With soaring rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease in the Asian community, as a woman of Bangladeshi heritage I am an easy candidate for any one of those life threatening diseases – if I don't watch what I eat that is.

With parents who have both been diagnosed with diabetes, I especially need to take greater care of what I eat and now a campaign is being lead by the NHS East Lancashire which is trying to get the north west's Asian community fit and healthy and re-think about what they eat and how they cook.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) issued a stark reminder earlier this month that one in every five men and one in every six women in the UK die from heart disease and for South Asians living in the UK – Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans – the risk is even higher.

They are up to twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease before the age of 69 than the rest of the UK population. Pakistani men and women and Bangladeshi men have a higher risk than other South Asian groups.

But that's not all, according to Diabetes UK, South Asians are up to six times more likely to have Type 2 diabetes than their white counterparts, and with diabetes prevalence in England predicted to increase by 47 per cent by 2025, the condition will continue to have a considerable impact on the South Asian communities across the UK.

While genetics play a part in the development of such conditions, much can also be attributed to lifestyle. For example, it was reported that Asian men and women were around 35 per cent less likely to take part in any physical activity relative to the general population.

Freshly-cooked home-made meals are a staple of most South Asian households including my own. However, though this may sound healthy, typical dishes such as pilau rice and chicken curry often have a high content of ghee (clarified butter) and salt. Chapattis are often finished with a spread of butter.

Traditional snacks, such as samosas and pakoras, are deep fried and served with fizzy drink. As scrumptious as they sound, it is this diet, accompanied by a relatively sedentary lifestyle, which is a contributing factor to many conditions.

NHS East Lancashire has a number of initiatives which are aimed at reducing inequalities among the BME community, including: a weight management programme for South Asian women which delivers healthy eating advice regarding food which is relevant to their culture, a Cook4life course which is delivered in South Asian languages, single-sex exercise classes delivered by a bi-lingual instructor and continual engagement with local mosques and community centres to share important health messages and signpost services.

Local GP, Dr Nazneen Begum, is hoping with straightforward advice and healthy eating tips, she can encourage more families, in particularly women to look at what they eat and cook at home.

She came along to inspect my own kitchen cupboard to see if I was indeed eating healthy. My diet does consist of mainly curries and rice, but sometimes even I can be a bit 'adventurous' and include stir fries and some good hearty English dinners like shepherd's pie and roast lamb with mash.

Apart from a couple of cans of tinned soup and spaghetti and a bottle of coke - which I admit was a rare treat – my eating habits in general was good said Dr Begum. But she advised, I could replace my sunflower oil with olive oil, replace my 'treat' with diet coke, and try and make home-made soup instead of tinned ones.

Dr Begum then went onto make a 30-minute healthy curry. Using fresh ingredients including onion, tomatoes and chicken breast with the fat trimmed off, the curry was in fact very tasty, fresh, and not drenched in thick oil, which is often found when eating out in Indian restaurants, and might I add at my mum's house whenever I go round for Sunday dinner.

Dr Begum said: “What people don't realise, you can eat healthy vegetables and meat, but don't drown it in loads of vegetable oil.

“Curries aren't bad for you if you cook them right, and just doing simple things like replacing vegetable oil with olive oil, and only using one table spoon rather than four can make that difference.”

With Ramadan – Islamic month of fasting - only two months away, Dr Begum is also keen to get families thinking about what they will cook for their meal at the end of the night.

She said: “Too often people fast for the whole day and then tuck into fatty foods at the end of the night, which isn't good for the body, especially as it's already been starved of essential nutrients.

“Light meals like daal (lentils) with rice or chappati made with wholemeal flour will fill you up and keep you going for longer.”

Dr Begum believes educating families about food and their health can go a long way to reducing the already large number of people who are suffering due to their calorie laden diets.

“Once people know what kind of changes they need to make, they realise it's not that hard and that they don't have to give up curries.

“It's the small changes that need to be made which will go along way in keeping a family healthy.”

British Heart Foundation's senior dietitian Victoria Taylor added: "South Asian men and women need to know that their middle-aged spread could be a warning. Excess weight around your middle can lead to health problems, including Type 2 diabetes. Small changes to your diet can really help with the battle against the bulge.

"Little things like substituting saturated fat-laden ghee for small amounts of rapeseed or sunflower oil really make a difference, and you don’t have to compromise on taste."

As for me I also plan to start with those “small changes”and next time and aim for a kitchen cupboard full of healthy options and of-course an even healthier diet.