LIFESTYLE coaches are to go into city primary schools to help children beat the bulge.
It comes after a report revealed that more than a fifth of 11-year-olds in Nottingham are obese.
Youngsters from five years old will be told to ditch crisps and chocolate for fruit and veg, and urged to do more physical activity.
The coaches will go into schools in the Bilborough area from September. This area has been chosen because it has high levels of deprivation, which has been linked to higher obesity levels.
It is part of the city council's programme to make the most of the legacy of last summer's Olympic Games and cut obesity rates.
Martin Smith, the council's sports, outdoor learning and adventure services manager, said: "We want to reduce obesity rates among children. We already have a range of programmes, such as one which encourages children to go swimming.
"The coaches have been getting training. They will be fully briefed on providing dietary tips in schools as well as encouraging uptake in sports, particularly among those who are less active.
"We are starting in the Bilborough area, but will move it across more of the city if it is a success."
Seven coaches have already been picked and two more may also join in.
Some are from the council sports department while others will come from post-graduate training programmes at Nottingham Trent University.
It is not yet known which schools they will go to, but it is likely there will be 12 of them.
Mr Smith added: "They will be looking at the best way of getting children to do more sports."
The city council has received £9,000 from the Youth Sport Trust, a national charity which provides sporting opportunities for young people. It is down to the city how this is spent, with equipment being one likely expense.
Nottingham's most-recent Health Profile, published last year, revealed 22.2 per cent of children who finished primary school in 2011 – those aged ten and 11 – were classed as obese.
Government guidelines recommend children do an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day.
A trust spokesman said: "Obesity rates are a concern and this is one thing we are targeting by getting more children into sport.
"It is down to the lifestyle coaches themselves to develop programmes which will make this work."
Nottingham North MP Graham Allen, whose constituency includes Bilborough, said the lifestyle coaches plan was good, but said parents also had a part to play.
"Parents are important here," he said. "The council needs to get them involved and help to spread the message to children first so they understand why they need to be healthy.
"It is good they are targeting primary schools. You need to get these children into good habits as young as possible. In future they will pass it on to the next generation."
Tony Parkinson, 58, who has two children at Glenbrook Primary in Bilborough, as well as two secondary schoolchildren, believes it is all down to parents.
He said: "I think the lifestyle coaches is a waste of money. Parents should be responsible for the heath of their children.
"We make sure ours eat well and encourage them to be active. None of them are overweight."
