New health series for South Asian people hitting TV screens

A new health series following the lives of six South Asian people, and offering diet and healthy lifestyle advice, will be hitting our screens on Sunday 17 May. The programme called Simply Health is jointly sponsored by leading health charity Diabetes UK, the cholesterol charity HEART UK and the Food Standard Agency (FSA). It will air on the satellite channel Sony TV Asia on Fridays at 6.30pm, Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 11.30am.

During its 30 episodes, Simply Health will aim to teach and inform South Asian viewers about good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle particularly in relation to Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. It follows the lives of a group of South Asian people and provides an insight into how they manage their health at home, work and in their leisure time. Simply Health will give information and solutions for change in a “Bollywood” style of Hindi.

Simply Health will have cooking demonstrations, offer practical tips on healthy South Asian dishes and dispel any commonly held myths. HEART UK Dietetic Advisor Baldeesh Rai and Cardiologist Dr Nabeel Ahmed will advise the participants on how to improve their lifestyles and manage their conditions better. Celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala will look at how traditional South Asian cuisine can be made healthier and other celebrity chefs such as Manju Mahli will make guest appearances on the show. The cricketer Mark Ramprakash and beauty therapist Bharti Vyas will also make guest appearances.

Jenne Dixit, Equality and Diversity Manager at Diabetes UK, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring Simply Health on Sony TV. It is absolutely imperative that we reach out to the South Asian community and communicate how serious Type 2 diabetes is. People of South Asian origin are six times more likely to have the condition than the general population. If untreated, the condition can lead to devastating complications such as amputation, heart disease, blindness and kidney disease.”

Rosemary Hignett, Head of Nutrition at the FSA, said: “The FSA is committed to doing what it can to encourage everyone to eat a varied, balanced and nutritious diet, which is low in salt, sugar and saturated fat. Making healthier choices about what we eat will help reduce the number of diet-related illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers, which are on the rise in the UK. Although changing the way we eat can seem like a bit of a challenge, focussing on small, practical swaps and positive changes that can easily be made, Simply Health will help make a real difference to public health.”

Baldeesh Rai, Dietetic Advisor at HEART UK, said: “Most of us are aware of what constitutes healthy eating but we struggle when it comes to the practical ideas. Simply Health provides these easy, practical tips, giving great ideas which we can all incorporate without losing out on the taste. We are delighted to be working on this project to give accurate and up-to-date information suitable for the whole family on how to reduce saturated fat and energy intake and how to get more active to help maintain good health.”

Health Facts:
• There are more than 300,000 people with Type 2 diabetes in the South Asian and Black communities in the UK.
• Diabetes affects around 6.5 per cent of the South Asian community.
• People of South Asian origin are also 40 per cent more likely to have heart disease.
• In 2005 cardiovascular disease (CVD), including heart disease and stroke, killed over 120,000 people in the UK; equivalent to the population of a town the size of St Albans.
• CVD kills more men and women in the UK than any other disease and in 2004 cardiovascular disease was responsible for nine times more deaths in women than breast cancer.
• By 2020 heart disease will be the leading cause of disablement in the UK.

For a balanced diet, try to eat:
• Plenty of fruit and vegetables
• Plenty of bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods
• Some milk and dairy foods
• Some meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein
• Just a small amount of foods and drinks high in fat and/or sugar

For further information: visit www.diabetes.org.uk, www.heartuk.org.uk andwww.eatwell.gov.uk