Healthy eating to reduce your risk of heart disease   Following on from last week’s blog on heart disease, let’s talk about one of the key risk factors you can control to help reduce your risk of heart disease. Making these simple changes can also help you reduce your risk of related health conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.   Eating a healthy balanced diet is important to keep your whole body working well. Healthy eating can also help control your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. This means in the long term it can help to reduce your risk of developing coronary heart disease.   Eat Regularly Try not to skip meals, especially breakfast, as this can cause your mood to worsen and make you feel irritable, tired and hungry. Start the day with breakfast, people who eat breakfast regularly are more likely to stay a healthy weight than people who don’t.   Get your d...

Vitamin D   How to get the Sunshine Vitamin D in Winter? Most of your vitamin D tends to come from sunshine- your skin makes vitamin D through sunlight exposure. Your ability to produce vitamin D depends on how strong the sunlight is and is only made by skin which is exposed to the UV rays of the sun. However in Ireland and the UK, our exposure to sunlight is limited to the months of April to September. During winter months, your body gets its vitamin D from body stores and also from a limited number of food sources. However body stores have been shown to be insufficient to last for the winter months and the best way to ensure adequate vitamin D levels is by taking a vitamin D supplement (see recommendations below). Vitamin D is an important vitamin for a number of reasons in combination with a calcium rich diet.  It works with calcium and phosphorus to ensure healthy muscles, bones and teeth. Without vitamin D, calcium cannot be absorbed into bones and...

The Irish Heart Foundation’s Dietitian Sarah Noone Tells Us How to Eat Your Way to a Healthier Heart in the New Year   After all the indulgence of the party season, January is the month of New Year’s resolutions. Many of these focus on weight and nutrition, which is good news for heart health, as increased physical activity and achieving a healthy weight can cut your chances of developing heart disease and stroke. So here’s our top three tips to eat your way to a healthier heart:   1.             The best place to start is often reviewing portion sizes. Our perception of what is a ‘healthy’ or ‘normal’ portion can be quite different from what’s recommended. Compare your portions to the Food Pyramid. What changes can you make?   2.             Swap bad fats for good fats. In practice this means choosing less butter, processed...

Take 15   We hope that you have enjoyed our Take 15 campaign this month and have managed to have a Take 15 event of your own with your team.   We wanted to finish this month’s blog reminding you all of the importance of Taking 15 for your mental wellbeing   Life can be hectic, and it’s easy to get wrapped up in day to day challenges at work and at home. This month Aramark encouraged all our team members and customers to take 15 minutes away from TVs, computers, phone calls, and smart phones to connect with a colleague or friend.   According to a study headed by John Trougakos, Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the University of Toronto, when employees take breaks at work,  they become less fatigued and have more energy. They also increase their ability to focus and problem solve. Trougakos’ study also found that taking time off during breaks and interacting with your co-workers made for a more positive work environment for everyone. A m...

Gut bacteria and mental health   Want to improve your mood? Take care of your gut. Want to improve your gut? Take care of your mood.   Scientists have found that your brain and your gut have a deep connection. Millions of neurons connect them together. Stress goes down from your head to your gut, knocking you and your gut flora off-balance. On the other hand, a healthy gut can help make your brain happier. “If you have alterations in the brain, you will almost certainly have altered output to the gut because the two organs are that closely connected.” Emeran Mayer, a gastroenterologist (David Geffen School of Medicine, U California, LA).   For example, 95% of your serotonin (a hormone so influential on good mood and pleasure that it is often referred as the ‘happiness hormone’) is produced in your gut.   The vagus nerve, is a nervous highway that goes from the head to the abdomen. Ninety per cent of the information that travels ...

Remember to check out our New Made Healthier Café today!! Lots of fresh and healthy ingredients. NEW in the South block in NESCOL City Campus - Made Healthier Cafe. We provide a range of Fresh and Healthy meals that suit all tastes, from Salads, Fruit to Hot Healthy Meals. All food is cooked fresh everyday. We look forward to welcoming you to the new cafe, so come visit us in the South Block. Dont forget to look out for our Eat well loyalty cards - buy 9 Healthy meals and get the 10th one free!!