Eating well and staying active can help keep your body and weight healthy.
A healthy diet means eating and drinking a wide variety of foods and drinks as shown in the Eatwell Guide.
The Eatwell Guide shows how much we should consume from each food group to maintain a healthy, balanced diet.
Top tips for eating well
Follow these top tips for eating well:
- Base your meals on starchy carbohydrates.
- Eat lots of fruit and vegetables.
- Eat more fish, including a portion of oily fish each week.
- Cut down on saturated fat and sugar.
- Eat less salt – no more than six grams a day for adults.
- Get active and maintain a healthy weight.
- Don’t get thirsty.
- Don’t skip breakfast.
Here are some delicious recipes to help you enjoy healthy foods.
Manage your weight
Overweight
We are all different shapes, sizes and weights. Being a healthy weight means being the right weight for your height. This is called your body mass index (BMI). Use this BMI calculator to find out your body mass index.
Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is important to help reduce the risk of many health problems.
People often want to lose weight quickly and easily. Lots of diets promise instant results, but unfortunately they can be misleading and bad for our long-term health. Be aware of these dieting myths!
The keys to weight loss success are:
- make small, realistic changes to your diet and physical activity that can become part of your everyday life
- try to maintain long-term improvements that result in a steady rate of weight loss rather than quick fixes
- aim for a regular weight loss of around 0.5 kilogrammes to 1 kilogramme (1 to 2 pounds) a week.
The NHS weight loss plan can support you in your weight loss journey.
Underweight
It’s important to remember that being underweight can also put your health at risk.