Small Changes, Big Impact: Brambletye’s Healthy Eating Transformation

With Racheal’s guidance and the support of the dietitian, the team at Brambletye have changed their approach to helping people lead healthier lives. Thanks to Racheal, the team’s Healthy Eating Champion, people we support have made progress in improving their health and wellbeing through small, manageable changes.

In the past few months, the team have worked to give people more choices and introduced new meals that help them make healthier decisions. They’ve created a “suggestions sheet” and a “dislikes board” to make sure meals are healthy and meet people’s preferences. Staff now work with people to understand why they refuse food, and encourage people to explore different tastes (before, jam on toast was often the ‘safe’ go-to). They help find healthier alternatives or address any other concerns that may have come up earlier in the day.

Small changes have included swapping sugary drinks for squash, switching from full-fat to semi-skimmed milk, and replacing ready-made sauces with homemade ones that include more vegetables. They also focus on serving a “half-plate of vegetables.”

Racheal added, “We purchase lower fat meats and add lots of vegetables, this helps with the costs of meals as well”, highlighting the practical benefits of their approach."

Racheal has worked to enable staff to confidently offer and prepare healthy meals, emphasising the importance of offering choice and providing healthy suggestions. “The team are becoming quite quick at looking up recipes online if they are not familiar with a dish."  

The importance of physical activity has not been overlooked, with people's routines including dancing to music, skittles, catch and participating in seated exercise videos. “I like Abba” Marina shared, with a smile.

Looking ahead, the team plans to create recipe cards with photos to support staff and residents in meal preparation and menu planning. Residents have recently used a creative project to paint dinner plates, visually representing food group portions.

Racheal concludes, "We work to always offer choice, while providing information and healthy suggestions to allow people to enjoy things differently. It has all been little sustainable changes. It’s nothing too drastic, but it has made a real impact, one lady has already lost 12lb and is finding it easier to move around her home."