Bringing Healthy Eating to Life

Healthy eating is for everyone everyday. A healthy diet is one with a good variety of foods in healthy proportions – it doesn’t mean avoiding certain foods altogether.      

So if you try to fill up on fruit, vegetables, and carbohydrates, make sure you get some dairy products, meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses in your diet.      

Of course there are times for treats and less healthy options, as long as you balance them out with healthier choices. If you choose fatty or salty foods at one meal, why not avoid them at the next meal. Similarly if you choose a treat for a snack one day, why not have a piece of fruit next time.      

Have you ever wondered how close your diet is to the healthy eating recommendations, or have you measured your BMI? Here you will find some simple online tools to help you do so:      

Check your diet

How healthy is your diet? Take a few minutes to complete our online ‘Check your Diet’ programme and find out how close your diet comes to guidelines.      

What's your BMI?
An important indicator of health is body weight. Being overweight can put extra strain on our hearts and joints and can be a trigger for other problems including diabetes. Equally, being underweight is not good for us either. A simple calculation called the BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) gives us an idea of how our body weight relates to our height. Enter your height and weight into a BMI calculator and check your results against the table.

BMI Calculator

Less than 20 – Your weight is quite low. Try to eat a little more, and make sure you have three meals a day and the odd snack.

20 – 25 – This is the ideal range, you have a good balance between the energy you eat and the energy you use.

More than 25 –  Think about how you could cut back a little, and perhaps do a bit more exercise. Keeping our body trim is important for our health and wellbeing.

5–a–day fruits and vegetables

It’s hard to believe but something as simple as eating more fruits and vegetables could make a dramatic difference to your everyday health and to the chances of developing a chronic disease such as heart disease or some cancers. According to research most people in the UK are eating just 4 of their 5–a–day,  and among younger people intakes are even lower.

5 great reasons to eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables everyday

1. They are packed with vitamins and minerals with antioxidant
    functions
2. They can help you to maintain a healthy weight
3. They’re an excellent source of fibre
4. They can help to reduce blood pressure and the risk of heart
    disease, stroke and some cancers
5. They’re delicious and there’s so much variety to choose from,
    go for a rainbow each day.

Why 5–a–day?

The recommendation to eat at least 5 portions of fruits and vegetables each day is based on research that has shown that we need to eat at least 400g of fruit and vegetables each day to stay fit and healthy (this is what we actually eat not counting the skins, pips, core and other bits that we throw away). The average portion size for fruits and vegetables is around 80g and so this means that in order to eat 400g per day we need to eat at least 5 portions of fruits and vegetables.

What counts?

Most fruits and vegetables count, whether fresh, frozen, canned, dried or juiced, with the exception of potatoes, yams and cassava which all count as starchy foods. Fruit juice and smoothies should only be counted once in each day, no matter how much you drink, as the processing of these can affect the vitamin and fibre levels that they contain.      

Here is a general guide to portion sizes 

   
Fruit

  • 1 medium size fruit – apples, pears, bananas, oranges etc
  • 2 small size fruit e.g. plums, satsumas, kiwi fruit
  • 1 thick slice melon, pineapple or 2 slices of mango
  • 1 tablespoon dried fruit
  • Canned fruit – roughly the same as you would eat fresh e.g. 2 pear halves
  • A 150ml glass of 100% fruit juice or smoothie

Vegetables

  • 3 heaped tablespoons cooked vegetables – whether fresh, frozen or canned e.g. carrots, peas or sweetcorn
  • 1 cereal bowl mixed salad
  • 3 heaped tablespoons baked beans or pulses
  • A 150ml glass vegetable juice or a bowl of soup

10 easy tips to increase fruit and vegetable intake

1. Try to start the day with fruit at breakfast – slice a banana,
   peach or pear over cereal, sprinkle on a tablespoon of dried
   fruit or have a glass of fruit juice
2. Fruit and vegetables don’t need to be eaten on their own to
   count – so throw a handful of vegetables into soups, stews
   and any other hot dishes.
3. Add plenty of salad to sandwiches, or for a change stuff a
    pita bread with feta cheese, grapes and celery, diced chicken,
   grated carrot and raisins or tuna with sweetcorn and lettuce
4. Frozen vegetables are often cheaper than fresh, and can 
   contain more vitamins. They are quick and easy to use so keep
   bags of frozen vegetables in the freezer ready to throw into
   soups or casseroles, or to use at anytime.
5. Combine fruit with yoghurt and chopped nuts as a quick
   dessert or tasty mid morning snack
6. For a healthier dessert try baked apples or pears with dried
   fruit and cinnamon and top with a scoop of ice cream or low fat
   custard
7. Don’t over–cook vegetables as this lowers their vitamin content
   – microwave or lightly steam if you can instead of boiling
8. Make salads more interesting by adding different vegetables
   e.g. lightly cooked mange tout, peas or canned sweet corn,
   combine salad and fruits – try rocket with peaches and
   walnuts or grated carrot and sultana, or shredded lettuce,
   pears and toasted hazelnuts
9. Top pizzas with extra vegetables – tomatoes, sweetcorn,
   sliced peppers, mushrooms, spinach, or pineapple all work
   well, or throw on a handful of rocket after cooking
10. Keep small cans or pots of fruit in juice, or snack size bags of
     dried fruits handy. These are ideal for on–the–go snacks or in
     lunchboxes.  

More detailed information about fruits and vegetables, portions sizes, tips and recipes can be found at http://www.5aday.nhs.uk/ Some supermarkets and food manufacturers use a 5–a–day logo to show you how many portions of fruits and vegetables are in each serving of that food. Watch out for these “5 a day” symbols on food and drinks labels to help you on your way to Five each day!

Find out about Food Allergies

If you have an allergy and need to avoid certain foods in your diet we can help. We have up to date lists of our products that are free from milk, egg, soya and gluten for instance.

Click here for more information.