A MOTHER-OF-THREE wants to start an east London food revolution after the stresses of motherhood distracted her from shopping local and eating well.

Roz Kara lives in Wanstead with her husband, their three-year-old twins Lola and Kiyana, and six-year-old daughter Mia.

A self-confessed health and fitness fanatic, the now 43-year-old had been a vegetarian and keen cook for over 10 years when she first fell pregnant.

But after being diagnosed with a condition called Pre-eclampsia, she had to start eating meat again to make sure her babies stayed healthy and were not lacking in nutrients.

Mrs Kara, of Chestnut Drive, said: “I had difficult pregnancies both times because the placenta didn’t work properly and the babies couldn’t get enough iron.

“They wanted to put me on a drip and I asked if there was anything I could do instead, and their answer was to eat meat, so I did.

“Because when it comes to your kids you’ll do whatever it takes.”

After her children were born Mrs Kara carried on eating meat because “it was easier to eat what the rest of the family was eating”.

She says the non-stop nature of being a mum left her unable to think about what she or her husband cooked, and buying sustainable, local food fell to the bottom of her list of priorities.

She added: “When my kids were younger I just ate what was easiest and stopped caring about what I was putting in my body.

“We were eating the same things from the supermarket week in, week out, that didn’t really taste of anything.

“But as they got older I wanted to educate them about what they were eating and where it came from, and I thought wouldn’t it be great to share that with other people?”

Mrs Kara became vegetarian again a year ago, and started thinking more about sustainable living when her neighbours convinced her to get one of the Wanstead Park allotments.

Two months ago she started a campaign called Elated Eating on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in a bid to get families in Redbridge, Waltham Forest, and beyond growing their own food, shopping locally, and eating healthily.

She has teamed up with businesses like Chingford veg box scheme OrganicLea and Marmelo Kitchen in Leyton to promote her blog with weekly competitions.

She said: “It’s just about making little changes that eventually will make a big difference.

“I know it often feels like we’re too busy or it’s too expensive, but if you grow some carrots in your back garden and your kids pull it out of the ground they won’t think twice about it being a vegetable, they’ll just eat it.

“Even if it’s just growing something in a box on your kitchen windowsill, it all helps.

“Living on the outskirts of London you can get food from a farm outside the M25 to your plate in one day – we don’t need to import stuff from Spain.

“We seem to have lost the connection we used to have with nature and the seasons, and if we don’t start eating more sustainably soon, we’re going to be in real trouble.

“The kids absolutely love it, so if we can start a movement where we live, let's just see where it goes."

To find out more about Elated Eating check out the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.