Leading and encouraging a healthy, active lifestyle is one of the best ways you can support your family’s health and wellbeing. However, changing everyday habits can be easier said than done, and a little daunting at first.
That’s why we’ve put together seven simple tips to help support a healthy family lifestyle for you and your loved ones – from helping everyone get better sleep, to improving your family‘s health and nutrition.
1. Eat a balanced diet
Eating a balanced diet is essential for getting the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals your body needs to function properly, and can help with maintaining a healthy weight. It can bring genuine benefits for your family’s health and wellbeing, helping to make everyone feel more alert and energetic.
There are some key foods you should aim to include if you want to eat a healthy, balanced diet as a family:
Plenty of fruits and vegetables (approximately one third of our daily foods)
High-fibre or wholegrain starchy foods/carbohydrates (about one third of daily foods)
Choosing lean meat and reducing processed meat where possible
Eating fish at least twice a week (one of which ideally should be oily fish, such as salmon, sardines, or mackerel)
Lower fat milks, spreads and cheeses
Alternatively, other good sources of protein for those with vegan or vegetarian diets – such as tofu, pulses, nuts and oats
You should also stay hydrated throughout the day by drinking plenty of water.
Eating a healthy breakfast high in fibre and low in fat and sugar is also an important part of any diet, and can set you up for success at school, work, or anything else you’ve got planned. Try not to skip it before heading out for the day!
Proper meal planning can help us all eat a balanced diet too, as you can stay on top of what you and your family are eating each week. This can have the added benefit of reducing food waste and encourage you to budget your food shopping too.
2. Reduce salt and sugar for good family health
The NHS recommends that adults should be consuming no more than 6 grams of salt per day.
Getting too much sodium in your diet can raise your blood pressure and increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. So, it’s important to lower the salt you eat to help keep you and your family healthy. Tips for eating less salt include:
Taking salt off the table at mealtimes
Swapping out salty snacks in packed lunches or road trips with healthier alternatives
Choosing products lower in salt in your weekly shop. Often, when you compare different versions of the same item, you’ll find one has a bit less salt in it
It’s important to remember that babies should not eat much salt at all, as their still-developing kidneys struggle to process it.
The NHS and UK government also recommends that adults and children restrict free sugars (that’s sugar that is added to food and drink) to no more than 5% of their daily energy intake, in terms of calories.
This works out to about 7 sugar cubes a day for adults (or 30g), 6 sugar cubes for children aged 7 to 10 (24g) and 5 sugar cubes for children aged 4 to 6 (19g) – and ideally less.
For children aged 4 or under, providing sugar-sweetened drinks and adding sugar to food is not recommended.
Try to avoid adding sugars to your drinks, and cut down on sugary snacks such as cakes and biscuits in the home.
3. Look after your immune system (and make sure you get your daily vitamin D and C intake)
Learning how to look after your immune system is another way we can maintain our family’s health and wellness. A properly functioning immune system is vital to help our bodies fight off infections, bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens.
Support your family members in getting a balanced intake of nutrients.
In England, the recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 10 micrograms per day, according to NHS guidelines. We get a certain amount of vitamin D from the sun, when it shines, and eating a healthy diet is also important in getting the right amount of vitamin D. But people can increase that with vitamin supplements. All our Zarbee’s® Immune Support liquids, for example, contain vitamin D, which contributes to the normal function of the immune system.
Vitamin C is also important for the proper functioning of the immune system, and can be found in various fruits and fresh fruit drinks. The recommended intake of vitamin C per day is 40mg for adults up to the age of 64, according to NHS guidelines for England.
At Zarbee’s ®, our formulas are blended to support you and your little one’s immune systems daily, including Vitamin D‡*, and also contain no artificial colours or flavours.
If you’re interested in learning more, read our article on how to support your immune system.
4. Learn about things you can do to help you sleep better
Getting the right amount of sleep is essential to your family’s health and wellness, particularly for children and teenagers – whose growing bodies need the extra energy. That’s why there are different recommended sleep times for different ages.
Better sleeping routines can help us to be more alert and focused during the day, support our immune functions, lower stress levels and help lift our mood.
There are plenty of things you can do to help you or your family members sleep better. Tips on getting to sleep include:
Avoiding late meals or caffeine before bed
Shutting off screens an hour before bedtimes
Having a regular bedtime and morning routine
Building relaxation time into your evening
Listening to gentle music or taking up meditation
Choosing thick curtains to help keep light out
If you or your family are still not getting more sleep, NHS guidelines suggest getting out of bed to sit in a chair or read until you feel tired again.
5. Spend time outdoors
Staying active is hugely important to the health of your family. According to the WHO, getting a good amount of exercise each day can help reduce your risk of major illnesses in the long term, including heart disease.
Not only can spending time outdoors improve your family’s physical health, but it also has many benefits for your wellbeing too. It can increase your alertness and energy levels, as well as calming you down and lifting a low mood.
Children should be active for at least one hour per day, with 30 minutes of that taking place outside of school, according to NHS guidelines. So, how can you get your kids out and about more?
One way to improve your family’s health and wellness is taking regular walks together, including at weekends or on summer evenings.
Other family health tips include:
Walking or cycling to school or work instead of taking the car
Taking up group sports or activities, such as swimming
Playing games in your garden – or at a local park
6. Enjoy time together (and share tips on how to keep your family health)
Whether you’re having a cosy night in or trying something new on a day out, finding even small amounts of time to spend together can help to build bonds between your family and encourage kids to explore new interests.
Spending time together can help to keep your family healthy. Indeed, feeling connected as a family can help people feel happier, and have a positive impact on their mental health, while also contributing to physical health.
Try taking turns doing things that each person enjoys. You never know, you might discover a new family tradition!
Whether getting together at mealtimes (eating a balanced diet, of course), or heading out for a walk or a run together, there’s lots of ways you can improve your family health and wellness as a unit.
7. Try mindfulness for better family health and wellbeing
The NHS says mindfulness can reduce stress and anxiety, as well as improving sleep and helping people to feel calmer.
Practising mindfulness looks different for everyone. But ultimately, it’s about finding solace within yourself and appreciating the moment.
For many people, this can be writing in a journal, quietly reading, savouring a meal, meditating, running and so on. Try to encourage family members – and yourself – to find quiet activities that work for them, and allow them to relax away from the stresses of work and school.
There’s no perfect way to practise mindfulness and everyone is different, so don’t be afraid to try different methods.
