merrion street

Minister of State for Health Promotion Marcella Corcoran Kennedy today encouraged people making healthy ‘new year’ lifestyle changes to use the information and advice available from trusted sources to support them with healthier eating or with getting more active.

“There is an extra focus on healthy living at this time of year, with Operation Transformation back on our TV screens this week, and people making new year’s resolutions to improve their health and wellbeing. I would encourage anyone thinking of making a change to use the resources available under Healthy Ireland at www.healthyireland.ie and from trusted sources such as the HSE at www.healthpromotion.ie, www.quit.ie, www.getirelandactive.ie and other partners such as safefood at www.safefood.eu to get the information and advice that can help them through the challenges. The Healthy Ireland Survey shows us that 92% of people would like to make a change to improve their health and wellbeing, such as being more physically active, eating more healthily, quitting smoking or sleeping better so I believe it’s really important that we support and empower people to make those changes.”

“With 60% of the adult population now overweight or obese, it is important that people are helped to make changes that will help them lose weight, improve their wellbeing and reduce their risk of ill health. Last December I launched new Healthy Eating Guidelines and Food Pyramid and a range of support materials are now available to download at www.healthyireland.ie/heg to help people choose Healthy Food for Life by eating more fruit and vegetables, watching their portion sizes and limiting foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt and sugar. Under the National Physical Activity Plan, in partnership with the sport sector, we are developing supports to make it easier for people to find activities that suit them in their local areas and the www.getirelandactive.ie website has lots of helpful advice for anybody who would like to be more active. For people who would like to get outdoors more, they should visit www.trails.ie, the resource from Sport Ireland showcasing many wonderful walking trails around Ireland.”

“All of these resources for healthy eating and active living, along with www.quit.ie for smoking cessation, www.yourmentalhealth.ie for mental wellbeing and www.drugs.ie for drugs and alcohol information and support, provide a lot of helpful and factual information which people can trust, as well as advice about what services or facilities are available around the country to make it easier for people to get support locally. Making changes to our lifestyle isn’t easy and it’s important that people know there is help and advice available they can trust. I will continue to work with the HSE and other partners under Healthy Ireland to make more resources available which are user-friendly, accessible and helpful to people trying to improve their health and wellbeing”.