It has recently been announced that NICE (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) are going to instruct GPs to put obese people on cookery courses, to help them learn how to cook nutritious food from scratch. These courses will cost over £400 each and are geared towards helping to stem the obesity crisis.

Whilst I think there is some sense in this, I am also concerned that it is not going to be the answer as it is a much longer term, sustainable solution that we need which addresses the different – often complex – factors behind the reason so many of us are overweight and obese.

I realise that I am very lucky because, as a child, I had the opportunity to cook with my mum. Saturday mornings would be baking time, and I would have my little bit of pastry and my mini rolling pin, happily making jam tarts or sausage rolls. Not so healthy really, but it got me into cooking at a young age, and so I could begin to be confident and relaxed around food. At school we were taught domestic science which I believe is now called ‘food technology’ (please somebody rename it, call it cookery class, for heavens sake!) I learnt how to make all sorts of basic staples, they were perhaps a bit carby, but they were unprocessed and wholesome – meat pies, Victoria sandwich, apple crumble – and they helped to further increase my confidence in the kitchen.

Nowadays there are many children (and adults) who have quite simply never been taught how to cook, with the result that they tend to consume ready meals and junk food. It is cheap, quick to prepare, and also – this is the crux of the problem – loaded with processed gunk which is highly addictive, and makes people want to eat more of it.

So, yes, it would make sense to have cookery lessons, but it does make me wonder why can’t this be taught in schools? And perhaps it should be obligatory for students to attend. Cooking is a skill that I believe everyone should be able to learn.

HOWEVER, along with this, we do need to simplify the message about what constitutes healthy food. Many GPs and dietitians are still handing out diet sheets with the old low fat, low calorie instructions, when it has been well-proven now that it is an excess of sugar and carbs which is making us fat. Michael Mosley’s ‘Blood sugar diet’ would be an ideal place to start, as he recommends a generally low-carb Mediterranean diet which includes healthy fats such as nuts, olive oil and whole milk yoghurt.

Also we need to limit access to fast junk food outlets, these are evil places and should be wiped off the face of the earth. There is a direct correlation between these and people starting to get very fat. You just need to look at China and the Far East to see how the arrival of the Golden Arches has begun to create huge (quite literally) health problems.

So, cookery courses for obese people on the NHS, yes they are a good idea, as long as there are other measures in place to educate and inform about food, and how it can nourish and heal.
Also, ways which we can encourage a culture of cooking things from scratch, easily and quickly. I have just bough Jamie’s 5 ingredients recipe book, which is brilliant.

Happy cooking everyone,
Wendy x