Shaymaa Mohammed is a nutritionist based in Tower Hamlets who specialises in something most health advice gets wrong. She doesn’t ask people to stop eating the food they love.
The dishes we grow up with are tied to family, memory and culture. A lamb curry the way your grandmother made it. The rice dish that means celebration. The flavours that make a place feel like home. Telling people to swap those out for something unfamiliar rarely works, and Shaymaa knows it.
Her approach is more honest than that. Some cooking methods and ingredients are harder on our bodies than others. A little less ghee on a regular Tuesday, saved for a special occasion instead. A small adjustment to how something is seasoned. Changes that are barely noticeable on the plate but add up over time.
When Well One and The Felix Project were planning Balanced Ramadan, Shaymaa was exactly the right person to call. She designed a lamb and vegetable curry that felt familiar and tasted delicious, adapted to give people eating during Ramadan the nutrition they needed without asking them to compromise on what the meal meant to them.
“Seeing the community engage, receive meals, and take away practical strategies for balanced eating during Ramadan highlighted the real impact of this project,” she told us.
The food you love doesn’t have to be the food that’s bad for you. Sometimes it just needs a small, respectful tweak from someone who understands both.
Check out more of Shaymaa’s recipes with a healthy twist in the ‘Food to Share’ booklet.
'Food to Share' Recipes