Eat healthier

Eat Healthier 

Want to be a healthy weight?  If you're overweight, losing weight has many health benefits. Making small, simple changes to what and how much you are eating and drinking can really help you lose the pounds.   

Our weight management programme is taking place both online and face to face and the details can be seen below.  To register, please complete our registration form.

Registration form

Eat Healthier programme

HENRY, healthy families right from the start (0-5 years)

HENRY is 9 week programme designed for parents of children aged 0-5 and pregnant women who are passionate about giving their babies and young children the best possible start in life.  We support the whole family to make positive lifestyle changes, creating healthier and happier home environments.

We cover a range of topics including nutrition, physical activity, emotional wellbeing and parenting skills and they are facilitated by our trained, friendly, and supportive practitioners.

Testimonial for our HENRY programme

“I loved the supportive atmosphere. Sharing knowledge that is essential for parenting well. The resources provided (video, books, posters) were great, and the praise and encouragement from facilitators. At home, feeding time is more relaxed now. I’m more aware of boundaries and being responsive to baby's needs. I check labels when buying food. I’m sharing HENRY’s teachings with the rest of my family.”     

Registration form

HENRY, healthy families growing up (5-12 years)

For children living in Barking and Dagenham, rhe HENRY 5-12 programme is an eight week course delivered by local HENRY facilitators for up to 12 parents.  Programmes focus on building your confidence and strengths as a parent and explores key themes such as; emotional well-being, whole family lifestyle habits, mealtimes, TV, sleep, food, parenting and physical activity.

Who is HENRY for?

Any family who is looking to make changes together to be healthier and happier can request a free place.  HENRY is ideal for families who are looking to eat better, become a healthier weight, be more physically activem or for those who are looking for support with family life.

Registration form

LEAN Living - Adults 

LEAN (Learning, Exercise and Nutrition) Living is our free programme is for people aged 16 and over, living in Barking and Dagenham and with a BMI of 25 or more.  This programme has been designed by a group highly experienced nutrition, psychology, physiology and health and fitness experts. It has shown to be effective in helping people lose weight and keep it off.

Whatever the reasons you might have to lose weight, improve your health or reduce your risk of obesity related conditions like Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and some cancers, our free course Lean Living programme will help you to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

There are 12-week programmes, six week programmes and a rolling programme where our expert healthy lifestyle coaches will welcome and guide you through five key area of the weight loss programme(Getting the balance right, The fullness factor, Retraining your appetite, Getting Active, Skills for weight management),and also you will meet people of the same like minds. These programmes are also currently delivered online and over the phone at different times during the week.

We will help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight by providing you with free access to exercise classes, nutrition information, gyms, health walks and provide you a discount to the borough's leisure centres.

You can also view the eight week and 12 week programme details below.

Registration form

Session topics for 8 and 12 week programmes

Testimonials about the Lean Living Programme

Brian: "The programme as been such an eye opener when it comes to me losing weight. With the information given each week and applied, I now know what food groups should be on my plate, I have learnt how to apply portion control and I also incorporated exercising into my daily life and just by doing this simple things, the weight is coming off and also have made new friends during the session."

You could also download and follow the NHS Better Health plan. This is a free 12-week weight loss plan.

Eat Well, Live Well and Feel Great (ELF)

For adults living in Barking and Dagenham with a learning disability, we have Eat Well, Live Well and Feel Great (ELF), which aims to increase physical health and wellbeing through physical activity and healthy eating sessions.

This service aims to help people with learning disability to:

• achieve a sustainable weight loss
• reduce further weight gain
• get into a regular healthy eating pattern
• learn Portion Control and reduce overeating
• become more physically active
• learn new long-term healthy lifestyle skills

Useful healthy eating links

The British Heart Foundation has a recipe finder that contains hundreds of heart healthy recipes with full nutritional analysis. You can filter your search by cuisine, dietary requirements, and condition so there is something to suit all tastes and diets.
They also have lots of recipes on eating healthy on a budget.

Looking for a healthy and easy meal? You can download the NHS Easy Meal App for free.

The BBC have lots of great freezable recipes.

NHS choices has pulled together 10 surprising 100 calorie snacks - most of which only use three ingredients and take less than 5 minutes to prepare!

Change4Life has some great tips and advice for healthier lunchboxes. 

Cooking Sessions Online: 

• Schools Out Get Active Cooking Week 1
• Schools Out Get Active Cooking Week 2
• Schools Out Get Active Cooking Week 3
• Schools Out Get Active Cooking Week 5

It’s important for children to eat a delicious healthy meal at school. Find out more information about school meals and if your child qualified for a free school meal.