Health Awareness Event: Talks, Demos and Food!

I was invited to host and deliver a talk at a Health Awareness Event organised by NFA Foundation, founded by a lovely sister I met only a few months ago, Nazia Ali. The event was held on Friday 28th March 2014 from 3-6pm.  It was a short yet fun-filled event, gaining invaluable healthy tips from all the health professionals that attended. 

Nazia Ali is a very hard-working sister, who founded a charity called, NFA Foundation. We celebrated one of her project's, Nazia's Halal Kitchen, where she runs after school cooking classes at Apex Primary School and there is another school in the pipeline too. She is also an author with two books to her name; a healthy recipe book called; Healthy and Halal Choice and a fiction book called; Into The Light From The Darkness. A humble and very generous sister, who financed the whole event by herself under her charity name. 

The event went great, it was such a lovely evening, attended by parents mostly from Apex Primary School in London, where it was held. There were talks and demo’s delivered by health professionals about their respective fields and it was definitely an enlightening evening, we all learnt so much.

Here's a brief review of what the evening included: 

- Nazia Ali, did a cooking demo, and talked a little bit about what she does. She also presented certificates to the children who attended her after-school cooking class. In the cooking demo Nazia demonstrated how easy and simple it was to make a scrummy mixed bean salad with grilled chicken.

- Dr. Nadia Rahman reminded us about Islam, spirituality and depression. A taboo amongst our community. 

- Samina Khalid, a health practitioner and consultant, talked about skin conditions and how environmental factors can affect this illness. We did a test to see how acidic or alkaline our body was by placing litmus paper under our tongue for 30secs, mine came out dark green which is very healthy! Yay!!! :-D 

- Dr. Imrana Siddiqui talked about the importance of having a healthy heart and how we can prevent heart disease, an illness which is very common in the South Asian community. 

- And finally, Inayah Hussain did a cupping demonstration givibg us a brief review on its history, uses and relation to Islam. I have always wanted to try, as it is a great way to detox the body and prevent/treat a long list of ailments.

I spoke about the importance of healthy eating, its benefits and how it is also a vital part of a Muslims lifestyle. I got some good feedback; people said how they really enjoyed the tips given, the passion portrayed and how relative all the information was. I really enjoyed connecting with the group and hope to see them again soon.

Of course there was food too, and we showed that you can enjoy good food without the high fat, salt and sugar content. We had 2 tables full of yummy healthy food this included; sandwiches, veg sticks with hummus, pasta salad (which I made), chickpea and egg, spicy pineapple, nuts, dried fruit, dates, breadsticks, vegetable rice, and of course lots of fruit. It was definitely a delicious spread; the kids (and adults) couldn’t wait to get their hands onto it and fill their plates as well as their tummies.

It was great to see women and children get excited to learn about healthy well-being as it is so important to know and be aware of how to look after ourselves and our families. I hope to be part of events like this in the future, as it is my aim to spread the healthy word!

The event was/will be featured on Bangla TV and Islam Channel. I will let you know if I find clips of the feature. 

Be Happy! Be Healthy!

www.ahnutritionist.co.uk

By Ayshabibi H.

A H Nutritionist

29^th March 2014