Food for Life Supports Schools Approach to Food and Mood

We are pleased to share the findings of our project in light of Children’s Mental Health Week, to help grow our understanding of food and mood in schools.

Read our Mental Health, Wellbeing and Food Report here.

Connecting food and mental wellbeing

Currently the average UK diet is very low in fresh fruit and vegetables with nine out of ten children eating less than 3.5 portions a day.

Food for Life advocates for a balanced and fresh diet that is good for us and the planet. A healthy diet is not only good for our physical health, but research is showing that it can also contribute to our mental health.

Food and Mood Project

We’ve been busy over the past year working with schools across England to gain insight about their understanding of food and mood. The findings revealed that pupils, teachers and staff all wanted to learn more about the connection between food and mood.

During the school’s summer break, we worked with the Food for Life service design team to create activities and resources to help them learn more about the subject, such as creating a “feelings cafe”.

In the Autumn term, pupils and teachers were able to use our resources to complete interactive and fun lesson activities to encourage the children to start thinking about the food they eat and how it affects how they feel.

We were blown away by the feedback we received following the project. The schools reported that they enjoyed taking part and children were inspired to ask further questions about food and mood.

Ask an Expert Film

We didn’t stop there. We asked children how they wanted to learn about what they eat and their mental health and wellbeing. Their response? Role models and experts.

To answer all their burning questions, we created a ten-minute video featuring a range of carefully selected specialists, experts, celebrities, and role models. TV Chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Tommi Miers among other food and mental health experts kindly gave their time to record responses to children’s questions in a film that would be shown in schools.

“I’m delighted to be involved in Food for Life’s Food & Mood project. This is something we should all be thinking about now more than ever. It is great to see Food for Life helping schools and children explore the links between a healthy balanced diet and good mental health and wellbeing. Making these vital connections when we are young sets us up for a happier healthier life." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

View the film here

Impacts of the Food and Mood project

The Food and Mood project produced some valuable insights about the understanding of the links between mental health, wellbeing and food in schools. 

It's highlighted opportunities for Food for Life to ensure that more pupils, teachers, caterers, and parents enjoy and understand the mental health benefits of a well-balanced diet through education, training and catering support. 

The activities with schools as part of this project also had a number of positive impacts, including:

1. Our dining room interventions had positive impact both on catering staff confidence AND on pupil’s ability to understand menus and chose healthy meals.
2. Our classroom activities encouraged pupils to explore how what they eat impacts on how they feel.
3. Our work in the schools helped teachers to bring up conversations around food and mental health in a number of topics, ranging from science through to RE.

If you would like more information on the project, please contact Charlotte Long at clong@soilassociation.org