The Eat Well Age Well Podcast

This is a special live episode that was recorded during our panel discussion event ‘Where Are We Now?’ which took place on 13th October during UK Malnutrition Awareness Week 2021.

This has been a year of reflection and recovery at Food Train and we wanted to stock of where we are now and discuss what has changed, how did it change and what still needs to change for older people to eat well, age well and live well in Scotland.

Chair - Michelle Carruthers, CEO Food Train

Keynote Speaker - Maree Todd MSP

The Panel

Prof. Ian Welsh, Chief Executive, The Alliance

Lindsay Graham, Independent Government Policy Advisor

Karen McCurry, Manager MS Argyll

Cllr Jennifer Adam-McGregor

Further info

SPECIAL EPISODE FOR UK MALNUTRITION AWARENESS WEEK

UK Malnutrition Awareness Week takes place between 11th - 17th October 2021 and we’re launching our #LetsBuildThePicture campaign. 

Did you know that there’s currently no routine screening for malnutrition in the community settings?

1 in 10 older people in Scotland today are at risk of or living with malnutrition (as under-nutrition). However, from Eat Well Age Well's own prevalence data, we think this may be an underestimate, with as many 30% of older people living in the community at risk.

On this episode Danielle is joined by Jen Grant and Tilly Robinson-Miles from the Eat Well Age Well team to discuss more about the campaign and why we need to build the true picture of malnutrition in older people living in Scotland.

Further Info

BONUS MINI EPISODE 

Danielle shares her conversation with Lorriane Dilworth from the British Red Cross. They chat about the Red Cross's amazing work that helps support older people to eat well at home. Lorraine also talks about about their Neighbourhood Links project and how they’ve successfully implemented regular screening using the Patients Association Nutrition Checklist to help detect and prevent malnutrition.

Further Info

Between 2018 and 2019, Eat Well Age Well supported 47 projects across Scotland through our Small Ideas, Big Impact Fund. The fund was set up to support ideas and initiatives around the theme of older adults living well through food. Applicants could apply for a grant between £50 - £5000 to develop projects that would help older people to eat well and reduce the risk of malnutrition in the community.

On this episode Danielle chats to Claire Mooney from Lanarkshire Community Food & Health Partnership who received a grant from the Small Ideas, Big Impact Fund in 2019 to support their work providing nutrition and cookery courses for older people in the local community. Claire talks in more detail about their work to support older adults who require textured modified diets if affected by issues such as head & neck cancer. 

Further Info:

Volunteers Week takes place every year from the 1st – 7th June and is one of the most important events Food Train's calendar as, quite simply, without volunteers, Food Train would not be able to exist. To celebrate we’re releasing a series of episodes chatting to volunteers from across Food Train to learn more about their role, their experience and what they value most about volunteering.

On part 4 of this series Danielle chats to Neil, a volunteer with Food Train Connects which provides a 1:2:1 shopping service for older people across Scotland. Neil signed up with Connects in 2020 and he shares great, practical advice for anyone thinking about volunteering themselves.

Further Info:

Volunteers Week takes place every year from the 1st – 7th June and is one of the most important events Food Train's calendar as, quite simply, without volunteers, Food Train would not be able to exist. To celebrate we’re releasing a series of episodes chatting to volunteers from across Food Train to learn more about their role, their experience and what they value most about volunteering.

On part 3 of this series Danielle chats to Julie, a volunteer with Food Train Connects which provides a 1:2:1 shopping service for older people across Scotland. Julie signed up as a Connects volunteer when the service launched during the pandemic in 2020 and she shared why she finds working with older people so valuable and rewarding.

Further Info:

Volunteers Week takes place every year from the 1st – 7th June and is one of the most important events in Food Train's calendar as, quite simply, without volunteers, Food Train would not be able to exist. To celebrate we’re releasing a series of episodes chatting to volunteers from across Food Train to learn more about their role, their experience and what they value most about volunteering.

On Part 2 of this series, Danielle chats to Ian, a volunteer based at the Food Train branch in Glasgow. Ian joined Food Train at the beginning of lockdown in March 2020 and he shared what it was like to sign up during the pandemic and why he feels Food Train's shopping service is often a lifeline for older people.

Further Info:

Volunteers Week takes place every year from the 1st – 7th June and is one of the most important events Food Train's calendar as, quite simply, without volunteers, Food Train would not be able to exist. To celebrate we’re releasing a series of episodes chatting to volunteers from across Food Train to learn more about their role, their experience and what they value most about volunteering.

On Part 1 of this series, Danielle chats to Charlotte, a volunteer with Meal Makers to learn about the friendship she’s built with a local older neighbour, Hugh, by bringing him a weekly home-cooked meal.

Further Info:

Between 2018 and 2019, Eat Well Age Well supported 47 projects across Scotland through the Small Ideas, Big Impact Fund. The fund was set up to support ideas and initiatives around the theme of older adults living well through food.

On this episode we chat to Lynsey Neilson from Glasgow's Golden Generation who received a grant from the fund in 2019. Lynsey shares more details about their original Eat, Grow, Learn project, how the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to change their plans and the positive impact it's had on local older people in difficult times. 

For more information please visit:

2020 has proved more than ever than better food systems are needed in Scotland to enable older people to eat well, age well & live well. During UK Malnutrition Awareness Week 2020, we launched our #TimeForChangeScot campaign and our new 4 Calls to Action to help address the issue of malnutrition. 

On this episode Impact & Policy Officer for Eat Well Age Well Tilly Robinson-Miles joins host Danielle to chat about the campaign in more detail and discuss why urgent action is needed now to better support older people. 

Music: www.bensound.com 

For more info please visit:

In 2018 Eat Well Age Well and Food Train partnered with the University of Glasgow to undertake a research study to explore the prevalence of malnutrition in older adults living in Scotland. 

On this episode Dr. Kate Reid and Prof. Catherine Lido from the University of Glasgow joined us to discuss their research and what they discovered about health, well-being and eating well in later life. 

For more information please visit:

Whether it's lunch clubs, cookery classes or food provision, community projects across Scotland play a vital role in supporting older people to eat well which has become even more apparent in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic.

We spoke to representatives from 3 different community based projects to find out how they’ve coped during the crisis, and how they have adapted their services to ensure older people stay nourished and connected. 

For more details on the projects mentioned in this episode please visit:

Did you know that 1 in 10 older people in Scotland are at risk or suffering from malnutrition?

For our first episode we wanted to get to the heart of what Eat Well Age Well does which is raising awareness and addressing malnutrition in the community. Our project dietitian Jen Grant joins the show to help break down what malnutrition is and how it can affect older people.