BHCS NEWSLETTER

EMPOWERING WELLNESS

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

By Drew Nicholls (Secondary Chaplain) 

 

We know that food is important - making healthy food choices affects our energy, mood, sleep and health, it’s no wonder we’re often told ‘you are what you eat’ - what we choose to fuel our body with really does impact everything!

 

While we might try to do the right thing it can sometimes feel overwhelming in the busyness of life but getting back to basics is a great first step. Enjoying a range of nutritious foods is key to eating well - it’s worth looking into the five food groups and checking you’re eating a variety of foods across these groups. 

 

A few tips to help -

 

  • Plan your meals in advance. This helps ensure you have a variety of nutritious meals and it’s also shown to reduce food waste and is more cost efficient.
  • Get your kids involved in meal times. Getting kids to help prepare food or share meal ideas can help teach healthy eating habits from a young age.
  • If you are stuck for meal ideas, ask friends of family. Finding out their favourite go-to meals can help expand your repertoire and bring more variety to your meals.
  • Start small, don’t feel you have to overhaul everything in one go - pick one area to focus on and commit to it.

Food is better when we eat together

 

We know that food is about more than just nutrition, it can be a great opportunity for us to sit and share together. When there are many pressures on family life, sitting down and sharing a meal together is a great way to connect as a family. For those with younger children, sharing a family meal is a good way to role model healthy habits to your kids - particularly if you have picker eaters! For those with other kids, it’s a great way to press pause and enjoy one another’s company without needing to compete with the demands of the day.

 

The Gut - Our second brain

 

If you’ve ever had butterflies in your stomach or ‘listened to your gut’ you already know there is a connection between the brain and the gut but emerging research shows us just how strong that connection is, so much so that many are referring to the gut as our ‘second brain’.

 

When we feel nervous or anxious our brain communicates with our gut, but research now shows that our guts communicate with our brains too. Many of the world’s leading research centres have been delving into this and there are exciting new findings about how we can treat a range of issues by focusing on our gut health. With this in mind, it’s important that we are looking after our guts by eating a range of healthy foods, increasing our water intake and reducing the amount of ultra processed foods we eat.

 

The Take Aways

 

Start small - decide on a small change you want to make and give it a go! It could be adding more veg to your day, replacing a soft drink with water or choosing to buy organic where you can. 

 

Make meal time a priority - put the devices away, leave behind the distractions of the day and be present with your loved ones as you eat together.

 

Listen to what your gut is telling you -  our bodies are amazing, they are often trying to communicate with us, we just need to take the time to listen.

 

For more information on healthy eating you can check out any of the following sites - 

 

https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au 

https://raisingchildren.net.au/ 

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/

 

 

Bon Appetit!

WELLBEING RESOURCES

We know that it can sometimes be hard to find the necessary resources in relation to mental health, bullying and family violence, especially when things are tough. For this reason, the School has a small webpage with links related to health and wellbeing resources. This can be found on the School's website under Other Resources or can be found here.