Healthy Eating

What is a balanced diet?

A well-balanced diet includes food from the five main food groups. These are:

• bread, cereal (including breakfast cereals) and potatoes (starchy foods),
• fruit (including fresh fruit juice) and vegetables,
• meat and fish,
• milk and dairy foods, and
• fat and sugar

If I want to eat healthily, what general rules should I be following?

The Food Standards Agency suggests these 8 tips for eating well:

• Base your meals on starchy foods e.g. bread, cereals, rice, pasta, potatoes
• Eat lots of fruit and veg
• Eat more fish
• Cut down on saturated fat and sugar
• Try to eat less salt - no more than 6g a day
• Get active and try to be a healthy weight
• Drink plenty of water
• Don't skip breakfast

For more detailed information, visit the Food Standards Agency's Eatwell webpages.

What is the 5 A Day programme and where can I get information?

The average person in the UK eats less than 3 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, instead of the recommended 5. This is even lower amongst young people. The
5 A Day programme aims to change the way people think, and highlight the healthier benefits of eating more fruit and vegetables.

Eating more fruit and vegetables is essential for good health. The NHS lsits 5 great reasons to eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day:

• They're packed with vitamins and minerals.
• They can help you to maintain a healthy weight.
• They're an excellent source of fibre and antioxidants.
• They help reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers.
• They taste delicious and there's so much variety to choose from

Visit the 5 A Day website for more information on the 5 a day programme, what counts as a portion and some interesting recipies to make even the fussiest eaters enjoy their 5 fruit and vegetables a day. 

What is my ideal weight?

Visit the Food Standards Agency's Eatwell Body Mass Index page to calculate your BMI and see their height/weight graph to see what range you fit into.

What is the best way to lose weight and get advice on eating healthily?

If you feel your health is suffering due to your weight or diet, visit your local GP (doctor) who will be able to help with advice or referral to specialist services. If you are not registered with a doctor, visit the GP search on the NHS Choices website to find your local GP surgery.

	Oxford Healthy Living website

Visit the Weight Loss pages on the NHS Choices website for information on losing weight, keeping weight off and nutrition label information.

Visit the Food Standards Agency's Eatwell website or the Healthy Eating pages on the DirectGov website for information on healthy eating for all ages.

Visit our Health Links page for useful links to other websites relating to health and medical advice in Oxford.

What is the Council doing to promote healthy eating in Oxford?

Eating a balanced, healthy diet is hugely important for living a healthy lifestyle.

We support and co-ordinate food projects within the city with the aim of raising awareness of healthy eating, food safety, food access and knowledge of where food comes from.

	5 A Day website

Some of the current projects include;

• supporting the setting up of a food bank
• a city farm
• food awareness competitions for young people
• developing community recipe books
• co-ordinating the Community Caterers Network
• food poverty/access mapping, for which Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council have just been awarded Regional Food Champion status from the Food Standards Agency.
• deliver food safety training

We also provide support to the Oxford Healthy Living Partnership. The partnership includes Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and various community and voluntary organisations.  

The partnership has developmened community cafes. They are also organising and initiatives related to healthy eating in Barton, Blackbird Leys and Rose Hill.

Visit the Oxford Healthy Living Partnership website for more information on the activities of the partnership.

Page last reviewed 5 Nov 2008