food

To stay healthy during lockdown we must go ‘back to basics’, says Manchester dietitian

  • Local Dietitian says that Lockdown is a great time to switch to a healthier lifestyle 
  • The government announced plans to help tackle obesity back in July 
  • Recent reports say that 28.7% of UK adult population is obese
  • Learning a few quick recipes can be one step to a healthy lifestyle

A Manchester dietitian says lockdown is a perfect opportunity for people to switch to a healthier lifestyle.

Man Met lecturer in food, nutrition and health, Avni Vyas, says Britain’s obesity crisis cannot be treated by a one size fits all approach.

She said: “It [government obesity plan] talks about a particular demography in terms of age, ethnicity, and what we really need to think about is provide advice and access to exercise care, depending on the age of the individual because different age groups will need things to help encourage them to do the exercise and eat healthily.”

In July, Boris Johnson announced the government’s new plans to help reduce Britain’s Obesity levels. These new efforts included a ban on junk food advert until after 9 pm and for restaurants to included calorie counts on their menus.

According to recent government reports 28.7% of the UK’s adult population is obese and a further 35.6% is overweight as of 2017.

Ms Vyas added: “Food has a very complicated relationship with people in whatever culture you come from. It’s a very complicated process and we have got to try and make it a real thing.”

With cases of covid-19 back on the rise in the UK and fears of a second lockdown, it can be acknowledged that many people may not be able to simply choose healthier meals but instead will stock up on cheaper frozen meals for the next lockdown.

However, Ms Vyas suggested that it is possible to actually have a healthier lifestyle just by learning a few new quick recipes.

“It can be very easy to eat healthy on a very low budget. If you are in a proper lockdown and you’re not going to work maybe take that time to learn three or four very quick, very easy pasta recipes or grain, rice recipes, which you can go to even when lockdown is finished,” she said.

 “This is one of the poor consequences of industrialisation, digitalization and I think going back to basics would be a really good thing for people to think about.”