Why nutrition is the key to good health

Cooking from scratch with locally sourced ingredients are the aims of a new nutrition programme being offered by a Huddersfield exercise group.

Talk Active, which offers a range of exercise classes in community venues around the town, will be launching the new Kick Start Fat Loss programme in January.

The group offers a range of classes but specialises in Zumba and Pilates classes for active older adults and also offers chair-based sessions.

Managing director, Anne Little said the new programme would provide the missing nutritional link.

“I felt something was missing,” she said.

“Nutrition as well as exercise is so important in relation to health and I’m very interested in eating well, which is why KSFL caught my eye as it focuses on health, not just fat loss.”

Anne, 56, has been teaching physical activity for the 32 years, gaining a degree in Sport and Health Studies and, before getting Talk Active off the ground, she was a senior lecturer and researcher in the subject at Huddersfield University. She has an impressive portfolio of exercise qualifications including Zumba, resistance and circuit training and exercise to music. She is also a fitness assessment and exercise counsellor, nutrition and weight management advisor and teaches older adults.

She said she started Talk Active after discovering Zumba and realising what a great way it was to get people active.

“We really want to make a difference, not only getting people active but to help build a community which is such an important element to health.”

Now, seven years after it started, Anne said she can see it working, people meeting at classes, arranging to go for coffee and creating their own community networks.

The addition of KSFL is something Anne and her close-knit team of 30 instructors is looking forward to.

With a launch date set for January 9 in Anne’s hometown of Holmfirth, the event will be at the Civic Hall and will showcase what the programme is all about including meals for people to taste.

KSFL’s creator Rachel Holmes will be at the launch along with Huddersfield nutritionist, Amanda Smith who will be working on the programme with Anne. “We are all so busy and it is really nice to cook from scratch and use good ingredients.”