Healthy Eating
You are what you eat...
All foods can be part of a healthy balanced diet as there is no such thing as a bad or a good food, but some foods should be eaten less often than others and some more often. If you learn healthy eating habits as a child you are more likely to eat well as an adult and be healthier. It is really important to eat a variety of foods and not to skip meals too.
One of the best ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle is to eat a balanced diet. Fruit and vegetables are brimming with fibre, plus a whole range of vitamins and minerals, and because they're low in calories, they make an important and healthy addition to any diet.
Can I eat what I like if I exercise enough?
If you are physically active you are more likely to have a healthy body weight and less likely to be overweight, but this doesn't mean you can eat what you like. Regardless of how much you exercise it is really important to follow a healthy balanced diet which includes fruits and vegetables and can include snacks.
What sort of snacks won't make me fat but will taste nice?
Try and swap some of your usual snacks for fruit (e.g. bananas, grapes and strawberries) including dried fruit (e.g. raisins and apricots), chopped vegetables (such as carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes or peppers), low fat yoghurt or reduced fat cheese.
Crisps, chocolate and cakes can be eaten as snacks, but make sure you are eating these only occasionally as these foods tend to be high in energy.
Eating food which contains more energy than your body needs can lead to weight gain.
Fun size bars of chocolate are a better choice than a larger bar of chocolate and low fat crisps are a better choice than regular crisps. Other healthy snacks include breads, rice cakes, crumpets, fig rolls and low sugar cereal bars.
Water (including flavoured), semi-skimmed milk, unsweetened fruit juice, sugar free squash and yogurt drinks are also good choice for drinks
Five-a-day health plan
Here is a good way to eat plenty of fruits and veggies.
At breakfast have a glass of unsweetened fruit juice, which will count as one portion. Or slice fruit onto your cereals. Bananas on your cornflakes or weetabix are a good start.
As a mid-morning snack eat a piece of fruit or a fruit salad.
For lunch have a minimum of one portion of vegetables. Try eating a salad, cooked vegetables or a jacket potato with baked beans.
For a mid-afternoon snack, have a small handful of dried fruit with yoghurt or a fruit smoothie.
For dinner eat one or two types of cooked vegetables or a portion of fresh or tinned fruit for pudding.
