Healthy Eating and Exercise

Healthy eating and exercise are key to maintaining positive wellbeing as well as keeping your body healthy. In addition, our physical health and mental health are closely linked. In other words, regular physical activity can be very beneficial for our mental health and wellbeing.

Exercise

As we know, healthy eating and exercise can positively impact our wellbeing. Exercise could be any physical activity.  However, we normally consider exercise to be an activity that is deliberately for fitness or training, rather than something that is part of our daily routine.  Everyone’s level of exercise is different and people prefer different types. Some ways to exercise could be:

• Going for a walk
• Swimming
• Jogging/running
• Joining an exercise class like Yoga, Pilates, Zumba etc.
• Dancing
• Playing football or other sports

There are many other types of exercise but it is important to choose ones that you enjoy.  Try doing 2-3 activities a week to maintain a healthy balance. Similarity you could always try and go for a walk every day to get some fresh air. Why not try the couch to 5k challenge?

Healthy Eating

Along with exercise, healthy eating consisting of a balanced diet is important for wellbeing.  Your gut and your brain use similar chemicals, so keeping your gut healthy can also help to keep your brain healthy.

A balanced diet includes:

• Eating 5 pieces of fruit and vegetables a day
• Basing meal on starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice or pasta.
• Having some dairy or dairy alternatives (like soya drinks)
• Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein
• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and eat in small amounts
• Drink plenty of water.

Why not try some of our resilience challenges for a healthy eating and exercise?