Malnutrition within homelessness - LEIHO x SPEAR partnership

Food is essential for everyone and we eat food not only to survive but also to improve our wellbeing. It is no surprise that people experiencing homelessness will find it difficult to maintain a healthy and balanced diet due to the lack of facilities, finances and knowledge towards health and wellbeing. And yet malnutrition is often overlooked by support providers as a big health risk as often times it is prioritised over other pressing issues such as safeguarding and housing. 

At the same time, did you know that up to 22% of people experiencing homelessness have diabetes? Another common issue amongst homeless and vulnerable individuals is problem-drinking, when they rely heavily on alcohol leading to deficiencies of nutrients in the bodies, especially when paired with low intake of nutritious food. Some of the challenges that result from lack of a balanced diet include negative impact on mental wellbeing, poor dental health, digestive problems and other health issues.  

According to the International Journal for Equity in Health, malnutrition costs the public taxpayer in England £19.6 billion per year. If we can prevent educate and encourage someone experiencing homelessness to choose food for nutrition, then that is one step closer towards helping improve the quality of life for that someone. 

The root cause of malnutrition is poverty - however, we want to change this. Leiho has partnered with SPEAR London to support people experiencing homelessness in South West London by teaching them how to cook easy, affordable and nutritious meals!

This partnership will include the Leiho team hosting 6 cooking workshops for the residents at SPEAR’s complex needs hostel in Richmond as well as working with our community of do-gooders to put together a resourceful recipe booklet that is simple, healthy and delicious!

With that being said, here are two ways you can help be part of this project:

• Have simple and healthy recipes in mind? Share it with us at info@leiho.co.uk by August 18th. We are putting together recipes to add to our workshops and recipe books and we would love your contribution! Just remember, it needs to be easy, affordable, of course nutritious and it must be made using basic utilities such as a stove, kettle and/or microwave. And as a thank you for sharing, we your name will be printed on the recipe page AND we will send you some yummy freebies!

Let's upskill and help improve the quality of lives of people experiencing homelessness together!