Two Newport women are on a mission – and they seem to have the recipe for success.

Rachel Margetts and Shelby Rossiter run the Calorie Girl consultancy in Newport, aiming to help businesses, organisations and individuals understand and focus on the benefits of healthy eating.

And their longer term aim is to open a health café as a base to educate people on healthy food issues.

The business has a wide range of clients including schools, universities and charities. It recently received a £500 grant from the Kickstart Programme, run jointly by Newport City Council and Tata Steel subsidiary, UK Steel Enterprise.

The grant was used to buy equipment used to help take the healthy eating message into the workplace and into people’s homes.

“The funds helped us buy the portable cookers we use, as well as blenders and smoothie makers,” said Rachel.

Rachel is a qualified dietitian and Shelby has qualified in nutrition.

“Between us we cover everything that one needs to know about how to have a healthy, balanced diet,” she said.

Clients include Communities First, Cardiff Metropolitan University as well as Newport High School, and local authorities such as Newport and Cardiff Councils.

Calorie Girl helps in a variety of ways – teaching good practice, delivering cookery, training courses and qualifications and helping to create healthy menus in the workplace and at home.

In a pressurised age with fast food, they are not prescriptive in their approach.

“It is all about delivering a positive message based on facts,” said Rachel.

“We do not try and tell people what they should not eat or what they should not do, but would rather equip them with the skills and knowledge to introduce gradual, realistic changes to their lives which can be maintained.

“We want to show that it is easy to cook a healthy meal, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or cost a lot of money.”

As the business grows and develops, the plan is to launch an eating place where healthy food can be showcased, and will serve as a place to educate about good cooking.

“We are looking at setting up a café in the future, which, as well as being somewhere to enjoy good food, would be a place where people could come and do classes and learn,” she added.

Cllr John Richards, of Newport City Council, said: “Through our partnership with UK Steel Enterprise, it is fantastic to be able to offer grants as part of our package of support to new start-ups. Businesses such as Calorie Girl are exactly what the Kickstart programme was developed for. I look forward to seeing it grow from strength to strength and wish these young entrepreneurs the best of luck.”

Andrea Rogerson-Hewett, of UK Steel Enterprise, said:” Calorie Girl is going from strength to strength and we are delighted to have been able to offer support through the Kickstart programme, working with Newport City Council.”