Healthy Eating

Spending more time at home is a great opportunity to cook fresh and healthy meals every day. Avoid the temptation to snack and starting experimenting in the kitchen. And if you’re not sure what to prepare, don’t worry, we’ve listed a number of resources with helpful recipes and advice to ensure you eat healthily at home.

• *NEW* Patch to Plate is a recipe book boasting a collection of tasty and healthy recipes from primary schools on the Central Coast, curated by our Central Coast School Garden Interest Group. Now, not only can you download the recipe book, but you can also watch a series of videos showing how to prepare and cook the meals. Check out the video below demonstrating how to make pea and haloumi fritters.

• *NEW* Check out our new series of recipe videos based on our Quick Meals for Kooris cooking program. Quick Meals for Kooris assists Aboriginal people to prepare easy, low-cost family meals using available ingredients. You can find out more about the program here, and below watch a video on how to prepare and cook Hawaiian chicken pasta.

• *NEW* Our Make Their Meals Count resource aims to help parents and carers prepare healthy meals for children aged 4–8 years. The recipes are basic everyday meals, and are easy to make with ingredients that are inexpensive and readily available. TO further support you, we’ve develop a number of the recipes from Make Their Meals Count into a video series. Below you can watch a video to cook fish cakes with charred corn and zucchini salad, and you can check out the full set of recipes and videos here.

• *NEW* We’ve launched a new Thirsty? Choose Water! website that has loads of great resources and tips to help you and your family drink more water. Download fact sheets, check out mythbusters, use our sugary drink calculator and download our awesome new Aqua Sprint game, available for free on the App and Google Play stores. Click on the image below, which features our new Thirsty? Choose Water! character, to visit the new site, and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.

• The Heart Foundation has put together a fantastic page full of ideas on how to make healthier meals at home. It includes heart healthy recipes, healthy cooking methods and food swaps, meal planning on a budget, and more.
• Want to help improve your diet and stay active during the COVID-19 pandemic? NSW Health’s Get Healthy program is a free telephone-based information and coaching service that sets personalised healthy lifestyle goals on health eating, becoming more activity, achieving a healthy weight, reducing alcohol intake and achieving healthy weight gain in pregnancy. Watch the video below for more information.

• NSW Health’s guide to healthy eating while working from home contains recipes, advice on grocery shopping and other tips ans tricks to eat healthier.
• Nutrition and dietetics experts at the University of Newcastle have launched the website No Money No Time. It aims to improve the eating habits of young Australians and includes quick, cheap, easy and healthy recipes. You can even take its Healthy Eating Quiz and get a personalised report on your eating habits along with recipe suggestions and ideas based on the information you provide.

Older Adults

There are a number of tailored resources for older adults that can help them stay active, healthy, connected and safe at home.

Active and Healthy

• If you’re 60 or older, you can get Healthy and Active for Life thanks to a FREE new 10-week online program from NSW Health. You will receive weekly online exercise videos to do at your own pace, healthy eating and lifestyle tips, as well as telephone support from a trained coach at a time that suits you. And all from the comfort of your own home. The next program starts on Monday 25 January 2021, although registrations close on Friday 15 January. To register or for more information, visit the website or call our Health Promotion team on 4320 9700.
• NSW Government has produced factsheets to support seniors in staying healthy and staying connected at home that include some handy and practical tips.
• Over 70? Do the 7! Click the thumbnail below to download and print a poster with advice on how to stay COVID safe.

• Our nutrition booklet for older adults and their carers, Eating Well, includes heaps of advice from nutritionists to help you eat the foods you need to maintain weight, muscle strength, bone strength and independence.
• NSW Health’s Active and Healthy at Home booklet includes practical tips and information for older adults to stay active, healthy, and connected at home, and includes available services for the elderly. You may also wish to download and print this Active and Healthy at Home flyer, which has some handy tips you can keep close by.
• Developed by physiotherapists across Australia, Safe Exercise at Home is a simple-to-navigate website with helpful information and exercises.
• The Exercise at Home section on NSW Health’s Active and Healthy website has heaps of simple exercises to improve balance and strength, along with images and videos to demonstrate.

Falls Prevention

While we spend much more time at home than usual, home safety awareness, such as avoiding fall risks and hazards, becomes even more important.

The following resources contain advice and information on how you can stay safe in the home, along with some fun games too.

• Download our Falls prevention checklist to help reduce your risk of falling.
• Download our Home safety checklist which includes suggestions on how to make your home environment safer.
• Play our Falls are preventable wordsearch. Can you find all the words?
• Play Spot the Falls Risk. Can you spot all 21 hazards?
• Take a look at out our informative poster on What to do if you fall at home. Feel free to print and keep around the house as a reference.
• The Clinical Excellence Commission has a number of helpful fact sheets, available in different languages, as part of the NSW Falls Prevention Program, such as:
  • Foot care and foot wear to ensure you’re more steady on your feet. This is also available in Italian, Greek, Arabic and other languages.
  • Medications advice. This is also available in Italian, Greek, Arabic and other languages.
  • Home exercises to improve balance and strength. This is also available in Italian, Tagalog, Greek, Korean, Arabic and other languages.

Alcohol Reduction

As we all come to terms with the challenges presented by COVID-19, it’s important we avoid potentially harmful coping strategies such as excess alcohol consumption.

There are a number of health impacts caused by drinking too much alcohol, which you can read more about in the Alcohol section of this website.

There are some helpful resources out there to support you if you’re struggling during the COVID-19 situation.

• Want to drink less? Changing your drinking habits is easier with someone in your corner. Did you know you can get support over the phone from your own FREE health coach through NSW Health’s Get Healthy Service? Coaches are friendly and trained to help you change your drinking habits. They will give you practical tools and support you, without judgement, helping you to set achievable goals, make a plan (starting with small steps), and overcome barriers that stand in your way. They will work as a team with you and celebrate your successes with you. To sign up, call 1300 806 258 or click on the image below and complete the simple online form. And if you want to find out more about the dedicated service for pregnant women, click here.

• Want to know more about how alcohol impacts your health? Check out Get Healthy at Work’s Alcohol and your Health factsheet. It includes tips on low-risk drinking, information for women pregnant or breastfeeding, advice for men, as well as a number of support and treatment services.
• NSW Health has produced a handy document with tips to reduce your alcohol consumption while working from home. There’s also a version for employers too.
• Check out this page on Your Room – a joint initiative by NSW Health and St Vincent’s Alcohol and Drug Information Service – which has information, advice, a risk assessment tool and helplines to support you.
• The Alcohol and Drug Foundation has a Coping with Coronavirus page that contains a range of helpful links with advice on a number of topics, from relapse and withdrawal, to resources and support services.
• The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) has created an online resource with tips, strategies and information on how to limit alcohol use, and groups you can turn to if you need support.

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