Bev was empowered through the Wellbeing for Life Eatwise programme

Beverley (‘Bev’) Walker, a 59-year-old woman, has just recently completed the 12-session Eatwise programme with Wellbeing for Life (WBFL) and has described her ‘amazing’ journey.

Before accessing WBFL, Bev was not in a good place mentally. Bev described her state at that time as: “not depressed as such, but down. I’ve gone through quite a lot of trauma, and my weight is affected by my emotions.”

She moved up from Doncaster to look after her parents, and following the passing of her mum in 2019, Bev joined a weight loss organisation; however, this only worked temporarily.

Bev then lost her dad last year. She said following this: “my emotions were all over the place. The clothes weren’t looking great. I felt frumpy. I was starting to feel as if I looked old.”

Bev first accessed WBFL following a wellness check with her GP. Upon discovering that she had high cholesterol, and not wanting to go on statins, Bev tried to lose weight on her own. After this didn’t work for her, she contacted her GP who subsequently referred her to WBFL.

Having accessed various other weight loss programmes in the past, Bev was initially sceptical about Eatwise – would it just be a phone call; would this even work. As she describes about struggling all her life with her weight: “I don’t think I’ve ever been meant to be thin.”

Bev (left) and Jules, WBFL Practitioner and Community Connector (right)

Scepticism soon changed into optimism, however, with the arrival of Jules Howe, Wellbeing Practitioner and Community Connector. From first contact, it was clear the process would be personalised; that there were lots of options to suit Bev’s wants and needs. The pair used the emotions Bev was feeling before entering the programme to set goals together – a collaboration based on what Bev wanted out of the process, and to bring her BMI down.

Jules said of the Eatwise programme: “So we don’t deprive, we definitely do not diet. We don’t – I don’t – want people to be hungry and miserable and that’s what you are when you’re on a diet. It’s a lifestyle, everything in moderation.”

The overall aim was to improve her health in general; but Bev set herself two goals: to go skiing next year for her 60th birthday – which she hasn’t been able to do due to the strain on her joints – and to come off statins.

Bev said about this goal setting: “Everything I’ve done here has been tailor-made, really, for me. And Jules has been really caring. She’s understood my needs really well.”

When speaking with the two, you can tell there is a bond there. That this is a journey they are on together, with Jules saying: “We can still have ice creams. We can still have the little sweet fixes.”

Speaking of ice cream, the pair have spotted each other ‘sneaking ice cream’, as Bev puts it, just rows away from each other in the theatre. Bev said: “I’ve even managed to do that. So, I felt really, really supported.”

The 12-session Eatwise programme is about balance and changing your relationship with food. How to make better choices and implementing this, not just for the course of the programme, but moving forward with your life.

The programme has changed how Bev looks at food. Even her ‘tastebuds have changed’. She used to really love chocolate, but she’s changed from snacking on that to other things. Bev said: “A rice cake is becoming sweet for me. So I have chocolate rice cakes, of course, because I do like chocolate.” Other habits have changed too, naturally: having lesser portions or, changing oils she uses to cook.

Wellbeing for Life’s goal is to empower people, and this is what Eatwise has done for Bev – she feels that she’s ‘taken control’.

We will leave you with a parting message from both Jules and Bev about the programme.

Jules says: “Definitely give this programme a go… because I don’t think people realise how much support you actually get, and the different sessions and how key they are.”

Bev says: “I think you should roll it out everywhere. Everybody should have access to it because it is amazing; and it does re-educate.”

Wellbeing for Life is part of Adult Wellbeing Services and is delivered in partnership by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT) and the Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP).