Eat well
Eating a healthy, balanced diet is key to maintaining a healthy weight.
Choosing healthier foods doesn't have to be difficult, expensive or boring. There are lots of cheap and tasty ways that you and your family can eat well every day to be healthier.
Small changes in the food and drink you consume every day can make a huge difference.
Have a look at the best tips and recipes for healthy, balanced eating.
Healthy eating resources
Often, the wide range of healthy eating tips and advice available on the internet can be confusing for people trying to make healthy changes to their diet.
We have gathered together the best quality-assured information on healthy eating so that you can be confident in the food you eat:
- Association of UK Dieticians - food facts
- NHS Choices - Calculate your BMI to better understand your weight
- NHS Choices - Eat Well
- NHS Choices - free weight loss plan
- NHS Change 4 Life - for kids
Healthy Start
If you are pregnant or have a child under four years old, and if you are on certain benefits, the Healthy Start scheme could help you buy the following foods:
- cow’s milk – whole, semi-skimmed or skimmed, that is pasteurised, sterilised, long life or UHT
- fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables (with no added ingredients), that are whole, chopped, packaged or loose
- dried or tinned pulses
- infant formula milk that says it can be used from birth and is based on cow’s milk
All pregnant women, new mums and children under four in the borough are entitled to free Healthy Start vitamins from participating local pharmacies (PDF 127KB) regardless of their income.
Check if you qualify for the Healthy Start programme
The Lambeth GP Food Co-op
The Lambeth GP Food Co-op consists of patients, doctors, nurses and Lambeth residents who grow food together.
The co-op work together to build gardens in GP surgeries so that everyone who wishes to learn how to grow food can do so in a safe, secure and supported environment.
The garden communities provide a space for people to socialise, learn and grow food together, while improving their health and wellbeing.
Brixton People's Kitchen
The Brixton People's Kitchen collects food that would otherwise be thrown away from local shops, markets and businesses, and invite people to cook together in a local kitchen.
It's main aims are to:
- bring people together
- share skills and learn new ones
- reduce food waste.
Brixton People's Kitchen website
Cooking classes
Use this event finder to discover food and cooking activities in Lambeth.
Budgeting
NHS
See the NHS top 20 tips to eat well for less.
Lambeth Larder
Lambeth Larder has money saving ideas, information about emergency food and groups that grow their own food, and links to local advice services.
Money Advice Service
The service's 'My Money' web page has a range of money saving tips that can help you balance your budget.
The website also has a free budget planning tool. This will provide personalised advice to help you make the most of your money.
You can also access the Money Advice Service web chat or helpline for free and impartial money advice.
Apps
- Scan the barcodes of more than 140,000 products to find the sugar, saturated fat and salt in everyday food and drink and get tips and hints via the Change4Life Food Scanner app.
- Choose from 150 easy, calorie-counted recipes covering breakfast, lunch, evening meals and puddings via the Easy Meals recipe app.
- Get rewarded with points for reaching your exercise goals or for the amount of fruit and vegetables you consume via the SidekickHealth app.