Nutrition and Hydration Week 2022 is here! Taking place this week (14-20 March), the campaign is supported by The British Dietetics Association and highlights good practices in food and drink in social and healthcare around the world.
NHS Lanarkshire’s Health Improvement Department is sharing helpful top tips on topics such as eating well, how to stay hydrated, food shopping on a budget, healthy snacking and how sleep and mood can affect dietary intake.
Susan Short, public health nutritionist – Health Improvement, NHS Lanarkshire said: “Nutrition and Hydration Week is a fabulous opportunity to support those looking to make healthy changes in their life by providing helpful and useful information on how to get started and achieve a healthier and more nutritionally balanced diet.
“Good nutrition and hydration are important to maintain good physical and mental health and well-being. Having a variety of foods from the main food groups (carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, high protein foods and dairy and alternatives) ensures we get all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients we need.”
Planning ahead
Planning ahead can often be key to ensure that our dietary intake remains balanced, some key tips to plan ahead could be:
- Planning out your meals for a few days in advance or the full week
- Planning into your week how you can achieve 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day
- Creating a shopping list, will help you to make sure you get all the ingredients you need to cook the meals you plan to
Find out more practical tips to make healthy changes within your diet.
Good hydration
Good hydration is one of the most important aspects of a healthy diet.
Our bodies are very good at giving us hunger signals, tiredness signals when to visit the bathroom, but not so good at letting us know we are dehydrated until we are very dehydrated.
Did you know your body needs 1.5-2 litres of fluid per day? You may have heard this described as 6-8 cups per day too.
Find out more information about staying hydrated.
Healthier snacks
The key to whether snacking is good or bad for you is which snacks you choose, and how much of them you eat.
Snacks can be a healthy part of our diet, they can provide energy, nutrients and essential vitamins if we choose carefully and plan ahead.
Find out more healthy snack ideas.
Food and Mood
Often when our mood is low, it can affect food choices or how we feel about our choices, with negative unhelpful thoughts. But did you know food can have mood-enhancing effects also? When our diet is lacking in certain vitamins and minerals, it can make us feel sluggish, lack energy and therefore lower our mood.
Long gaps without eating i.e. working on through meeting after meeting without eating, can lower our energy levels and therefore our mood can be affected. We need fuel for our bodies and brains like a car needs petrol.
Find out more information on food and mood,
Healthy changes
A healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help us feel our best.
Healthy changes happen best when we make small, realistic changes to how we eat and the level of physical activity we do.
Find out more practical tips to make healthy changes within your diet.
