Nutritionist Madeleine Shaw has called for schools to bring back home economics classes in an attempt to combat the UK’s obesity crisis.
She said young people needed to learn how to cook so they could make healthy meals from scratch.
Shaw, 25, pictured, who works with Millie Mackintosh and is also a lifestyle guru and yoga teacher, said: “We have an obesity epidemic in the UK. Young people are the most important to target and get them eating well and exercising.
“Teaching people how to cook has been lost. Home economics classes don’t seem to exist now and people think ‘oh that’s for housewives’. People do not know how to make a shepherd’s pie from scratch so they buy it. But making it from scratch is much better for you.
“I would say bring back home economics class. There are a lot of skills I learnt in school that I have never used — but cooking is something that everyone should be doing.” The home economics GCSE was scrapped last year, even though 32,000 pupils had taken it in 2013. Food technology is offered in some schools as part of the design and technology qualification.
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According to Health Survey for England figures, 62.1 per cent of adults in the UK were overweight or obese in 2013. Sixteen per cent of boys and 15 per cent of girls aged two to 15 were also categorised as obese.
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Shaw, a popular figure on Instagram and Twitter, said supermarkets could help improve the situation: “It is all about supermarkets. They have a huge amount of power. The ultimate goal is to get more fresh convenient food in to supermarkets.”
She added: “People want to look healthy now and there is a movement towards changing your lifestyle rather than fad diets. Hopefully it is not just a fashion trend.”
Shaw made her comments as she launched a winter workout with Brita water.
Details are at brita.co.uk.