Nutrition and Mental Health

Food plays a very important role in our day-to-day living. Food gives us energy and helps us maintain various essential physiological processes. Basically, it keeps us alive! 

However, when we talk about food giving us this range of benefits, we are talking about healthy food. By healthy food, we mean nutritious food that has been prepared at home and with carefully-selected nutritious produce. 

Eating healthy home cooked meals helps us maintain our bodies in good health. However, nutrition is not only related to the role it has to play with our physical health – it is also an essential component of maintaining our mental health.

Much of nutrition research surrounding mental health has been mainly been focused around exploring the role of individual nutritional components such as Vitamin B12 and Omega 3 Fatty acids in order to manage illness. Within this research, there have been positive results correlating good nutrition and the prevention of mental health illness (Compass Group, 2014). But what role does nutrition have on people already living with mental health concerns?

Firstly, eating a nutritious meal is not only about focusing on the food it itself. Yes, we should be thinking about eating a varied diet that includes eating our five-a-day, cutting our levels of saturated fat and consuming less salt.

But we should also be thinking about how important it is to share meals with people we care about and also about sharing meals with people we have just met. Preparing and eating food is also a social affair that has an immense impact on our social lives and our mental health.

There is just something about food that creates an amazing catalyst for us to create new relationships and nurture existing ones. However, for people living with mental health issues, doing this might be more of a challenge due to social, economic and environmental factors. But, it does not mean we must not do anything about it!

The Mini Cooking Club has been working with adults with mental health concerns for 3 years. We run 6-week courses where people can learn how to prepare healthy balanced meals, how to cook on a budget and general nutritional information.

We run our sessions at the Coplestone centre, which is a safe and conducive learning environment for people to meet new friends and be social. If you would like to volunteer with us in this project or would like to join a session have a look at our website: www.theminicooking.org.uk.

If you would like to know more about what healthy swaps you can make The Mental Health Foundation has some great resources. 

                                     By Jancy Hensen

Cooking with Mencap

The Mini Cooking Club had lots of fun at our first ever cooking session in partnership with Mencap charity! The Mini Cooking Club is a charity whose aim is to combat rising levels of obesity by providing free cooking sessions for children aged 5-11. Mencap works together with people with a learning disability, and supports them to live the life they choose.

The first session on Sunday 26th January was held at St Mary’s Primary School in Wimbledon. There were 18 children at this week’s session, a mixture of boys and girls and all with different levels of needs. It was raining quite a lot that day, but the mood inside the kitchen was much brighter.

Our founder, Cecilia Belier, who also works for Compass as Community Training Manager, led the session supported by our top volunteer Andrew Bresler. Compass is the biggest provider of catering and support services to schools, colleges and universities in the UK. Cecilia is very experienced in helping people with special needs and has run the community kitchen at Lambeth College for several years. She says, “Seeing the children always puts a smile on my face, especially if I’m feeling a bit flat!”

Andrew’s background is in finance and he is a recent addition to the Mini Cooking Club team. He says that teaching kids how to cook is something he’s always wanted to do, so volunteering as Cooking Assistant has been a great opportunity.

As this was week one, Cecilia made sure it was an introductory session to help assess each child’s level of cooking ability.  She and the kids learned to prepare and make a healthy vegetable salad for the main course and a fruit salad for dessert. The vegetable salad had a simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.

The children said that they found the class fun and informative. Children of all abilities were able to get involved and build their confidence with simple culinary tasks.

The Mencap team leader, Sue, was a great laugh and her energy kept us all having fun. She said that it’s really good for the kids to spend more time in the kitchen as it teaches them skills for life. It helps the children to become involved in the food process as it improves their understanding, from seeing where the food is bought, correct storage methods (fridge, freezer or cupboard), appropriate preparation methods and the importance of hygiene.

The second week’s menu featured African stew and apple crumble! Our mouths are watering just thinking about it.

If you want to volunteer or donate to the Mini Cooking Club, or sign up to one of our classes, please visit our website.    

Our founder, Cecilia Belier, making vegetable salad with the kids

By Catherine Heath

Deskilling Our Generation

Having walked the aisles of many supermarkets I have recently seen an upsurge of raw food convenient products. The pre-sliced vegetable section has grown since my last visit!

These pre-packaged vegetables are attractive as they provide an element of convenience in our already busy life. I mean who wants to spend 30 seconds grating a carrot when you can just buy it prepared.

But who is benefiting from this type of product? At what cost is it coming to us not just in terms of money but in terms of skills? What about the energy and resources used to package the products? What about the waste from the packaging? What effect does this kind of product have on our future generation and their ability to cook for themselves?

I bought a package of the already grated carrots and some loose carrots. I was curious to see what they tasted like and was also curious to compare the actual monetary cost.

The picture above speaks for itself. But, let me just say that when I opened the bag fresh was not the first word that came to mind! I didn’t even think to wash it as the product states that it is already washed.

As I stood there munching away, I noticed the allergy advice: may contain celery, egg, gluten, milk and soy. I ask why on earth would a carrot contain all these products?

Are we really saving that much time when we buy such products? And what are we doing with the time we save?

Buying convenient raw food products is coming to a cost, monetary and skill wise.

If you are interested in your child attending a free six-week cooking course, and live in the borough of Lambeth or Southwark, please visit the Mini Cooking Club website for more information, or email us.

By Yancy Jensen

Peckham Children's Cooking and Exercise Programme January 2014

Fit Foodie founder, Eric

The Mini Cooking Club are launching a new and free programme called the Fit Foodie, designed by trained exercise physiologist and long-time volunteer Eric Ogbogbo. Eric has lived in South London all his life, and believes there is a need for more children’s activities that teach them how to be healthy.

This programme uniquely aims to combine cooking and exercise. It will improve children's practical cooking skills, fitness and their understanding of the benefits of physical activity. Those who attend this course will learn about how exercise can benefit physical health, boost mood and confidence, as well as improving body composition, strength and flexibility.

Eric says, “The Fit Foodie programme with The Mini Cooking Club is a project I am very passionate about, and absolutely thrilled to be starting. I’ve worked in both the private and public health sector as a physiologist and have witnessed how many people’s lives are affected by preventable health problems, because they have a poor lifestyle. Unfortunately the number is growing. 

“That’s when I was lucky enough to find The Mini Cooking Club and volunteered with them as they did wonderful work teaching children how to cook and eat well. The idea naturally came to combine their expertise with mine to give the children of Southwark the key skills they need to get them started on the journey to a healthy life.”

Each two-hour session will consist of light exercise, an exercise theory/nutrition session (including how to eat a balanced diet and understand food labels), plus one hour's cooking practice.

All sessions include popular games such as handball, football and touch rugby, as well as fun quizzes with prizes for top students (sports water bottles). At the end of the course, kids will be awarded a Graduation Certificate as proof of their new skills and hard work.

One of our past programmes, Food for Champions

Finally, Eric says, “The Fit Foodie program will centre on teaching kids how to enjoy cooking and showing them how to make simple great tasting recipes that they will be proud of. Each week we will cover an aspect of fitness such as cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, physical and mental benefits of exercise. The exercise section will not just be about playing games, it is also about teaching and showing the children why staying active is important, how it improves not just your body but you’re your mind and your confidence.”

The Fit Foodie programme is open to all children (5-11years) from local families who are interested in learning how to cook and taking part in physical activities. We will hold the sessions at the Copleston Centre in Peckham which is easily accessible using local bus routes. All children need to do is bring themselves and be keen to have fun!

The course is free to all children who are residents of Southwark.

Time: Saturdays 12:30-14:30

Venue: Copleston Centre, Copleston Road, Peckham SE15 4AN

Cost: Free

Starts: 25th January 2014 

Runs for: 6 weeks

To book: contact eric@theminicookingclub.org.uk | 07738 399 474

Charity Info

The Mini Cooking Club is a registered charity that runs educational cooking and nutrition workshops for children and families in Southwark. All classes are free to attend. We are staffed entirely by volunteers and funded by donations. For more information about us visit our website, or to donate to us visit our Charity Checkout page.

The Fast Food Family

Reading the glut of this year’s academic studies, you could be forgiven for thinking that taking meals as a family was the cure for all modern social ills.

In the past six months alone, research has been published claiming that eating meals together is “healthier for children”, “boosts children’s confidence”, and “boosts child fruit and vegetable intake”.

So the reasons to sit down to a nightly, delicious family meal seem self-evident - right?

Alas, the arguments might not be so clear cut. Indeed, one 2013 study by the University of Edinburgh warned ominously that an “unpleasant atmosphere” during meal times was equally associated with poorer diets among the children they studied.

It certainly doesn’t take a massive leap of imagination to guess what might make the mealtime atmosphere less than pleasant: parents stressed and rushing after work; children testing their fussy-eating boundaries; a family all wanting different food at different times and generally dissatisfied with the compromise.

It’s a common conflict across the nation as families struggle to reconcile their awareness of the importance of a nightly family meal and the reality of living in the real world. Sadly, it’s a picture of separatist dining that feels more like an acrimonious break-up rather than a loving family.

Certainly, it’s an easy habit to get in to. The meal becomes fuel, something to be wolfed down quickly, allowing each family member to move onto their next activity. The parent, pushed by their own time-constraints as well as the family’s, serves up dinner like a short-order take-away cook, prioritising speed and convenience over all else.

But it doesn’t have to be like this - and parents, to some extent, have to be willing to revise their own attitudes to food and mealtimes. Otherwise, they run the risk of passing their own bad habits onto their children.

So while time may be undoubtedly pressing, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t room in the life of every family for a lovingly-prepared, home-cooked dinner. It doesn’t mean that work, the TV, the gym, or the PC are more important than sharing time together around a table with your loved ones.

Should we demand that life is scheduled around mealtimes rather than the other way round?

Certainly, none of the academic studies goes that far, and of course, many of us fear the accusation of gluttony, the sinful food-love guilt inherited from (and largely invented by) our Victorian ancestors.

Yet if we can cast off those dark thoughts for a minute, we might realise that sitting down to a family meal - a communal experience that’s as much about pleasure, fulfilment and sharing as it is eating - is as much a part of socialisation as learning to speak. And it will similarly equip children with eating skills that will last them a (healthy) lifetime.

Here is the crux of the issue. Children who learn to respect and take pride in their food will grow into discerning dining adults, taking pleasure in mealtimes and passing their experiences to their children in turn. They will be fussy eaters, but only in that they will demand care, attention, time and quality - all factors that contribute significantly to eating healthily and wellbeing.

Image by stockimages - freedigitalphotos.net

It means that parents are obliged to embrace the family meal before it is too late. They have to sit down and face each other at a table and eat the same home-cooked food at the same time - and do that as many nights as the week will allow.

Show children that food, like the family it sustains, deserves all the time and respect we have free to give it.

By Daniel Ward

Food for Champions: Teaching Kids How to Cook!

Learning how to use knifes safely. 

The Food for Champions programme was off to a great start last week. Some new faces and old, we had a great time preparing a delicious fruit salad! The purpose of these classes is to touch young children in Southwark and Lambeth the joy of cooking and how to eat healthily. 

Together with Enterprise Un-Ltd, the Mini Cooking Club have created a fantastic programme in which your children will learn about some exciting ingredients, where they come from and how to use them to make some tasty recipes from around the world.

We’ll then eat them together as a group with our new friends. Be quick as we have limited spaces, so don’t wait too long to sign up.

The Food for Champions programme will be held at Lansdowne Youth Centre, 278 South Lambeth Road London SW8 1UJ on Saturdays from the 9th November until the 14th of December. Sessions run from 10:30-12:30 and are completely free. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity; we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Run by Cecilia Belier, our founder, these sessions aim to teach children the value of eating healthily and practical cooking skills, all in a fun setting with others their own age! Children must be aged 5-11 and have an interest in learning how to cook. 

Cecilia is a trained chef and has a background running MEND sessions dedicated to reducing global overweight and obesity levels. She also has a degree in International Development from the University of Hong Kong.  Cecilia currently works at Compass promoting health eating in schools and building community relations.

Click this link for our photo gallery from the session! 

Cecilia and two of our trainee chefs!

By Catherine Heath

Martin Caraher | Professor of Food and Health Policy | Interview

Martin Caraher being interviewed!

The Mini Cooking Club has been lucky enough to meet Martin Caraher!

Martin is Professor of Food and Health Policy at City University. He has had a distinguished career, working extensively on issues related to food poverty, cooking skills, local sustainable food supplies, the role of markets and co-ops in promoting health, farmers markets, food deserts & food access, retail concentration and globalisation.

In the past, Martin has worked as an environmental health inspector in Dublin, and in the Irish and the English health services managing health promotion and public health services respectively.

Read on for our interview with Martin, at City University, 22.10.13. 

Mini Cooking Club: So, why did you choose your specialist subject, public health and public health promotion?

Martin Caraher: The reason is personal, my background was environmental health for a short time, and I discovered that my colleagues didn't know anything about food, mostly technology and safety. I wanted to know about food and I left the job. I began to see in public health terms that there was a benefit in cooking skills; one of which is nutrition but the others is confidence. It can switch people's lives around and give them confidence in other areas of their lives. We did a survey in 1999, big database work, and we found that it contradicted some notions around cooking. Everybody said the poor can't cook. That may be true but the rich can't cook in equally great numbers – but they can buy their way out of it.

MCC: Was that survey related to Cooking in Crisis?

MC: Yes, that was a national survey, with other colleagues. The only people doing that work now are in the industry. The government doesn't collect this data. Tesco knows much more about our cooking habits than the government does.

MCC: What are your views on Tesco?

MC: Probably unprintable. [Laughter] They're part of a system. Not just Tesco, we're in a system where most of our food is delivered through five major retailers, eight out of every ten pounds is spent in major retailers. What we've got nationally and globally is a vested interest in de-skilling us so we're more dependent on their products.

MCC: It's the illusion of saving time. So what contribution does your research make to this field?

MC: At the moment, I think it encourages a new generation of researchers to look at this area in a slightly different light; but ironically it has made very little impact in the public health field. I think for public health people, cooking is unsexy and they'd rather crunch data or look at issues of disease prevention. Cooking is a very practical prevention issue and I think that's where Jamie Oliver has made an impact: by making it reasonably sexy and something desirable.

MCC: Cooking sometimes seems quite fluffy, rather than talking about health-issues.

MC: Yeah, and yet we know the benefits. The evidence-base has been a bit weak but now we know communities that cook have better health. The UK has a unique set of problems where the culture of cooking is not handed down. Recent research shows that in France and Korea people who cook have healthier lifestyles.

MCC: What do you think is the biggest public health challenge that people in the UK face around food?

MC: Our food sustainability and imports – which is related to a lack of cooking skills. I think cooking gives you skills around knowing where food comes from and what's in season, but the big problem in the UK at the moment is the unsustainable food supply. It is very vulnerable. We've literally got 3-5 days of food in the country so if we have an oil problem, a terrorist problem, or a major chronic disease problem and we shut down the borders, we've got a huge problem.

MCC: Do you think it's a common misconception that the middle classes are more interested in food producers and the joy of cooking?

MC: No, there's quite a lot of research out there that shows low-income people are just as concerned about these issues, but there are other things stopping them accessing local, sustainable or healthy food. Social capital, which may be time, lacking physical facilities, all those things. If you're on a low income and you've got to feed your kids, you may give them a takeaway rather than fresh food because you know they're going to eat it. Shopping practices have changed. People are not doing the big shop at the beginning of the month where they buy things they don't even need. The rise in food prices has made people more aware.

MCC: Do you think the current government doesn't care about low-income groups being able to access food?

MC: Of course not. It's all about personal responsibility but at the moment the poor are being hammered. Benefits are under threat and there is no recognition of families. We still debate notion that people should go back to work and whether full employment is sustainable or not.
The Trussell Trust is opening a new food bank every week because the government has cut off welfare benefits for food. Extending free school meals is a good thing but it's only for reception and the first two years of primary schools. Some boroughs have been doing that anyway, but it's better than nothing.

MCC: What do you think is the main role nutrition charities should play?

MC: I think what we've got to do is scale up, which is not the fault of the charities. Some of the celebrities are saying this will solve all the problems which is very dangerous, because when cooking doesn't solve obesity all that will happen is the government will cut off the funding. I think we need a strategy for it.
We also need to have restrictions on advertising and how stuff is marketed to kids. Food should be brand-free, in my opinion. We need to remove kids from all of those things as part of a big strategy, and then think how we're going to solve the problem of those adults who can't cook, so how are we going to solve that? Whether it's community cooking classes, or linking through schools, I don't know.

MCC: Would you do something less academic like working for the government? You would be the right person to do advise on food policy.

MC: No. I occasionally sit in on committees but working for government you're not allowed to say certain things. No one pays any attention to reports. Evidence is important to me as an academic but it’s not what shifts policy. It's the passion that works. Policy is driven by passion.

MCC: Are you a vegetarian for the environment?

MC: I moved to the west of Ireland in the 70's/80's and food culture was pretty mediocre. The alternative was two vegetarian restaurants and they offered something different. When I stopped working as an environmental health officer, I thought I don't need to eat meat. I think when you're that close to it you can't admit it to yourself. I hadn't had that distance and once I got that, for me it was about the best cuisine being vegetarian.

MCC: If you hadn't specialised in public health, what would you have done instead?

MC: What would I have done? What would I have liked to have done? I'd liked to have been a music critic as I'm not good enough to have been a musician. But, anything you do for joy that becomes a job is probably not as pleasurable.

MCC: Have you had any personal experiences that make you particularly passionate about working in this field? A particular moment in your life?

MC: Grandkids have been the major influence. I've got this wonderful picture of my now-seven year old granddaughter who was two, holding an apple and she's eating it. It's one of those memories of her particularly that invoked in me and my partner a major turning point around food, because it was about their future.

MCC: What is your proudest accomplishment in this field?

MC: I think it's the new generation. I've got five or six people doing PhD's in this area and I think that's the most exciting thing. We’re back to this issue that public health does not look seriously at cooking. It's not sexy or high-tech. I’m proud of actually stimulating a new generation because I want to be sitting in my garden in five years’ time. I don't want to be campaigning forever. I hope the new generation will do that and be working with people like you. That's the plan for the future. It's always the new generation.

Finish. 

Catherine Heath

Our founder, Cecilia Belier, and Martin