With childhood obesity rates in much of the world at staggering heights, British TV chef and media personality Jamie Oliver is hoping his global day of action tomorrow will do its part to inspire healthy eating.

Jamie Oliver and the 'Squash It' Sandwiches

Food Revolution Day is supported by nonprofit group the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation and aims to get people to stand up for food education and inspire others by sharing kitchen knowledge.

In a video for the event, Oliver asked everyone to sign his petition "to force governments across the world to promise and commit to teaching every child how to grow and cook fresh nutritious food at school."

He called upon the leaders of G20 nations to act together to help improve the situation.

Tomorrow will see an online cookery lesson for his signature Food Revolution Day recipe - the 'Squash It' Sandwich, which may at first look like a hamburger but is in fact packed with vegetables and other healthy ingredients.

Oliver's idea is simple - to "create a strong sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again, and empower people everywhere to fight obesity."

Figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) paint a bleak picture of the global obesity epidemic. It says worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980, 42 million children under the age of five were overweight or obese in 2013, and one in three children in the U.S. is overweight or obese.

"In most countries around the world diet-related disease kills more people than it ever has done before. Why does that matter? Because it's preventable," Oliver said in the video.

"The future for me has got to start with food education.

"By fighting for every child's right for quality food education, we can help reverse the global rise of obesity and diet-related disease. Together we can force governments around the world to stop ignoring this issue."

Oliver will also tomorrow take to the streets of London, leading a team of 'revellers and revolutionaries' who will be onboard his special Food Revolution Day bus. They will be calling on everyone on the streets of the U.K. capital to get involved and to sign Oliver's petition.

The day will conclude with Oliver hosting a Live Twittercast in the afternoon.

Healthy eating initiatives

As global obesity rates swell to epidemic proportions, the number of initiatives and laws around the world that encourage healthy eating also seems to be growing.

The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) last year launched its 'eat brighter' campaign in partnership with Sesame Street, which aims to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption among young children by marketing the products with characters from the popular TV show.

More recently, the U.S.-based group also announced it was to carry out a test of the Partnership for a Healthier America's FNV initiative.

The campaign will use celebrities from the world of sports, movies and music to market fresh produce, and PMA CEO Bryan Silbermann believed it had more potential to be a game changer than anything else he had seen in more than three decades at the association.

In June 2013 the U.S. implemented its 'Smart Snacks in School' standards, which ensured U.S. schoolchildren would be offered healthier food options during the day.

Another initiative in the North American country called Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S) asserts that "through repeat exposure, encouragement, and education of unfamiliar foods, children respond by trying new items, incorporating greater variety into their diets, and eating more fruits and vegetables each day."

The European Union also has a voluntary school fruit scheme in place, which not only provides schoolchildren with fruit and vegetables but also requires participating Member States to set up strategies including educational and awareness-raising initiatives.

Another positive step forward came in the U.K. in September 2014, when the government made practical cookery and food education compulsory in the new national school curriculum for pupils aged six to 14.

Moving down to the Southern Hemisphere, Ecuadorian Health Minister Carina Vance said last year that the country's traffic light food labeling system - red, yellow or green labels depending on the product's healthiness - had led to more than 20% of large to medium companies reducing the number of unhealthy food products they offer.

Photo: Jamie Oliver Food Foundation

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