Healthier. Happier. targets Queensland adults, and focuses on promoting the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle. Queensland has 2.5 million adults and children who are overweight or obese in 2015.

The campaign focuses on 5 key messages:

  • Add fruit and vegetables to your meals
  • Have smaller portion sizes
  • Cut back on sugary drinks
  • Choose healthier options when eating out
  • Less sitting and more moving.

The Healthier. Happier. website is the ‘go to’ location for information, resources and support on establishing and maintaining a healthy diet and physical activity behaviours. In January and February 2016, there was a monthly average of more than 150,000 visits.

The website is continually updated and at the moment features recipes for a range of colourful fruit and vegetables, cooking skills and exercise demo videos, label reading tips (including a link to Health Star Rating) and calculators to work out daily energy needs and your Health and Fitness Age.

A key component of Healthier. Happier. is the fruit and vegetable ‘colour wheel’ campaign, one of the Queensland Government’s election commitments in 2015. The colour wheel was launched in July 2015. Seasonal recipe cards are distributed to greengrocers throughout Queensland, with autumn recipes available in-store now.

A new phase of the campaign is ‘Straight Answers’ which is designed to dispel myths around nutrition and physical activity. Media activity will include TVCs, print advertising, digital billboards, and social media. The Healthier. Happier. website will have a dedicated section with searchable myths on topics such as diet, portion size, kilojoules, weight and physical activity. It is expected to launch in April 2016.

The Queensland Government’s Healthier. Happier. campaign is a key element of its multi-strategic approach to reducing overweight and obesity and improving health and wellbeing. Other initiatives include menu labelling for fast-food, three cooking programs (Country Kitchens, Jamie’s Ministry of Food, and Need for Feed), and Heart Foundation Walking and 10,000 Steps programs.

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