Better Health: Rewards

The Better Health: Rewards food challenges have been helping you to gradually improve your diet in line with the recommendations in the Eatwell Guide. 

The Eatwell Guide shows how much of each food group you should be typically eating to achieve a healthy, balanced diet, which maintains good health and can help you to feel your best.  

• Keep using the Eatwell guide to improve your diet:
  • Try to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. 
  • Drink plenty of fluids (at least six to eight glasses a day).
  • Base your meals on higher fibre starchy foods, like potatoes, wholegrain bread, rice and pasta. 
  • If you typically eat foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar, gradually try to have these less often and in smaller amounts. Look out for the lower fat, salt or sugar options in supermarkets for easy swaps. 
  • Try to reduce your intake of foods high in saturated fats, such as butter, ghee, cakes, biscuits, sausages and bacon. High levels of dietary saturated fat can raise your cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. 
     
• The NHS Live Well website also has further advice about healthy living, including tips to eating a balanced diet, doing more exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and more. 
   
• Better Health has lots of free tools to support you and your family with your health, including more recipe ideas and tips. Check out the Better Health website and Better Health: Healthier Families.
   

The Better Health: Rewards fitness challenges have been helping you to gradually increase your number of daily steps and daily physical activity minutes.

Improving the amount of exercise you do can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer. It can also boost your self-esteem, mood, sleep quality and energy levels, so it is a win-win. 

To stay healthy, the UK Chief Medical Officer recommends being active every day, walking as much as you can, and doing 150 minutes of physical activity over the week. And remember, no matter how much you do, physical activity is good for your body and mind. Some is good – more is better still! 

Here are our top tips: 

• Keep Walking: 
  • Walking is simple, free and one of the easiest ways to get more active and become healthier.  
  • Instead of using the car to get around, why not try walking to the shops, to work or to school?
  • Joining a walking group can be a great way to meet new people whilst increasing your steps. Check out Ramblers Wellbeing Walks Wolverhampton. Ramblers walks are local, they are free and they are friendly.
     
• Keep Moving: 
  • To help you build your activity routine, Better Health has pulled together some tools, tips and offers.  You could also read the NHS’s advice on strength exercises and aerobic exercises. 
  • Enjoyed using an app to move more? Why not try other free Better Health apps available from your app store, such as ‘Couch to 5k’ or ‘Active 10’?  
  • Couch to 5k is an evidence-backed programme that has helped millions of people in the UK to start running. Choose your trainer and start a fun nine-week course to running more. 
  • Active 10 records every minute of walking you do and helps you track your steps, set goals, track achievements and gives you tips to boost your activity. 
     
• Make it fun by trying new ways to get active: 
  • Home workouts can be great way to get active, especially if you are short on time. 
    • The NHS Fitness Studio has 23 free instructor-led online videos covering aerobics, strength and pilates. Better Health also has some great free online classes too. 
  • Parkrun - Looking for a free, fun way to keep up your steps or activity minutes? Why not take part in one of the friendly Wolverhampton 5km Parkruns that take place every Saturday morning at either East Park or West Park. You can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate – it’s up to you how you get involved.
  • Black Country Moving - Interested in trying out new sports clubs and facilities throughout the Black Country? Try the Active Black Country tool.
  • Head to the WVactive website to find more information about our leisure centres across Wolverhampton, including centres with gyms, sports facilities and swimming pools. 
  • Visit the Fit for a Fiver to see if you are eligible to receive discounted swimming vouchers. 

Better Health: Rewards in an app helping you to eat healthier and move more! There are thousands of rewards available to be unlocked in the app, including supermarket vouchers, cinema tickets, gym passes and many more.

Each week you choose up to two health goals you want to focus on, like doing 10 minutes of extra physical activity or eating more fruit and vegetables. Whatever goal you choose, the app will provide handy tips and recipe ideas along the way to help.

There are thousands of rewards up for grabs in the Better Health: Rewards app, including:

• ALDI, ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsburys & Tesco supermarket vouchers.
• Pure gym, Places gym, Nuffield, WV Active & Complexions gym passes.
• Gift cards for well-known retailers, including Argos, TKMAXX, the Wolves FC store and many more.
• Activities, such as cinema tickets and family days out.

Everyone could earn at least £40 of rewards by taking part in the app. Rewards are unlocked by taking easy actions in the app.

What research is the Better Health: Rewards app used for?

Better Health: Rewards is a research trial that has been funded as part of the Department of Health and Social Care's mission to encourage healthy behaviours and reduce health disparities.

The research will find out if giving people financial rewards is an effective way to support them to eat better and move more. It will also help researchers to understand what the best value of financial incentive is to support people in their physical activity and diet.

Why Wolverhampton?

The Better Health: Rewards app is being trialled in one local area. Wolverhampton was selected as the trial location as the City of Wolverhampton are leading the way to trial innovative solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of their population.