Let's talk - Healthy eating and healthy lifestyles
What is Rotherham Healthwave?
The Healthwave service was started in October 2023 and aims to help Rotherham residents lead a happier, healthier lifestyle by helping them:
Get Active
Lose weight
Stop smoking
Rotherham Healthwave can provide support in different ways including individual appointments, where they work with people one to one, and group sessions. Once the appropriate support is decided, an individual support plan is put into place. 12 or 24 week programmes can be offered, depending on the person and how much support they require.
Everyone who signs up to Rotherham Healthwave receives a welcome pack, containing lots of useful information.
Healthy eating
Although losing weight is one of the aims of Rotherham Healthwave, they don’t just focus on temporary weight loss but also on promoting healthier living that people can maintain.
Sugar
Gary talked about sugar and the cravings that they create. Eating sugar causes a sugar spike which takes a while to reduce in the body. Other foods, such as carbohydrates, can also cause this spike. Carbohydrates turn into glucose which is a type of sugar.
Sugar has become a bit of an addiction in this country. This often starts from an early age when children are given rewards for doing something well, often in the form of a bag of sweets or a lollipop. Sugar can prove really hard to give up and not many go cold turkey (stopping all types of sugar in one go) when cutting out sugar. It is best to cut down gradually so that this can become a sustainable habit.
More information on sugar can be found on the NHS website.
5 a day/Portion sizes
Gary asked the group if anyone uses the 5 a day reminder. Some said they did consider this on a daily basis. Gary spoke about how cooking from scratch, using fresh foods, is the best way to eat well every day. Packaged foods tend to be unhealthier and often contain a lot of fat and sugars and are low in good nutrients.
The welcome pack that is given to everyone who signs up with Rotherham Healthwave, contains information explaining about portion sizes. Gary showed this to the group and spoke about how people often over indulge and eat far more than they actually need because our bodies only recognise they’re full 20 minutes after eating.
Did you know?
Almost all fruit and vegetables count towards your 5 a day, so it may be easier than you think to get your recommended daily amount! 1 portion could be:
- 80g of fresh, canned or frozen fruit (if canned, choose those in natural juice or water, with no added sugar)
- 80g of fresh, canned or frozen vegetables (this does not include potatoes and if they are canned, choose those in water without salt)
- 30g of dried fruit (this should be eaten at mealtimes and not as a snack to reduce the risk of tooth decay)
- 150ml of fruit juice, vegetable juice or smoothie (these only count as one portion per day and should be eaten at mealtimes to reduce the risk of tooth decay)
- 80g of beans and pulses (these only count as one portion per day)
Water
Gary discussed the importance of drinking water and how this can help with weight control. Water helps our bodies to regulate our metabolism (the rate at which your body burns calories). The recommended daily intake of water is around 2 litres.
Top tip:
Keeping water near you and sipping on it all day is fine and may make it easier to drink the right amount, rather than trying to drink it all in 1 or 2 goes.
Traffic light system
Many food packets now have the Traffic light system on them. This is a colour coded system (Red, Amber and Green) that shows how much fat, sugar, salt and saturated fat is in a food. Foods with mostly green on the label are generally healthier, whereas foods with mostly red should be eaten less and in smaller amounts. Although this system works ok, Gary highlighted that you should look at what amount the readings are for, as they can be slightly misleading and food companies may be using this to their advantage.
‘Healthier’ alternatives?
Gary told the group about being careful when buying or consuming low fat and low sugar products as these are often replaced with alternative ingredients that aren’t good for us. For example, Greek yogurt is better for you than eating a low fat yogurt.
Did you know?
When manufacturers reduce the fat to make ‘low’ or ‘fat-free’ foods, they often add sugar to compensate. Some ‘low fat’ foods contain more than 6 times the amount of sugar than the ‘full fat’ versions! To make things worse, there is evidence to say that if a food is labelled as ‘low fat’ we eat as much as 28% more of it.
Diet and diabetes
Gary had a brief discussion with the group about Type 2 diabetes and how a healthy diet, losing weight and exercising can help some people put their diabetes into remission. Diabetes UK has lots of fantastic information about this which can be found here.
How are we doing in Rotherham?
Healthwave have found that Rotherham residents have been really successful in increasing the amount of water they drink, reducing the amount of sugar they eat and are snacking less.
Their Getting Active groups are also a real success and have helped people socially too.
This gives Healthwave an idea about the impact their service is having and what they should focus their work on in the future.
Gary also gave praise to Rotherham United Community Trust who do some amazing community work and projects. You can find more information about this here.
Question time
Gary finished the session by answering some questions - the group made the most of him being there and had lots to ask!
Q - Is brown or white bread better?
Brown bread is better due to its fibre content. White bread turns into glucose due to its carbohydrate content, which isn’t as good.
Q - Is fruit juice ok?
Only in moderation. When you turn fresh fruit into juice, the fibre is removed and natural sugars are exposed, which can lead to a spike in blood sugar. Fruit is always healthier in its natural form.
Q - Is flavoured water ok?
Again, natural water is better, however flavoured water isn’t as bad as fruit juice.
Q - Are tea and coffee ok?
Both tea and coffee are both diuretics (which increases the amount you need to wee). Decaffeinated tea and coffee are healthier options. Herbal teas are really good for hydration.
Q- What about a cappuccino?
Cappuccinos are full of sugar but are ok in moderation - maybe 1 a day.
Q - What about low sugar drinks?
The sugar is replaced with artificial sweeteners and anything artificial isn’t always good for us, as they’re not natural.
Q- What about honey as an alternative?
Honey is fine if it’s from local/natural sources but not from a squirty bottle from the supermarket.
The talk was a great success and the group felt that the session had been really informative. They gave Gary a round of applause at the end! Thank you both to Gary and the Parkinson’s support group for a great event.
