Women's Voices Healthy Eating Online Sessions

Providing a positive & supportive learning environment for South Asian women aged 50–80 at Eating & Lifestyle’ sessions

Benefit of learning new skills

Keep learning is one of the Five Ways to Wellbeing, five evidence-based actions which can improve personal wellbeing. Adults engaged in lifelong learning are more likely to be healthier, have better mental health and be more social connected. They are also more likely to participate in the community and decisions concerning the community. Learning new skills increases individuals’ employability, supporting the economic growth of the community. Adults involved in learning are more likely to be involved in their children’s education, helping them learn and raise attainment.

Location

Longsight

Project team

Women's Voices

Buzz Health and Wellbeing Service

Aim

In response to worries about weight gain and unhealthy behaviours during lockdown this is an investment for the group to deliver 5 x online ‘Healthy Eating and Lifestyle’ sessions with South Asian women aged 50 – 80.

Testimonials

Nasira - "The healthy eating and lifestyle course was really useful and informative. I learned so many new things about what to eat daily and what to avoid to stay healthy."

Azra - "This course was very interesting and useful during this pandemic because it taught me how to keep fit, healthy and we could boost our immunity. I loved all the sessions and enjoyed myself a lot."

Bushra - "Thank you for giving me a chance to participate in such wonderful sessions on healthy eating and lifestyle by Fareeha Jay. I enjoyed the sessions and the course helped me develop skills to cook in a healthy way. I would love to join such a course in future again."

Evaluation

This project was really successful with a waiting list for people who wanted to attend.

Another group of women from the Iranian community heard about this project and wanted to do something similar but appropriate to their cultural foods.

The group also finished their project with a couple of additional sessions focussing specifically on how to read food labels and ingredients as this is something the women had identified a need for during their project.

Strategic links to local/national policies

Benefit	Policy
Helping people live healthier lives	Healthy Lives, Healthy People (MH Government, 2010) The Manchester Locality Plan – A Healthier Manchester Manchester Health and Wellbeing Strategy Manchester Prevention Programme
Increased mental wellbeing	Manchester Health and Wellbeing Strategy Greater Manchester Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy
Increasing community involvement	Healthy Lives, Healthy People (MH Government, 2010) Manchester Prevention Programme
Socially connected communities	Manchester Population Health Plan
Employability	NHS Five Year Forward View (Department of Health, 2014) Taking Charge of our Health and Social Care in Greater Manchester (GMCA, 2015) Our Manchester Strategy
Giving children the best start in life	Taking Charge of our Health and Social Care in Greater Manchester (GMCA, 2015) Greater Manchester Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy