LIZ WATKINS has her finger on the pulse of the county’s health

1:35pm Thursday 20th November 2008

HELP is on the way for overweight people who want to shed the pounds.

It comes in the form of a tool kit – including a 5lb replica lump of body fat which can be used to help show people what they might be carrying around in their body.

The tool kit is being made available to all GP surgeries in Herefordshire and will be used by practice nurses in their task of helping people to shed the pounds.

As well as the pretend fat will be a group of realistic fruit models to help explain different body shapes and discuss the calorie content of food.

Called the obesity tool kit, it is part of the campaign run by Herefordshire PCT and Herefordshire Council to help fight weight gain in the county.

Catherine Floyd, health improvement manager for the obesity programme at the PCT, said: “There are many ways to lose weight but we hope that, by providing these kits, we will be supporting our GP practices to encourage healthier eating and more active lifestyles among our population.”