The Eatwell Guide is an NHS resource which shows how much of what we eat should come from each food group to achieve a healthy, balanced diet. You do not need to achieve this balance with every meal, but try to get the balance right over a day or even a week.

 

• Visit the website for some more general tips on eating a healthy, balanced diet. This is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help you feel your best. This means eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportions, and consuming the right amount of food and drink to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
• Find out more about your 5 a day and drinking plenty of fluids.

The BDA have created Food Fact Sheets, written by dieticians, to help you learn the best ways to eat and drink to keep your body fit and healthy. There are many to choose from depending on what you’re interested in.

 

• There is a Food Fact Sheet dedicated to the most common arthritic condition, osteoarthritis. The guidance here focuses on the role diet has in managing symptoms of osteoarthritis.

Although there are no diets or dietary supplements that will cure your arthritis, some people do find that their symptoms improve as a result of changing what they eat. But because people are all different and there are many different types of arthritis, what works for one person and one type of arthritis may not work for another. Research has discovered several links between arthritis and diet, so it’s worth thinking about what you eat.

 

• Read the guidance on the Versus Arthritis website.

The Arthritis Foundation shares healthy eating tips for people living with Arthritis. They highlight the 12 best foods for fighting inflammation and boosting your immune system to ease the condition.

Healthline shares information covering all facets of physical and mental health.

 

• In these pages they look specifically at the link between diet and Osteoarthritis.

Talking therapies, or psychological therapies, are effective and confidential treatments delivered by fully trained and accredited NHS practitioners. They can help with common mental health problems like stress, anxiety and depression.

 

• You can access Talking Therapies on the NHS.

NHS Every Mind Matters recognises having good mental health helps us relax more, achieve more and enjoy our lives more. Every Mind Matters has expert advice and practical tips to help you look after your mental health and wellbeing.

Useful resources for if you’re feeling stressed, anxious or depressed, or just want to feel happier.

 

• The website also has separate information on where to get urgent help for mental health.

• Have a range of useful resources for looking after your mental health.

Mind has produced some really practical guidance on staying mentally well.

 

• Their information hub provides advice on how to support your mental wellbeing.

Many people living with a long-term health condition also experience mental health difficulties, such as stress or anxiety.

 

• To enable people to find the help and support they need Arthritis Action have created a mental health directory, showing mental health organisations by county. Many of the NHS IAPT teams across the UK are listed as well as local Mind hubs and an array of other charitable organisations and services offering help and support to people experiencing mental health difficulties.

Rethink Mental Illness aims to improve the lives of people severely affected by mental illness through a network of local groups and services, expert information and successful campaigning.

Headspace is a guide to everyday mindfulness, in just a few minutes a day. Choose from hundreds of guided meditations on everything from managing stress and anxiety to sleep, productivity, exercise, and physical health — including short SOS meditations for when you’re on the go.

Calm is an app for Sleep, Meditation and Relaxation. It is a great mindfulness app for beginners, but also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced users. Guided meditation sessions are available in lengths of 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 minutes so you can choose the perfect length to fit with your schedule.

The Mindfulness App helps you to train and practise Mindfulness wherever you are. The app offers you the 16 most used guided Mindfulness Meditations (400 minutes of audio).

Stop, Breathe and Think is a meditation and mindfulness app that helps you find peace anywhere. It allows you to check in with your emotions, and recommends short guided meditations, yoga and acupressure videos, tuned to how you feel.

Breathworks are a registered charity who are passionate about helping people living with pain, illness and stress to re-claim their lives. They do this through mindfulness and compassion training including courses, products and teacher training.

• ESCAPE-pain Facebook page 

 

• ESCAPE-pain East of England Facebook page

 

• Health Unlocked: Arthritis Action

Health Unlocked: Arthritis Action is a large social network for health, with 1 million members across the globe, and growing. They connect people with the same health conditions, where they can share experiences and get answers to questions about their chronic conditions and wellbeing needs – empowering people with knowledge for enhanced self-care. This link is to their Arthritis Action page which has over 5,000 members.

• Versus Arthritis Online Community

Versus Arthritis is an online community for people living with arthritis and people caring and supporting those living with arthritis to share experiences and ask questions. A safe space for people living with arthritis to access and give support.