South Asian Awareness Month

Food and Moves

As part of South Asian Heritage Month, Feel Good Suffolk wants to celebrate the wonderful flavours of the subcontinent!

We all love South Asian food and it’s influence on the British palette is unquestionable. But it can be dominated by starchy carbs, which when eaten in excess get metabolised into fat. Then there is ‘ghee’ and fried food, a favourite in South Asian cooking. What is important though is that a South Asian diet, just like any other, can be a healthy one, it just takes some small adjustments.

The impact of unhealthy South Asian food means that South Asian people are at higher risk of developing heart disease and diabetes than the general population. Dr Sandy Gupta speaking to the British Heart Foundation puts this down to a number of factors including body shape.
South Asian people predominantly store fat around their middle as ‘visceral fat’, this is fat that sits around organs. Pear-shaped people store their fat around their legs and bum, and this is stored under the skin or subcutaneously, putting them at a much lower risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.

Food

There is also an important cultural factor at play here, food is the centre piece of large South Asian family and to turn down food someone has prepared for you isn’t polite.

The components of the South Asian diet themselves are actually healthy but the problem often arises in the cooking methods. A lot of South Asian foods are fried and contain fats like ghee which is linked to raising LDL cholesterol levels. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

• 2 fried vegetable samosa’s weigh in at 285cals but baking them reduces that number to 150cals.
• 2 fried chicken kebabs weigh in at 140cals which can be reduced to 80cals when baked.

Feel Good Suffolk are keen to create healthy eating advice that works for everyone, so keep an eye on the website later in the year, when downloadable resources looking at healthy eating in all cultures will be front and centre. If you would like to contribute to our work, then get in touch with us.

Exercise

Another reason for South Asian health risks is the lack of exercise. Studies suggest that South Asians exercise less, especially women, who tend to prefer single sex gyms or exercise classes. This needs to be tempered by the fact that on the whole as a nation we don’t move as much as we should.

• 33% of men are not active enough for good health
• 45% of women are not active enough for good health.

When we exercise, we are giving the heart a workout and like any other muscle if its not used it gets smaller and weaker. Moving more doesn’t have to the gym or sports centre, it can be as simple as having a boogie in the kitchen, getting down in the garden or just taking a short walk every day.

Solutions for Food

Feel Good Suffolk has been looking into possible solutions to these issues and wants to share some resources.

This one is the ‘Healthier You’ booklet produced by the NHS which looks at healthier eating in African, Caribbean and South Asian cuisines. It breaks down the South Asian diet into different food groups and gives realistic and achievable suggestions which can make a big difference to your health. 

Heart UK also has a bundle of suggestions and guidance on their website to help make your diet healthier. https://www.heartuk.org.uk/healthy-diets/south-asian-diets-and-cholesterol

Top takeaways

• Prepare meals using less fat and salt
• Include more vegetables
• Choose wholegrain or high-fibre
• Switch from ghee and coconut oil to veg/sunflower oil
• Try baking rather than frying
• Go easy on the sugar

Solutions for Exercise

There are so many different ways you can move more, in fact the majority of adults in Britain need to move more and sit less. Gardening, housework and walking are great places to start moving more. It is important that whatever way you choose to move, you enjoy it.

We did some digging and found these opportunities.

Flytoez Dance Company have a ladies’ Bollywood dance class on Thursday evenings from 18:30-19:15. Find their details online at www.flytoez.co.uk

Adult Online Bharatanatyam dance class runs every Saturday between 11:30-12:30 on Zoom. To find contact details visit Naatya East’s website at www.india-dance.co.uk/weekly-classes

As always, we are keen to hear from you and to hear your stories we’d especially like to find out the small things you do to stay healthy. Remember if you are at the start of your journey small changes can make a big difference. Here’s to taking control and making a change we promise it will feel good!