s health, not just through getting people active for 30 minutes five times a week, but through also encouraging healthy eating, Everyone Active has thrown its weight behind the nationwide Sugar Smart campaign.
For the first time in history, more people are overweight than underweight and the Sugar Smart initiative – led by celebrity chef and campaigner Jamie Oliver and the Sustain charity – aims to inspire a large-scale change in people’s eating habits and improve the nation’s health.
As part of our commitment to this cause, we have pledged to remove more than three tonnes of sugar from our food and beverage products over the next three years – the largest commitment by any other leisure operator in the country. Alongside this vow, we are also working hard with our suppliers to replace high-sugar products with lower-sugar alternatives, while we have also implemented a ‘traffic light’ system to drive customers towards healthier options by grading products in line with their sugar content.
Speaking at the launch of our national involvement in the scheme, Andy Coupé – Everyone Active’s Group Food and Beverage Manager – commented: “It is brilliant to have launched our national pledge. We have already been doing a lot of work to make our food and beverage options healthier, and it’s great to formally recognise this with the Sugar Smart stamp.
“Any organisation that offers food options to the community has an obligation to provide healthier alternatives. Our involvement in the Sugar Smart campaign is all about giving people a choice and helping them to understand the small changes they can make that have a big impact on their overall health and wellbeing.”
Everyone Active has, of course, been committed to lowering the sugar content in our food and beverage offerings for a while now. All our centres that have cafes serve sugar-free syrups in their coffees, while we also offer bespoke sugar-free ‘slushie’ drinks.