Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Try Club took part in a special workshop delivered by Ministry of Food Leeds last week as they entered week 10 of their 12-week Health Programme
The workshop, which took place at the TryZone Education Centre at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, saw the group learn the principles of healthy eating, cooking skills and techniques, food hygiene and safe cooking, shopping and budgeting as well as, a chance to see a recipe cooked from scratch from Food Projects Coordinator Simon Chappelow.
Ministry of Food Leeds, which is run by Zest Health for Life and supported by NHS Leeds and Leeds City Council offers affordable weekly cookery classes from its base in Leeds Kirkgate Market teaching a full range of cooking skills designed to enable the public to prepare quick, healthy and cost-effective meals, while providing nutrition information to educate more people about healthy eating.
Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Try Club is open to men over the age of 18 with a body mass index of over 25, led by staff from the Leeds Rhinos Foundation who are trained in providing one to one healthy lifestyles consultation, advice and support.
Working with over 30 participants since its launch in 2016, the programme focusses on healthier eating and physical activity, splitting programme delivery between educational classroom learning and physical activity settings across Leeds.
The partnership between the Leeds Rhinos Foundation and Ministry of Food saw the organisations come together for Leeds Rhinos Health Takeover game earlier this season to offer free recipes and information about healthy eating to rugby league fans before Simon and his team returned to work Try Club.
Simon Chappelow, commented:
“The Ministry of Food Leeds have really enjoyed working with the Leeds Rhinos Foundation to deliver the healthy eating session as part of the weight management group.
“It is very clear that the participants attending the session are always very engaged and you can tell they have a real commitment to making a positive behaviour change.
The group worked through a Sizzling Beef Stir Fry recipe prepared in the style of a takeaway demonstrating how to create cheaper and healthier options in under 30 minutes all linking back to previous course content around portion size and food types.
On the back of the session, members of the group have been inspired to follow up the workshop from Simon, who was impressed by the commitment of the group to adopt healthier lifestyles:
“The group were frequently asking questions about cooking skills and healthy eating messages and quite a few of the guys attending the session expressed a serious interest in participating in the 8 week courses we run at the centre at Leeds markets as we run Saturday sessions as well as, sessions during the week.
“One of the participants attending the sessions qualifies for a Leeds South and East bursary position allowing them to access the service for free and this will be the first referral from the Leeds Rhinos Foundation onto the scheme, so it’s quite a big deal for the partnership working so well going forward.”
For more information on the Leeds Rhinos Foundation's Try Club and how to sign up click here
For more information on Ministry of Food Leeds click here