Healthy eating and exercise

Last updated: 01 November 2007

What is the issue?

NSW Health warns that you overeat this Christmas, don't fall for the crash diet solution in New Years.

It is easy to eat and drink too much during the Christmas period, and people may feel like they've put on weight. Often people, particularly women, turn to crash diets as a drastic measure to lose weight quickly.

People should remember that weight gain happens gradually, and weight loss also needs to be a long-term process.

Research shows that crash diets achieve little in long-term weight loss. Theshort-term success is usually due to water loss, and many crash diets are bad for your long-term health and do not provide adequate nutrients. Low kilojoule crash diets can also be a problem as you may feel tired, and experience a loss of concentration.

A much better solution is to make an effort to eat well-balanced meals and start a regular exercise program that is fun and can be easily slotted into your daily schedule.

Replacing high fat and high sugar foods with fruit and vegetables is a good way to control your weight. Fruit and vegetables are also beneficial to long-term health, particularly to reduce the risk of chronic disease such as cancer.

Health experts recommend just 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most days of the week. This can include walking, swimming, dancing, gardening or playing golf and will increase your heart rate but not necessarily make you puff.

A misconception about regular exercise is that it must be strenuous to reap any benefits. It is far more important that you do something you like and make it enjoyable. This means you are more likely to make exercise part of your life rather than let it dwindle away as just a health kick.

If you cannot fit 30 minute sessions into your lifestyle, health benefits can still be gained from periods of activity as brief as 10 minutes, if these add up to 30 minutes in total on most days. Even small things like taking the stairs instead of the lift or walking to the corner shop instead or driving can help make you more active.

Besides helping to keep your weight to a healthy level, regular exercise and a good diet offers a range of benefits including feeling better with lower stress levels, better concentration, and more self confidence.

An extra bonus is higher energy levels giving you an added boost to enjoy more in life.