With a budget of £10 and just one minute to do their shopping', Keighley Cougars players gave a big push yesterday to a healthy eating campaign.

Cougars director of rugby Peter Roe, along with players Matt Foster and Chris Roe, took part in a supermarket sweep at the Asda store in Shipley.

The task was part of a concerted campaign across the district to tackle rising rates of obesity in children and adults and to promote the work of Bradford Council's Obesity Review Group.

The group has undertaken a detailed examination of the impact of obesity and designed a strategy to tackle the problem in the district. It has just published its final report containing 12 recommendations.

Promoting healthy eating is a key part of the strategy and award winning chef Kaushy Patel, South Asian Chef of the Year, was on hand to suggest healthy recipes which could be cooked with the food chosen by the players.

Dr Andrew Hill, an obesity expert and member of the obesity review group, was also present to assess the choices for a healthy meal. He praised Bradford Council for its efforts in tackling obesity.

"The Government produced stark figures in 2001 which showed the life expectancy of people who are obese is shortened by about eight-and-a-half years. We have for some time recognised the health risks associated with smoking and now we are beginning to recognise the risks associated with being overweight, such as increased risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease.

"We want to help people to change, not to browbeat them to give them the opportunity to lose weight."

Councillor Michael Kelly, chairman of the Obesity Review Group, said: "We selected obesity for our first detailed investigation because of the increase in obesity in the district and the detrimental effect that it has on people's health.

"The issue needs to be approached from two directions. People who are obese or overweight can become significantly healthier by achieving relatively small weight loss. But in the longer term we should encourage better diet and get people to do a little more exercise to prevent people putting themselves at increased risk. A healthier district will become a more prosperous district."

Peter Roe said: "There is no better organisation than a sports club to help reduce obesity in society. There are very few, if any, rugby league players who can be labelled as obese these days, such has been the tremendous improvement in the game. Keighley Cougars fully back Bradford Council in what they are trying to achieve."

e-mail: claire.lomax@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

WHAT THE PLAYERS BOUGHT

The players selected: One packet of brown rice, low fat yoghurt, fresh ginger, garlic, green chillies, a fresh lemon and coriander.

One red cabbage, a packet of lentils, broccoli, a cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes and button mushrooms.

Kaushy Patel, head chef of Prashad, the Vegetarian Chaat House in Horton Grange Road, Bradford suggested a menu of: Vegetable byriani, yoghurt chutney with red cabbage and mustard seed salad.

Kaushy said it was very easy to cook healthily and brown rice was a key component, being low in calories.

A key part of the cooking method is to use olive oil and only a little.

She said Indian spices, green chillies, lemon and fresh vegetables would all help to reduce weight.

FACT FILE
  • Heart disease accounted for 106,000 deaths in the UK in 2004 a third of which were among people under 75.
  • Although heart disease death rates are falling it still kills almost nine times more people than breast cancer; three times more than lung cancer and five times more than injuries and poisoning.
  • There are also 231,000 people who suffer heart attacks and 345,000 new cases of angina every year, adding to an estimated 2.6million people in the UK who live with heart disease.