Healthy Living
You may have heard the expression “Prevention is the best medicine” – what this means is that it is better to focus on keeping yourself healthy than to leave yourself vulnerable to getting sick and needing to seek medical help.
One of the best ways that you can keep yourself healthy (and looking great!) is to eat a healthy balanced diet and to exercise regularly.
Food - The Basics
There are some simple tips you can follow to ensure a healthy balanced diet:
- Five servings of fruit and vegetables every day – this can include pieces of fruit, servings of salad and vegetables in your sandwiches or with your meals and tinned or dried fruit snacks
- Healthy snacks – choose healthy options most of the time such as fruit, low fat yoghurt, nuts and leave foods like chocolates, lollies and biscuits for occasional treats only
- Drink water to quench your thirst rather than fizzy drinks. It’s ok to drink juice but try and limit this to one per day (it will count towards your 5 servings of fruit and vegetables)
- Eat a variety of foods – choose from the various food groups with plenty of carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, some milk, dairy and protein foods and go easy on the foods with lots of fats and sugars.
Healthy eating habits such as these will benefit you right throughout your life – protecting you from diseases and keeping you at a healthy weight.
If you would like more information, there are lots of websites and resources that describe what a healthy balanced diet looks like.
The NSW government also has some very good information on their Get Healthy website that you may find useful.
The Youth Central and Better Health websites have loads of information about physical and mental health.
Your local state government will have a similar website, we are sure.
Enjoying Exercise
When you are at school you are often exercising regularly during PE and sports classes or when participating in team sports. Some of you would have regularly walked to and from your local school which is also a great form of regular exercise.
Once you leave school it can be hard to keep a regular exercise routine, however exercise is important for your health and well being and you should look for fun opportunities to incorporate exercise into your day.
You should aim for 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous exercise - you can do this all at once or in bits and pieces during the day.
Exercise can take many forms - walking, bike-riding, swimming, riding a skateboard, gardening, bushwalking, kayaking, playing soccer, doing housework are all forms of exercise. Basically, find a few things you enjoy and try to do something every day.
The Make Your Move website has a downloadable PDF for young people from the federal Department of Health. It is aimed at young people aged 13 - 17 and explains clearly why exercise is so important and how much to take - and how to make it fun!
The Getting Active website from the Great Ormond Street Hospital in the UK explains simply the value of exercise and how much we need.
Healthy Living
Many young people do need some advice on healthy eating and on exercise… and will not be very open to the well-meaning advice of their families.
So we have set out on the Young people section some basic tips, links to websites and resources and some excellent advice from other young people.
Healthy Eating
You can assist them by providing healthy meals and snack choices in the home and modelling healthy eating patterns.
The Raising Children website has some great common sense tips for encouraging healthy eating in young people. Find it here.
Some young people will need more assistance than others in discriminating between healthy options and those foods that should be eaten occasionally.
You could download a chart such as this one from the Eat for Health website and stick it on the fridge to educate and remind them about food groups and proportions.
Encouraging exercise
During the school years your young person had lots of opportunities for regular exercise during PE, sports classes and when participating in team sports. Many children walk to and from their local school which is another form of regular exercise.
Once children leave school it can be hard for them to keep a regular exercise routine. The general consensus is to aim for 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous exercise – this can be done over several shorter periods during the day or all at once.
Exercise can take many forms – walking, bike-riding, swimming, riding a skateboard, gardening, bushwalking, kayaking, playing soccer, doing housework are all forms of exercise. The key is to find a few things that young person enjoys and encourage them to do something every day.
Building exercise into their routine is also a good way to get regular exercise e.g. encouraging them to walk to and from the bus-stop or to walk the family dog each evening.
The Make Your Move website has a downloadable PDF for young people from the federal Department of Health. It is aimed at young people aged 13 – 17 and explains clearly why exercise is so important and how much to take – and how to make it fun!
The Getting Active website from the Great Ormond Street Hospital in the UK explains simply the value of exercise and how much we need.
Being A Healthy Woman
This is a book which can be downloaded in chapters which aims to help women with intellectual disabilities learn about their health. It has been written by NSW Health and is free to download. There are good sections on general health, food and exercise. Find it here.
