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Health minister Simon Burns is gearing up to promote healthy eating at a Make Space event in Chelmsford.

The cook-in will take place at the Chelmsford Boys’ Club on Thursday 29^th July and will involve a demonstration of healthy cooking by Nestlé chefs.

The Conservative MP for Chelmsford said he was excited to be involved in the project, “which involves young people in learning about a healthier lifestyle in an interesting and interactive way. 

“It will encourage young people to adopt better and healthier eating habits which can only be of benefit to them.”

After the demonstration, Mr Burns will lead a quiz session on balanced diets, with prizes awarded to the young people getting the most questions right.

Chief Executive of charity 4Children, which runs the Make Space campaign, Anne Longfield explained: “Make Space for Health responds to young people telling us they want to be healthier but don't have enough support or know where to go to get information.

“This programme works to ensure that health services are available in a variety of community settings so that young people can have the help they need at their fingertips.”

Recent research for the Tellus 4 local authority survey^[i] of young people’s health behaviours found that young people in Essex are generally good at keeping fit, with 37 per cent participating in physical activity every lunchtime and 90 per cent doing something active after school at least once a week.

However, there is still some way to go, with only 19 per cent getting their 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, and 10 per cent saying more information about healthy living would be one of the top three ways to improve their standard of living.