Time to Get Healthy.

Swine flu outbreaks in Sussex

Brighton and Hove are expected to be the most affected areas due to the high numbers of people who commute everyday to London, the worst affected area in the UK. Across the county local PCTs are considering how best to administer preventive treatments and distribute antivirals through GP surgeries and designated collection centres.

Health bosses will also be debating the swine flu vaccine vs tamiflu argument in the next few days in order to best develop a solid Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza.

Brighton and Hove City PCT and East and West Sussex County PCTs are working together to build a swine flu outbreak strategy. This is intended to prevent the general disorder and confusion which marked the first wave of influenza A H1N1 where GP surgeries across Sussex were swamped with calls from patients worried they had caught swine flu. It is hoped that in building a solid Community Strategy the local health care services will be able to minimise the risk of infection to local residents whilst freeing GPs' time, so they can deal with other illnesses that need their urgent attention. (more...)

An Apple a Day

As the old saying goes, you are what you eat which makes a healthy diet so very worthwhile. It doesn't have to be particularly difficult either and you can make subtle changes that will boost your health immensely.

A good diet is all about nourishment and you can get a lot of nutritional content from fruit and vegetables. Eating your five a day will ensure you receive a good intake of vitamins and minerals. This is essential for your wellbeing and promotes every aspect of your health.

Absolutely every part of your body can benefit from the nutritional content of your food and one simply cannot allow themselves to throw away their good health. Your organs, skin, hair and mood can all be improved by your diet and getting enough of the most nutritious foods is a good start. (more...)

Burning calories for weight loss

Keeping active is an important aspect of maintaining your overall health and should be included in any weight loss programme. Your body burns calories for energy even when you are asleep or are sitting still, however to increase the number of calories burnt is it essential to increase the amount of exercise or physical activity you do each week. The more exercise you do the more energy your body needs and the less it is able to store energy as fat. Food plays an equally important role in maintaining a healthy weight, and should be managed effectively. The recommended daily allowance for normal healthy adults ranges from 1800-2500 calories a day depending on age, height and how active you are. If you do no exercise, an extra 3,500 calories in your diet will lead to around an extra 1 pound of fat being stored by your body, so in order to achieve your desired weight you need to a combine both a calorie resctricted diet with increased physical activity. Cutting 500 calories from your diet or doing one hours aerobic exercise each day will help you lose about 1 pound a week, and if you do both of these things you will lose 2 pounds a week.

Our sedentary lifestyles represent a significant barrier to successful weight loss and make it difficult to prevent long term weight gain, so it is really important that we include more physical movements into our daily routine. The UK recommended government guidelines for exercise encourage everyone to be active and get moving for at least 60 minutes a day. About 3 hours per week should be dedicated to moderate aerobic exercise such as jogging or swimming and about an hour and a half per week should be dedicated to more heart pumping activities such as running or cycling. You should aim to workout over the course of the week rather than starting well at the beginning and doing nothing at the weekend. In order to maintain weightloss or lose weight you will need to do more exercise than the minimum recommended amount.

Doing an hour of fast aerobics, cycling or swimming burns an average of 500 calories, and to really burn some calories try a fast paced run which will burn almost 1000 calories in just an hours work. Burning fat in the right places requires you to follow a targeted exercise programme. Lift small weights whilst doing bicep curls and tricep kick-backs or try press ups. For toning your tummy and thigh area try sit ups, squats and lunges. (more...)

Improving health in the long run

Fad diets and miracle cures are nothing other than a false promise. There is nothing quick and easy about weight loss and programmes which advertise this kind of solution are not setting you up for the long term. Permanent weight loss takes time and effort and requires you to assess you lifestyle with the view to change things for the better. Real improvements are results come once you understand weightloss as a long-term lifestyle change and commit fully to the task ahead. No one can make you lose weight and the onus really is on you to take action.

Changing your personal habits can be difficult and it can be easy to relapse when times are tough. Use a network of support consisting of friends and family and seek help or encouragement when you need it.

Set realistic goals, that way you know what to expect from your efforts and similarly what it will take for you in order to achieve what you want. Setting both short term and long term goals allows you to celebrate your achievements, and gives you milestones which will help you work towards your ultimate goal. Your short term goal may be to walk the family dog every day for 30 minutes and you long term goal could be to build this up to an hour daily walk. (more...)

Easy Ways to Improve Your Health and Wellbeing

Okay, we fibbed a bit. It is not especially easy to improve your improve your health and wellbeing . Of course, it is easy as pie to make plans concerning diet and exercise, but it is a whole lot harder to actually follow through. In this article we are going to discuss a few things that you can do right now (they may not be easy) that will put you on the road to better health.

To begin with, if you smoke, stop! Yes, we know… it’s easier said than done. But there’s a reason why the number of smokers in the UK has been cut in half in only a generation. The fact is smoking is responsible for ninety per cent of lung cancer cases. Smoking also damages the heart and just about every other major organ. So, if you want to get healthy and you smoke, you must stop.

Second, you have to start eating right and exercising. No, this doesn’t mean you have to eat like a bird or eliminate all the foods that your love. But please stop making excuses! Yes, that’s right… we called you on it! The truth is that most folks who refuse to go on diets use that same excuse — they don’t want to eat like birds. Well, there is a middle ground to be found between eating like a bird and eating like a pig! (more...)