Home » Services » Healthy Cooking & Nutrition Programme (HCNP)
 

Healthy Cooking / Nutrition & Activity

Healthy Cooking & Nutrition Programme

The Healthy Cooking and Nutrition Programme (HCNP) is about the effects of poor and good nutrition, what are good and bad foods.  The HCNP aims to empower participants to make healthy changes to cooking and eating behaviours through education. This is delivered through four whanau centered healthy cooking and nutrition workshops, with the use of appropriate referencing to scientific evidence, relevant analogies, discussions, and hands on learning.  The workshops are 2 and a half hours long and are promoted to Maori providers and community health organisations working with: 

  • Hauora/provider
  • Whanau ora groups
  • Kaumatua groups
  • Tamariki ora groups
  • Diabetes management group
  • Hapu groups
  • Marae cooks groups
  • Maori parenting groups
  • Maori mental health providers
  • Kohanga Reo 
  • Kindergarten
  • Kura Kaupapa
  • Whanau centres /community centres
  • Maori physical activity groups
  • Sport Bay of Plenty
  • Koroua and kuia kaumatua programme
  • Whanau/ hapu with marae cooks groups
  • Parenting young mothers wahine groups
  • Rangatahi (youth) groups
  • Health promotion or nutrition events (wanting a one off demonstration option)

Education

The education is about the effects of poor and good nutrition, healthy eating and most importantly empowering the participants to be able to prove to themselves they can enjoy making cost effective food that is tasty, without a reliance on high amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt for flavour. This is done by practical learning where participants experience a low calorie simple healthy cooking methodology, of layering flavours through the food by using healthy cooking techniques as well as spices, herbs, healthy sauces and the use of different vegetable combinations.  

Goals

The goals of the HCNP are to improve the health and well-being of Maori communities and to reduce the burden of disease through improving nutrition, increasing physical activity, and reducing obesity.

The goals of the HCNP workshops are to:
• Increase knowledge of good simple effective nutritional health
• Increase skills and abilities to plan cost effective healthy meals (working with a limited budget)
• Improve skills and abilities to extend existing cooking techniques and ideas, introduce natural food flavours, and encourage simple, healthy methodology for tasty cookery
• Improve and maintain essential kai Maori preparation methods, focusing on nutritional value
• Improve understanding and appreciation of shared, interactive experiences with a hands-on cooking and learning approach
• Provide whanau an experience of enjoying preparing and eating healthy kai
• Whanau-centered learning providing a fun, empowering environment

Since the conception of the Healthy Cooking and Nutrition Programme (HCNP) with HEHA BOPDHB in July 2008, and now with Te Kupenga Hauora, there have been 293 workshops delivered to 2915 participants. Many of these participants have attended up to four different workshops, with total attendees of 5657. This has raised awareness of healthy eating/cooking and influenced healthy changes to menus on many Bay of Plenty Marae, within Maori communities and within their whanau.

One of the key success factors of the programme has been working in partnership with 67 Maori providers, meeting a demand for a nutrition programme that is relevant to Maori and has ability to engage the participants.

This has increased knowledge and raise awareness of nutrition and healthy cooking/eating with many Maori whanau through a working partnership with the BOPDHB regional