Healthy Lifestyles

Supporting your child to be physically active

Children need to be active for at least an hour every day. So, if you are doing this already, that’s brilliant! Children can be active through being given time to run, explore and play. It is a good idea to mix moderate activity like brisk walking with vigorous activity like running or fast cycling. Exercise can help build a stronger heart, bones and be a good opportunity for children and families to socialise.

For more information visit the webpage below

Supporting your child to eat healthily

Having a healthier weight can improve your child’s health and wellbeing. If you are not already doing so, eating healthily can be good for the whole family. This can be hard for a lot of people, so there is help available.

For information of other ways to encourage your child to eat a healthy, balanced diet, visit the webpage below

Supporting your child to have healthy gums and teeth

Healthy gums and teeth are also part of a healthy lifestyle. Simple advice available at the NHS ‘Children’s teeth’ webpage will help your child have healthy gums and prevent tooth decay.

For further information on looking after your child’s teeth visit the webpages below

Healthier Eating

To eat healthier, it is important to understand that lifestyle should be about enjoying balance and moderation. Although we should eat plenty or fruits and vegetables, eat protein from lean sources and maintain sufficient carbohydrate intake, we must also enjoy our food and once in a while indulge a little in the things we love.

Eatwell Guide

The Eatwell Guide is a government tool to help us understand what makes up a healthy balanced diet. It divides the foods we eat and drink into 5 main food groups. It is important that we try to choose a variety of different foods from each of the groups to help make sure we get the wide range of nutrients our bodies need to stay healthy. We do not need to achieve this balance within every meal, but it is important that we get the balance right over a day or even a week.

Portion Control

Ensuring we have balance and moderation in our diets is not just about being mindful of what we eat, but also about considering how much we eat. So, we can do this, we must ensure our energy balance is right. This means consuming the right number of calories through food and drinks for the needs of our bodies. The key to energy balance is to try eat right and eat well – and keep your body moving as much as possible throughout the day!

Portion control can help us to make sure we are consuming the right amount of food to properly fuel our bodies and to ensure we’re not consuming too much or too little. The amount of food we should consume varies from person to person so it is important that we try not to compare what need with what other people need. Factors such as our gender, age, height and weight can all influence how much food we should consume.

Handy Portion Guide

One easy way to better understand what a person’s portion sizes should be is to use their hand as a guide. Everyone has different sized hands, which serves as a reminder that everyone requires different portions.

Move More

Physical Activity

How we use and move our bodies is also essential in living a healthier and more balanced lifestyle. Exercise for children is very important for their natural development. Being involved in exercise can help to develop general fitness, balance and coordination, help build muscles and bones, improve sleep quality and boost our immune systems to fight of infections. Exercise also produces endorphins and serotonin which is just one of many ways that regular physical activity can help us eight off negative mental health problems.

For children aged 18 and under it is advised that they should engage in at least 60 minutes of exercise per day. It is also advised that children take part in vigorous activity 3 times a week to help develop muscle and bone.

Physical activity is not only beneficial for our physical and mental health, but it also provides an opportunity for us to socialise, make new friends and develop new interests. It is important to find physical activity that is fun and enjoyable!

N.E.A.T

Non-Exercise Activity Time or N.E.A.T is a fancy name to describe the energy that you burn from your daily activity. This is basically any movement that you do that is not from exercise. It can make a big difference in helping you to get active and increase your movement throughout the day. Focusing on N.E.A.T can help you to become more physically activity during your normal daily routine.

Some examples of N.E.A.T can include: tidying up, washing the pots, hoovering, gardening and helping out with shopping.

Smoking

When you quit smoking, good things start to happen — you can begin to see almost immediate improvements to your health.

It’s much easier to quit when you get the right support and there are lots of options to choose from. Check out our free tools and tips to help you stay on track.

For more information

Healthy Recipe Videos