Healthy cooking classes for mums to beat East End’s child obesity

Mums and grans have been getting free lessons on how to cook a healthy meal for the family in the battle against the notorious obesity crisis in London’s East End.

Nutritionist Angela Heap says we can maximise our energy, boost concentration, improve our mood and maintain a healthy weight by eating a well-balanced diet combined with better lifestyle habits.

So she has been brought in by Kingsley Hall community centre in Bromley-by-Bow to show us all how to do it.

Angela runs a cooking session each Thursday from her portfolio of recipes for anyone living in the area who can join in to make a healthy meal—which they all eat together at the end of the two-hour class.

Kingsley Hall’s Beatrice Nicholson said: “Most fried chicken takeaways are in low-income inner city areas like the East End. Some children eat 16 takeaways a week.

“This is why we are setting up a ‘health’ caf� once a week, a place to eat and socialise in the East End.”

Kingsley Hall has been turning its attention since 2008 to promoting healthy lifestyles, due to the diet problems in the East End. Tower Hamlets, the centre points out, is what nutritionists call an ‘obesogenic’ environment.