Benefits of Walking

benefits of walking

Benefits of Walking

Walking is simple, free and one of the easiest ways to get more active, lose weight and become healthier.
Walking briskly can help you build stamina, burn excess calories and make your heart healthier.
You do not have to walk for hours. A brisk 10-minute daily walk has lots of health benefits and counts towards your recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise.

• A brisk walk is about 3 miles an hour, which is faster than a stroll
• You can tell you’re walking briskly if you can still talk but cannot sing the words to a song.

Staying motivated
• The easiest way to walk more is to make walking a habit. Make it a part of your daily routine – walk to the shops.
• Listen to music.
• Mix it up – Add variety to your walks; parks, heritage trails, canal towpaths, riverside paths, commons, woodlands, heaths and nature reserves.
• Join a walking group – it is a great way to start walking, make new friends and stay motivated.

benefits of walking

The benefits of walking include:
• Burn calories
• Strengthen the heart
• Can reduce your risk for coronary heart disease.
• Can help lower your blood sugar
• Eases joint pain
• Boosts immune response
• Boost your energy
• Improve your mood
• Reduce anxiety, depression, and a negative mood. It can also boost self-esteem and reduce symptoms of social withdrawal.
• Extend your life
• Tone your legs
• Creative thinking

To experience these benefits, aim for 30 minutes of brisk walking or other moderate intensity exercise three days a week. You can also break it up into three 10-minute walks.

The Eatwell Guide

Eatwell Guide

The Eatwell Guide
The Eatwell Guide divides the foods we eat and drink into 5 main food groups. It shows how much of what we eat overall should come from each food group to achieve a healthy, balanced diet.
You do not need to achieve this balance with every meal, but try to get the balance right over a day or even a week.
The 5 main food groups are:
1. Fruit and Vegetables – Most of us still are not eating enough fruit and vegetables. They should make up over a third of the food we eat each day. Aim to eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and veg each day. Choose from fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced. Fruit and vegetables are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibre.

2. Carbohydrates – Starchy food should make up just over a third of the food we eat. Choose higher fibre wholegrain varieties, such as whole wheat pasta and brown rice, or simply leave skins on potatoes. There are also higher fibre versions of white bread and pasta.

3. Dairy products – Milk, cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais are good sources of protein and some vitamins, and they’re also an important source of calcium, which helps keep our bones healthy. Try to go for lower-fat and lower-sugar products where possible, like 1% fat milk, reduced-fat cheese or plain low-fat yoghurt.

4. Proteins – These foods are good sources of protein, vitamins and minerals. Pulses, such as beans, peas and lentils, are good alternatives to meat because they’re lower in fat and higher in fibre and protein, too. Choose lean cuts of meat and mince, and eat less red and processed meat like bacon, ham and sausages. Aim for at least 2 portions of fish every week, 1 of which should be oily, such as salmon or mackerel.

5. Unsaturated fats – are healthier fats and include vegetable, rapeseed, olive and sunflower oils. Remember all types of fat are high in energy and should be eaten sparingly.

Eatwell Guide

Healthy Eating For Teens

healthy eating for teens
As a teenager, your body is going through many physical changes – changes that need to be supported by a healthy, balanced diet.    By eating a varied and balanced diet as shown in the Eatwell Guide, you should be able to get all the energy and nutrients you need from the food and drink you consume, allowing your body to grow and develop properly. Some important nutrients to be aware of are:

Eating healthily doesn’t have to mean giving up your favourite foods. It simply means eating a variety of foods and cutting down on food and drinks high in fat and sugar, such as sugary fizzy drinks, crisps, cakes and chocolate. These foods should be eaten less often and in smaller amounts.

If you’re watching your weight, a healthy, balanced diet is the way to go. Dieting, skipping breakfast or starving yourself don’t work.

Here are some tips to help you eat more healthily:

Don’t skip breakfast

Skipping meals won’t help you lose weight and isn’t good for you, because you can miss out on important nutrients. Having breakfast will help you get some of the vitamins and minerals you need for good health. Try our healthy breakfast ideas.

Get your 5 A Day

Fruit and vegetables are good sources of many of the vitamins and minerals your body needs during your teenage years. Aim to eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and veg a day. Find out what counts as 5 A Day.

Healthier snack ideas

Cut down on food and drinks high in fat, sugar and salt, such as sweets, chocolate bars, cakes, biscuits, sugary fizzy drinks and crisps, which are high in calories (energy). Consuming too many calories can lead to weight gain and becoming overweight. Get tips on eating less sugar, fat and salt.

Stay hydrated

Aim to drink 6 to 8 glasses of fluids a day – water and lower-fat milk are both healthy choices.

Even unsweetened fruit juice is sugary. Your combined total of drinks from fruit juice, vegetable juice and smoothies shouldn’t be more than 150ml a day – which is a small glass.

For example, if you have 150ml of orange juice and 150ml smoothie in one day, you’ll have exceeded the recommendation by 150ml.

Feeling tired?

If you often feel run down, you may be low on iron. Teenage girls are especially at risk because they lose iron during their period. Try to get your iron from a variety of foods. Some good sources are red meat, breakfast cereals fortified with iron, and bread. Find out more in iron deficiency.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps keep bones and teeth healthy. We get most of our vitamin D from the sun, but it’s also available in some foods. Find out more about getting vitamin D.

Calcium

Calcium helps to build strong bones and teeth. Good sources of calcium include milk and other dairy products, and leafy green vegetables. Find out more about calcium.

Fad diets

Diets that promise quick weight loss are often not nutritionally balanced, meaning you could miss out on important vitamins and minerals. They also tend to focus on short-term results, so you end up putting the weight back on. Get tips on losing weight the healthy way.

Eating disorders

Does eating make you feel anxious, guilty or upset? An eating disorder is serious and isn’t something you should deal with on your own. Talk about it with someone you trust, there are treatments that can help, and you can recover from an eating disorder. Learn more about eating disorders.

Resource: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/healthy-eating-for-teens/

healthy eating for teens

BRITISH NUTRITION FOUNDATION – TEENAGERS

Teenagers experience many physical and lifestyle changes. Eating a healthy, varied diet and keeping active is important for good health during this time and may help in dealing with times of stress, for example exams, school moves and family situations. It may also help to develop healthy eating and lifestyle habits that can hopefully last for life.

This section provides nutrition and diet information during the teenage years, and includes a FAQ on common concerns for teenagers. This information may be useful if you are a teenager, or someone interested in teenage health. You will find information on the the following topics: