The week ahead is Healthy Eating Week 2020. This is a great opportunity to get some inspiration to help you shake things up a bit. Especially as it is now officially autumn. The change of season is a great time to get focussed and make changes for the good of your health.

Now that we are more than halfway through September, many of us are starting to settle into a new routine. For some people that means going back into an office or workplace or establishing a new daily routine in a quiet house now that children are back to school. So how do we stay healthy in this new normal?

Over the last few decades, life expectancy in the developed world has been steadily increasing, while healthy life expectancy has been decreasing. That means that we might expect to live longer but we are more likely to develop some sort of disease or condition that impacts our quality of life. But with a little thoughtful care and attention to our daily habits, it might just be possible to add years to our life and life to our years

Nutrition hit the headlines again a few weeks ago, with the UK government promising that that this time things will be different. As the pandemic has emerged, it has become apparent that there is a link between the width of our waistlines and the severity Covid-19 symptoms.

A good night’s sleep can leave us feeling refreshed, revived and ready to start the day with a spring in our step. Unfortunately – in an age when technology is everywhere, being ‘busy’ is only ever seen as a good thing and stimulants keep us going – our sleep is suffering and insomnia is rife.

Barbecuing can be a healthy way to eat if you forget about the burnt sausages and undercooked chicken legs. Delicious marinated cuts of meat, fish or veggies with a variety of eye-catching salads not only look appetising, but can be good for you too.

Recent research from Queens University, Belfast estimated that one third of people in Northern Ireland experience anxiety (30 per cent) and depression (33 per cent), and one in five (20 per cent) report COVID-19 related PTSD due to the current pandemic.

I think it is fair to say that most of us try our best to make healthy choices in our food shop, and often those choices are led by food labelling or marketing. Low fat, high fibre, probiotic, reduced salt, 30% less sugar… and the claims go on. But are we really making a healthy choice when we drop these foods into our trolley?

One of my clients commented that she thinks we will all be eating better the other side of lockdown, as we get used to cooking from scratch and home baking, rather than convenience foods and quick fixes. I hope she is right.

In these strange times of lockdown we have less incentive, as hanging out in loungewear with added lycra creates more space for the muffin top, and most events are postponed until further notice.

A 100th birthday is a cause for celebration – time for a big cake and crazy party hats. A few weeks ago, in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown, a man living in a local residential home was celebrating his 100th birthday and was asked what his secret was. He replied: “Avoid vegetables!”

At this time of year, and especially under lockdown, many of us have been turning to food and gardening for solace and sanity. I am writing today’s blog in the sunshine in my back garden, so I thought it was appropriate to explore this idea a little with you.

This week, a former contestant on The Apprentice was pulled up by the Advertising Standards Agency for making claims that his product was a “cure for coronavirus”.

Each week we learn more about Covid-19 and the devastating effects it is having on the world. From the data that have been published to date, there seems to be some patterns emerging that tell us more about who is most likely to be admitted to hospital with severe symptoms of Covid-19, and some of that has been surprising.

Whether you are exercising for health, have a fitness goal in mind, or it is simply a way of breaking up your day, exercise nutrition, what (and when) you eat can help enhance your fitness and training goals.

I don’t know about you, but I have noticed a big difference in my sleep pattern over the last few weeks since lockdown began. It seems I am not the only one. Nearly everyone I talk to is feeling the same.