Simple Steps to Health

It’s hard to be healthy these days, especially when we’re all so busy being busy, but try our simple steps – we hope that they help.

We are what we eat – the World Health Organisation estimates that over 60% of all deaths from the developed world’s biggest killers, heart disease and cancer, are caused by the food we eat... it really is life and death.

See links on each section if you want to get more information.

1. Read the ingredients

Read the ingredients list and nutritional details carefully on any food that you buy – personally, we’d rather be pure and organic than hydrogenated and artificial. Only eat things when you know what they are! Our rule of thumb is to borrow a reasonably intelligent 6 year old – if they can’t read an ingredient on the ingredients list, chances are it’s not good for you. Try it – it works!

- See www.foodstandards.gov.uk/foodlabelling for information on what food labels mean.

- Search Simply Organic products for ones which meet the health criteria you’re looking for – all our products are organic and most are suitable for vegetarians. Many are also:
low in fat, gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, yeast free, low in salt, vegan

2. Drink lots of water

Drink lots of water – it’s good for you, it fills you up, it makes you less tired. It’s estimated that 70% of the UK population do not drink enough water.

Our bodies are 75% water and water is needed for just about every chemical reaction within our body. We need to drink about 2 litres (or 6 to 8 glasses) of water a day.

Try keeping a bottle of water on your desk, or take one with you when driving on regular journeys so that you build drinking water into a daily routine. Sports top ones are easiest – and you can just refill them from the tap.

See www.highland-spring.com for more information on the benefits of drinking lots of water and the signs of not drinking enough.

3. Exercise

Exercise – lots. Choose exercise that you find fun (that’s really important or you won’t keep it up) and do it regularly – that means 2 or 3 times a week not once or twice a year! It doesn’t have to be running marathons or torturing yourself in a gym (although some of us like that) – it can be salsa dancing or skipping. You’ll feel better, you’ll have more energy and you’ll be able to eat more!

See www.bbc.co.uk/health/fitness for more information and tips on how to get yourself exercising and how much you should be doing.

4. Eat Organic

Eat Organic – there’s more and more evidence that it’s better for you, so just do it!
See www.soilassociation.org for more information on all things organic.
Link to our section About Organic for a summary

5. Eat Fruit & Veg

Eat your fruit and veg – you’re aiming for at least 5 portions a day but it’s not as hard as you might think. A glass of pure fruit juice and a handful of dried fruit added to your cereal at breakfast each count as 1 portion. At lunch, a bowl of good vegetable-based soup (home-made or Simply Organic’s naturally!) counts for another 1 or 2 portions and each one of our Pure & Pronto ready meals counts for a whopping 3 portions. Add a piece of fruit or two during the day and a salad or veg in the evening and you’re already at 6 or 7 portions of fruit and veg for the day – well above the 5.

See www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/nutritionessentials/fruitandveg/ for more information.

And also see www.cancerresearchuk.org for lots on this and on healthy eating in general.

6. Eat Less Fat

Eat less fat – that doesn’t mean eat things called “low fat” which are full of other nasty ingredients. Choose foods which are naturally low in fat but don’t forget that some fats are good guys.

Bad fats are: saturated fats (usually of animal origin, from red meat and wholemilk dairy products) and (even worse) trans fats – just look for the word “hydrogenated” on ingredients labels and avoid if possible.

Good fats are: unsaturated fats, both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. These are usually from plant sources, such as vegetable oils, nuts and seeds. And don’t forget your Omega oils – good sources are oily fish (like mackerel) and seeds.

Low in fat means 3g or less of fat per 100g (or 1g or less of saturated fat per 100g). You can easily check this on the nutritional label of food you buy.

See the British Heart Foundation’s website, under the Heart Health/Any Questions section, for more information on diet in general and why you should be reducing fats in particular. www.bhf.org.uk

7. Eat less salt

Eat less salt – the amount of salt we eat has a direct effect on our blood pressure: the more salt we eat, the higher our blood pressure. And high blood pressure increases the risk of stroke and coronary heart disease. High salt intake can also cause water retention, osteoporosis, asthma, kidney disease and stomach cancer.

The Department of Health recommends a maximum salt intake of 6 grams per day. Most people eat 50-100% more than this.

About 75% of most people’s salt intake comes from processed foods – so it’s important to check the nutritional labels on any food you buy (including bread and breakfast cereals as well as obviously salty products).

Many nutritional labels only include Sodium – a rule of thumb to get to salt from sodium is to multiply the sodium figure by 2.5. So 0.5 grams of Sodium is roughly equivalent to 1.25g of salt.

The Food Standards Agency guidelines for salt are that a food is high in sodium if it contains 0.5g or more per 100g and that it is low in sodium if it contains 0.1g or less per 100g.

See The Blood Pressure Association’s website for more details – www.bpassoc.org.uk

8. Enjoy Life!

Enjoy life..it’s officially good for you to be happy, so get out and enjoy yourselves! Whatever makes you laugh and forget your stresses for a while – go for it, in the knowledge that it’s doing you good. Your state of mind seriously affects your physical health!