Improve Nutrition Quality

Proof required

Submit your 7-day diet diary recorded in real time, with a summary table showing your average daily vegetable portions, average daily fruit portions, oily fish meals per week, and estimated ultra-processed food frequency (meals per day containing ultra-processed items). This is your nutritional baseline — you will compare against it at M3.

What gets checked

• The diary covers 7 full consecutive days recorded in real time — retrospective recall systematically misses snacks, condiments, and low-quality meals that the person does not think of as 'eating'
• The summary table uses the same four dimensions for all 7 days — vegetable portions, fruit portions, oily fish frequency, and ultra-processed food frequency — so the M3 comparison is on the same basis
• One primary gap is identified from the summary — the dimension furthest from the NHS target is the focus for the 8-week programme; the M3 comparison will be most meaningful against this primary gap

Common mistakes

• Recalling the week's eating from memory at the end of the 7 days — memory systematically omits unhealthy meals and underestimates ultra-processed food frequency; the diary must be recorded at each meal or immediately after
• Conflating weight loss with nutrition quality — this outcome is not about calorie deficit, intermittent fasting, or weight change; it is about the composition of food eaten; do not impose a calorie target on the 8-week programme
• Recording only meals and omitting snacks — ultra-processed food is most commonly consumed as snacks (crisps, biscuits, packaged sweets, fizzy drinks); omitting snacks systematically underestimates the most important category to change

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• Confirm the diary covers 7 full days recorded in real time, not recalled retrospectively. Ask the submitter whether they recorded meals as they ate them or summarised at the end of each day or week
• The summary table should cover all four dimensions. If only vegetable and fruit are summarised without oily fish frequency or ultra-processed food count, ask for the full table before accepting M1
• One primary gap should be identified. If the submitter names all four dimensions as gaps without prioritising, ask which one they will focus on first — the M3 comparison is most meaningful against the specifically targeted gap

Proof required

Submit your 8-week food log (at least 3 days per week, recorded in real time) and bi-weekly summary tables at Weeks 2, 4, and 6 showing averages on the same four dimensions as M1. Include a brief note at each bi-weekly point on what specific changes you made and whether they held across the week.

What gets checked

• At least 3 days of real-time food logging per week across 8 calendar weeks — 24+ logged days total; the same recording method as M1
• Bi-weekly averages are calculated from the logged days, not estimated — the summary tables are derived from actual diary entries, not recalled
• Changes are specific and named — 'I replaced my afternoon biscuits with an apple and stopped putting cheese sauce on pasta' is specific; 'I tried to eat better' is not

Common mistakes

• Attempting to change all four dimensions simultaneously — dietary behaviour change research consistently shows that single-behaviour change has much higher long-term success rates than multiple simultaneous changes; focus on one primary gap with one or two specific changes
• Logging only healthy days and omitting days when eating was poor — the log must be representative; skipping the days when habits reverted means the bi-weekly averages are inflated and the M3 comparison is unreliable
• Replacing ultra-processed foods with other ultra-processed foods marketed as 'healthy' — protein bars, 'low-fat' flavoured yoghurts, granola bars, and 'natural' crisps are often still ultra-processed; the test is the ingredient list, not the health claim on the packaging

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• The bi-weekly averages must be derived from actual logged days, not estimated. If the submission shows summary tables without underlying diary entries, ask to see the logs that generated the averages
• The specific changes made should be named at each bi-weekly point. 'I tried to eat more vegetables' is not adequate; 'I added a portion of spinach to breakfast every day and switched from white bread to wholegrain' is adequate
• Check that the changes target the primary gap identified in M1. If M1 identified ultra-processed food as the primary gap but the M2 log shows focus on exercise and calorie counting, the programme is not on track for this outcome

Proof required

Submit (1) your M3 7-day food diary recorded in real time; (2) a before-and-after summary table comparing M1 and M3 averages on all four dimensions (vegetable portions/day, fruit portions/day, oily fish meals/week, ultra-processed food frequency); (3) an attestation from a named person who ate with you or observed your eating habits at both the beginning and end of the programme.

What gets checked

• The M3 diary covers 7 full days recorded in real time using the same method as M1 — the before/after comparison is only valid if the same recording method was used both times
• The summary table shows M1 and M3 for all four dimensions — improvement in vegetables alone without oily fish or ultra-processed food comparison is an incomplete outcome
• The primary gap identified in M1 shows clear improvement in the M3 average — this is the focused outcome of the 8-week programme

Common mistakes

• Completing a 3-day M3 diary and projecting to 7 days — the 7-day diary is required to match the M1 baseline method; shorter periods may cherry-pick particularly good days
• Reporting weight change as the primary M3 evidence — this outcome is about food quality, not body weight; the four-dimension quality comparison is the proof, not a weight measurement
• Providing an attestation from someone who only ate one meal with the person — a single shared meal does not allow the attesting person to describe change; the attestation should be from someone who saw the eating patterns at both beginning and end

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• The M3 diary must be 7 full days recorded in real time. If it is shorter or appears retrospective (identical entries on multiple days, rounded totals), ask for the underlying per-day records
• The four-dimension summary table must show M1 and M3 side by side. If only the M3 averages are shown without M1 comparison values, ask for the full before/after table
• The attestation should describe specific changes observed — 'they always had vegetables with dinner now' or 'they stopped buying crisps for the house' are specific observations; 'they ate healthier' is not