Active Erewash

Obesity and physical activity in Erewash

In Erewash 24 per cent of people are classed as overweight. The national average is 22 per cent. More worrying is that 28 per cent of children in Erewash are overweight. Erewash has the highest proportion of morbidly obese children in Derbyshire.

Adult obesity rates have almost quadrupled in the last 25 years and the number of obese children has tripled. Now 22 per cent of Britons are obese and three-quarters are overweight.

The government has set a target of halting the year on year rise of obesity in children by 2010.

Obesity costs the UK economy about £2.3 billion and costs the NHS around £1 billion a year. The estimated cost of obesity to the UK economy in 2010 will be a staggering £2.6 billion.

So what can you do?

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that eating more healthily and exercising will help you to lose weight. Sometimes though, we all need a little help and motivation to get started.

For adults, have a go at 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least 5 days per week.

Children need to do 1 hour of activity every day.

If this sounds a bit daunting, you don’t have to do it all at once. Have a go instead at, for instance, three 10 minute short bursts of activity throughout the day. It may make it easier to fit exercise into your busy life.

What is ‘moderate’ exercise’?

This means that you get warm, mildly out of breath, and mildly sweaty. It does not have to be intense.

If you are unfit and not used to exercise, it is best to gradually build up your level of exercise.

Many people feel that the first few attempts at exercise are quite a struggle, but don’t lose heart, you are likely to find that each time it becomes easier and more enjoyable.

Get Active - great ways to feel better!

• Don’t put off being active until tomorrow - start today! Every move counts.

• Physical activity is free, easy to do and does not need any special equipment.

• Put things into perspective! How often do you sit and do nothing for 30 minutes?

• Exercise a little each day rather than doing a lot today and nothing for the rest of the week.

• Develop an exercise habit. It takes about four weeks to form a habit, so keep at it!

• Set yourself small goals write it down and look at it every day.

• Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results.

• Don’t give up if you miss a day of activity you planned: just get back on track the next day.

• View all your chores as part of your daily 30 minutes - mow the grass, clean the house or wash the car.

• Dance while you listen to your favourite music.

• Walk or cycle for journeys less than a mile.

• A daily walk to fetch the newspaper will do more for your health than you realise.

• Any physical activity is better than none at all!

Great news if you are inactive - the greatest increase in health benefit comes to inactive people who start to take regular moderate intensity physical activity.

How to get help

People in Erewash can get help through the Ease into Exercise scheme. Contact your GP, practice nurse or physiotherapist for more information.

Join local walking programmes. These are organised by Groundwork Derbyshire. All walks are flat with no hills. For more information contact Groundwork Derbyshire on 01773 535 232. or visit www.gdd.org.uk (opens in a new window)

MACCA is a programme of activities to get young people active and healthy. Please call 0845 907 4321 for a brochure.

Top tips for healthier eating from birth to 100+

In Erewash only 20 per cent of all adults eat the recommended five portions a day of fruit and vegetables compared to 23 per cent nationally. And only 30 per cent of all children eat three portions of fruit and vegetables a day compared to 37 per cent nationally.

Healthy eating starts from birth. Local restaurants and shops are being asked to provide areas for mums to breast feed their babies. You can also get information on healthy diets for toddlers from local practice nurses and midwives.

83 per cent of the schools in Erewash have the healthy schools mark which shows how well your school is promoting things like health and wellbeing; food and nutrition; and physical activity.

If you live in Erewash and would like some tips on how to eat well and spend less, you can join a class at the Baptist church on Norman Street, Ilkeston called ‘cooking on a budget’ where everyone makes the food and then all sit down and eat together. The adult education classes are on Mondays 9.30am to 12.30pm and cost £2.50.

A ‘cooking on a budget’ book is also available for a donation of £3.50. Anyone wanting to attend classes or get a book should call Linda Comrie on 0785 9920805.

We all know now to get our 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day but you can also improve the way you eat:

• Base your meals on starchy foods such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta and potatoes.

• Eat more fish: Aim for at least two portions a week, including a portion of oily fish.

• Cut down on saturated fat and sugar

• Try to eat less than 6g’s of salt a day

• Drink water instead of soft or fizzy drinks.

• Eat breakfast: Skipping breakfast to lose weight isn't good because you miss out on essential nutrients. Research shows that eating breakfast can actually help people control their weight.

Traffic lights is a new way of labelling food from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

The colours help you get the balance right by helping you to choose between products and keep a check on the high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods you eat.

You can see at a glance if the food you’re looking at has high = red, medium = amber or low = green amounts of each of these nutrients in 100g of the food. If your favourite foods get some red traffic lights, it’s still fine to have them occasionally.

The FSA is encouraging more supermarkets and manufacturers to use this system.

Want to stop smoking?

26 per cent of adults in Erewash smoke against the national 25 per cent for England.

The good news is that Erewash has a 68 per cent success rate for quitters. The national average in England is only 56 per cent.

If you’re a smoker who wants to quit, you can call Fresh Start now on 01332 224019.

Fresh Start is a free NHS service for smokers in South Derbyshire who want to give up smoking and offers information, advice, support and Nicotine Replacement Therapy or Zyban at the cost of a prescription or free if you don’t pay for prescriptions.

You can use Freshstart in different ways:

• You can join a group for a course of 7 weeks where you’ll get support and advice from a stop-smoking advisor and lots of friendly support from other quitters in the group. Statistics show that groups have the highest success rate for people who quit smoking.

• You can get support on a one-to-one basis from a stop-smoking advisor over 7 weeks.

• Through your local pharmacy who offer stop-smoking advice or via participating Doctor’s Surgeries.

• You can attend a stop-smoking clinic - contact Fresh Start first to make sure there is availability for you to attend.

Health and leisure membership competition winners

Mr Graham Twigg of Long Eaton and Mrs Marilyn Bradbury of Kirk Hallam Ilkeston are the lucky winners of a year’s free Health and Leisure membership.
Both memberships can be used at all of our leisure centres. We’ve also thrown in free fitness tests and goal setting sessions with a qualified instructor who will help Marilyn and Graham set targets to work towards and track their progress over the next few months.

Marilyn, is 54, married with 4 children and has just lost an amazing 3 stone with Weight Watchers. Marilyn said “I entered the competition because after losing 3 stone I wanted to get a bit fitter and tone up”. Marilyn says it’s more than 20 years since she set foot in a gym and although she admits to being a bit nervous, she’s really looking forward to it.

Graham is 39, married to Michelle and has two 15 month old twin boys, Alex and Dylan, who keep him very busy.
As a Health and Safety Advisor for Nottinghamshire Police, Graham spends long hours at his desk or sitting in a car and doesn’t get the exercise he used to when he was in the RAF.

Graham says “when I was in the RAF I was really fit, I also played rugby scrum half, went jogging and enjoyed playing lots of different sports”. A few year’s ago Graham got Achilles Tendonitis which prevented him from exercising for quite a while, but now he is really keen to get fit again and intends to make full use of his membership.

In fact he has already had his induction and has started on his personal programme at West Park Leisure Centre, where he is managing to find time, despite his hectic lifestyle, to train twice a week.

At the moment Graham’s main goal is to improve his general fitness and start running again which he particularly enjoys.
Both Graham and Marilyn will keep a diary of their experiences and progressions which we’ll tell you about over the next few months.