Healthy Families Invercargill, in association with Windsor North School and The Warehouse Invercargill, has launched the Choice As Sizzle guide for putting on a better barbecue.

With thousands of sausages sold every year in Invercargill to raise funds for everything from football trips to new ballet shoes, we asked ourselves whether we could put a healthier twist on this Kiwi favourite.

Choice As Sizzle has four simple messages – switch the bread from white to grainy, ditch the spread, swap the sauce to a low sugar, low salt option and add some veg like onions, coleslaw or spinach.

The concept has been trialled at several Sport Southland events, junior club rugby days and community events and has just concluded a successful three-month pilot at The Warehouse Invercargill.

“We all know New Zealand is being challenged by an obesity issue which is having a serious effect on the health of our communities,” Healthy Families Invercargill manager Jared Cappie said.

“We think Choice As Sizzle is a great example of the way lots of small changes in the places where we live, learn, work and play can have a major impact on our community’s health.

“This is also a way of starting a conversation about other fundraising options, like selling fizzy or chocolate, and asking whether there is a better way.”

This was an opportunity to work alongside agencies likes the Heart Foundation, Cancer Society, WellSouth, Southern District Health Board, Sport Southland, Invercargill City Council, the New Zealand Fire Service and the Health Promotion Agency, Cappie said.

The guide includes some key messaging from those agencies around food and fire safety, being Sun Smart and healthy choices like water-only options.

The Choice As Sizzle guide will be available on the Healthy Families Invercargill website healthyfamiliesinvercargill.org.nz and from the Invercargill Warehouse.

“We hope that more retailers, schools, sports clubs and other community groups will care enough about their community to provide better options when doing bbq fundraisers,” Cappie said.

Healthy Families Invercargill is part of the Government’s flagship health platform and is based at Sport Southland.

The Healthy Families NZ initiative has been developed to meet the challenge of New Zealand’s obesity issue by supporting the places where we live, learn, work and play to become health promoting environments.

For more information:

Healthy Families Invercargill communications and engagement advisor Nathan Burdon

[email protected]

021 282 0060