Healthy living means making positive choices that enhance your personal physical, mental and spiritual health. You make these choices when you:

Eat nutritiously, choosing a variety of foods from all of the food groups as suggested;
Build a circle of social contacts to create a supportive environment of people who care for you and respect you;
Stay physically active to keep your body strong, reduce stress, and improve your energy.
Choose not to smoke; and
Put an end to other negative lifestyle practices.
Healthy living choices are affected by where you live, work, learn and play. Keeping yourself informed about positive health practices within your environment is an important way to improve your overall health and sense of well-being.

Everyone is different...
There's no ideal weight that suits everybody. Each person has a different body and their healthy weight will be determined by different factors. Our tips and ideas can help you to achieve and maintain your healthy weight.
Being too thin or too fat is unhealthy, but good health is about much more than just your weight. It depends on many things, including your family's medical history, your genes, whether you smoke, the type of food you eat and how active you are. It's therefore difficult to set an exact ideal healthy weight that applies to everyone.
Many people have a distorted perception of what constitutes a healthy body weight. We're surrounded by images of glamorous people, many of whom are in fact underweight. Looking at yourself in the mirror isn't a very useful way to assess whether you're a healthy weight either. Most people compare themselves with others rather than by objective standards.
What's your BMI?
Doctors check your body size by measuring your weight and height. This calculation is known as the body mass index (BMI). Research has shown that people within a certain range of body size tend to live the longest and enjoy the best health.
Are you underweight?
We all know that being overweight can put your health at risk, but it can also suffer if you weigh too little.
If you're underweight because of a restriction of your diet, you're at risk of a number of nutritional deficiencies.
Young women especially are at risk of anaemia - a lack of iron - while insufficient calcium can lay the foundation for osteoporosis later in life. Amenorrhoea (missing menstrual periods) is also common among women who are underweight and can lead to infertility.
Are you healthy but unhappy?
If your weight lies within the healthy range but you're unhappy with your shape, you're likely to derive more benefits from a supervised exercise programme than by restricting your food. This will improve your fitness, help to tone specific muscle groups and enhance your overall health and wellbeing. Plan your diet to optimise your health.
Physical health
You don't have to work on a building site for your job to affect your health; even the more sedentary occupations can be a risk. RSI, headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome, and back and eye problems can all be avoided if you're aware of the causes and do your best to minimise them.
Back problems at work are caused by abnormal strains on the spine, which damage the tissues. These strains may be sudden (such as lifting a heavy load awkwardly) or chronic (spending hours in a certain posture).
You are what you eat...
A good diet is central to overall good health. But which are the best foods to include in your meals, and which ones are best avoided? This section looks at the facts, to help you make realistic, informed choices.
Increasing numbers of people in the UK are using complementary - or alternative - medicine to try to alleviate particular illnesses or symptoms, or to improve their overall health and wellbeing.
Time to get fit...
Maintaining a 'keep fit' lifestyle doesn't mean being confined to a sweaty gym or paying homage to stretch latex in an aerobics studio. Choose an activity that you actually enjoy and you're more likely to stick with it.
The great escape
Don't let ill health spoil your holiday or interrupt your business trip. We've got advice on what you need to do before you go and staying healthy while you're away.

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