5 health facts that could motivate you in 5 minutes

Can you separate the fads from the facts about exercising and eating? When you’re being bombarded in the media with the latest “breakthroughs” it’s easy to get confused and demotivated. So, to help you get focussed on the double whammy of eating well and exercising regularly, we’ve put together five facts backed by scientific evidence to get you motivated.

1         Is physical activity really a ‘miracle cure’?

            Well, yeah, it sort of is. A recent report described ‘the miracle cure’ of performing 30 min of moderate exercise, five times a week, as more powerful than many drugs administered for chronic disease prevention and management. In fact, the National Heart Foundation of Australia suggests that walking for just half an hour, 5 days a week, may increase life expectancy by up to three years – that’s a pretty sweet deal for a couple of strolls!

2          What is a healthy weight, and how do maintain it?

          Before you can achieve – and then maintain – a healthy weight you need to know what it is. The National Heart Foundation rely on the Body Mass Index (BMI) to gauge this, and a BMI of between 18.5 and 25 is considered to be a healthy weight. Of course, the key to both getting and keeping a healthy weight is to be “physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drink to meet your energy needs.”  In other words, exercise and eat well. Good food also improves your mind set, making it easier to feel motivated!

3           Sitting smart

          The trick here is to understand the difference between sitting and being sedentary. Why? Well, simply because we all sit, be it at work behind a desk or vehicle, travelling here and there, or slumping in front of one of the many screens we use in our lives. That’s OK! A sedentary lifestyle, however is more than just sitting because, in reality, it equates with not moving enough. And research shows that high levels of sedentary time can lead to health problems, including increased risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Even people who do enough physical activity each day, may still spend a lot of time sitting for too long. So where do you sit on sitting? It’s a great idea to set some moving goals, even as you’re reading this. No “butts” about it!

4           Is it really that bad to take it easy?

          There’s nothing wrong with kicking back and relaxing sometimes, but why is it so important to have regular physical activity? Let’s put some flesh on the bones of the well-known but little-understood risky behaviour of physical inactivity. If you’re physically inactive, it really can be detrimental to your health, including an 82% higher risk of having a heart attack, a 70% higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes, a 28% higher risk of getting stomach cancer and a 114% increased risk of reporting poorer general health.

5         What should we consume more and less of?

          The Australian Dietary Guidelines are clear on this, and doing more of one and less of another will bring your health goals closer.⁶ In short, it’s advisable to drink plenty of water, plus enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from the commonly recognised five different food groups every day. Then, at the same time, limit your intake of foods high in saturated fat, and food and drinks containing added salt or added sugars.

Need an extra push to motivate you? We’ve partnered up with Qantas Assure to reward you Qantas Points for making healthy choices and eating fresh food. Use the promo code FRESH20QANTAS to get $20 your first 2 HelloFresh boxes and earn 5,000 Qantas points! Full T&Cs here. Don’t forget to download the Qantas Assure App and track your step activity and get rewarded for things like walking the dog, going for a jog or even training for a marathon.