Telephone:
020 8299 0499
Our Update, Your Voice
If you would like to help shape your local services and priorities, provide input to patient surveys and keep updated on developments at the Practice via email, please enter your details below.
Register Now
If you live within the SE5 0, SE5 5, SE5 7, SE5 8, SE5 9, SE15 1, SE15 2, SE15 3, SE15 4, SE15 5, SE15 6, SE22 0, SE22 8, and SE22 9 postcode you can register with us today and we will contact you to arrange a full health check and introduce you to our team of doctors and nurses.
News
24 Jan 2012
Eating for a healthier, happier you
Eating a healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help you feel your best. It can be simple, too. Just follow these eight tips to get started:
1. Base your meals on starchy foods
Starchy foods include potatoes, cereals, pasta, rice and bread. Choose wholegrain varieties when you can: they contain more fibre, and can make you feel full for longer. Starchy foods should make up around one third of the foods you eat.
2. Eat lots of fruit and veg
It’s recommended that we eat at least five portions of different types of fruit and veg a day. It’s easier than it sounds.
3. Eat more fish
Fish is a good source of protein and contains many vitamins and minerals. Aim for at least two portions a week, including at least one portion of oily fish. You can choose from fresh, frozen and canned; but remember that canned and smoked fish can be high in salt.
4. Cut down on saturated fat and sugar
We all need some fat in our diet. But it’s important to pay attention to the amount and type of fat we’re eating. Try to cut down, and choose foods that contain unsaturated rather than saturated fats.
Cut down on sugary fizzy drinks, alcoholic drinks, cakes, biscuits and pastries, which contain added sugars: this is the kind of sugar we should be cutting down on rather than sugars that are found naturally in foods such as fruit and milk. Food labels can help: use them to check how much sugar foods contain..
5. Eat less salt
Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. People with high blood pressure are more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke. Use food labels to help you cut down. More than 1.5g of salt per 100g means the food is high in salt.
6. Get active and be a healthy weight
Eating a healthy, balanced diet plays an important part in maintaining a healthy weight, which is an important part of overall good health.
Physical activity can help you to maintain weight loss or be a healthy weight. Being active doesn’t have to mean hours at the gym: you can find ways to fit more activity into your daily life.
7. Don’t get thirsty
We need to drink about 1.2 litres of fluid every day to stop us getting dehydrated. This is in addition to the fluid we get from the food we eat. All non-alcoholic drinks count, but water, milk and fruit juices are the healthiest.
8. Don’t skip breakfast
A healthy breakfast is an important part of a balanced diet, and provides some of the vitamins and minerals we need for good health. Wholemeal cereal, with fruit sliced over the top is a tasty and nutritious breakfast.
Visit NHS Choices for more tips on how to eat health.
Source: NHS Choices (2010). Eight tips for healthy eating. Available: http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/goodfood/pages/eight-tips-healthy-eating.aspx. Last accessed 1th Nov 2011.