Diet, Exercise & Lifestyle
You should eat a varied diet with lots of fruit and vegetables and you should eat fish or poultry three times a week instead of red meat. If overweight, you should lose weight by eating smaller portions of a varied diet.
Eat less
- Fat, especially animal fats.
- Sugar
- Salt, avoid adding it to food on the table and use only a minimum of salt in cooking.
Eat More
Cereal fibre,vegetable fibre (beans and pulses), starchy foods, rather than sweet or fatty foods.
This does not apply to children under seven. They need more diary products and less fibre than adults.
Advantages of Exercise
Reduces heart attack or strokes by more than a half. Improve fat levels, it helps to reduce weight, reduces symptoms of stress and lowers blood pressure and reduces risk of osteoporosis.
How much exercise do we need to do?
Start slowly, building up a month at a time to reach the recommended levels.
- Every day activity as much as you can (For example: heavy gardening, walking up stairs and not taking the lift, walking to get the paper etc)
- or Light exercise 1 hour every day (For example: brisk walking)
- or Strenuous exercise 20 minutes 3 times a week (For example: jogging, cycling, aerobics, swimming)
Cautions
"Power work" such as Weight lifting is not recommended
Seek medical advice
If you are: over 50, very overweight, or take no exercise at the moment or suffer from: heart disease, chest pain, arthritis, diabetes, chronic bronchitis, palpitations, raised blood pressure.
