Nutrition: eating a healthy balanced diet can help to prevent diet-related illness and will give you all of the energy and nutrients you need keep active and maintain a healthy weight. It is often difficult to know what food choices are healthy, and we often don’t have the time to make healthy choices. However, making better food choices can improve our health and how we feel.

Eat a Rainbow: add lots of colour to your plate, adding in fruit and vegetables to each meal, means you get a wide array of essential nutrients which ensure all functions in your body and you immune system function as well at the can. Adding leafy green veg, chickpea and some fruit (bananas, orange and avocados) helps your body to get enough folate which helps produce blood cells, protect nerve cells and fight fatigue.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive: affordable veg boxes are available from Lidl. Frozen fruit, canned/frozen veg tend to be cheaper, last longer and have the same nutrients as fresh fruit/veg. Unfortunately tinned fruit can have a higher sugar content.

Make smoothies: defrost some frozen fruit (eg. Raspberries), maybe some frozen veg (eg. Chopped Spinach), add some fresh fruit (eg. Banana), maybe some apple juice and milk or yoghurt use a blender- and you’ve got a smoothie with a variety of fruit/veg.

Batch cooking: healthier foods can be tastier but may take more time to prepare. Batch cooking several portions of a healthier meal one or twice per week can mean you have healthy/homemade microwave meals. Google some recipes- vegetable curry or lentil bolognese could be a place to start.

Fibre: It is recommended that we consume 30 grams of fibre per day (unless you have been advised to avoid fibre by a dietician). Most adults in the UK consume only 10g of fibre. Look at the labelling on the back of your food packaging and work on gradually increasing this- nuts, beans, humous and vegetables are great source of fibre. Make sure increases in fibre are done gradually.

Salt: It is advised that we consume less than 6g grams of salt per day- most of us eat more salt than we think. Looking at the salt content and recommended portion sizes on the food you are eating will help you work out how much salt and is you diet. Supermarket sandwiches have around 3g of salt, an average slice of bread has 0.4g.

Ultra-processed food: Over recent years there has increased discussion about ultra-processed foods. These are foods that contain ingredients that you would not expect to find in an average kitchen. This form of processing is used to increase the shelf-life and improved taste of products, but these techniques can reduce nutrients and fibre which can make you eat more of them, feel hungry sooner, and more tired.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition/

If you are overweight or obese and are struggling to lose weight you may find the following resources helpful:

https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/12-week-weight-management-programme

https://www.nhslanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk/services/weight-management-service/weigh-to-go/