Fitness

Physical activity is key to maintaining muscles, strong bones, and a healthy weight. It is also an important factor in cardiovascular health and disease prevention. Regular exercise can also help reduce stress, alleviate menstrual symptoms, and boost feelings of happiness and confidence.

Both strength training and cardio activity are important in physical activity. Strength training – such as weight lifting, Pilates, and resistance band training -promotes strong muscles and bones, it burns fat, and helps increase balance and stability. Cardio activity – such as walking, running, cycling, hiking, and sports – burn fat and calories, and increase lung capacity, and overall cardiovascular health.

For students and staff with busy schedules, it can be hard to find time to exercise. But just two or three 10-minute bursts of daily activity can provide you with benefits. Check out the list of exercise ideas below to help you get started.

• Go for a brisk walk each day. Swap your streetcar ride to school with a walk.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• If you drive, park further away from your destination so you get more walking time in.
• Do three sets of 20 jumping jacks, three times a day.
• Jump rope either outside, or in a basement.
• Go for a bike ride.
• Join an intermural sports team; visit the RAC for a list of teams.
• Grab a friend and visit a park; toss a Frisbee, football, play tennis, or shoot hoops.
• Pick up a few inexpensive fitness DVDs.

Resources:

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/physactiv/index-eng.php

Nutrition

Maintaining a healthy diet is an important part of overall well-being. The right foods give us energy to get through each school or work day. When we eat nutritious foods, we are feeding our bones, muscles, skin, eyes, hair, and more. We’re helping our immune system to be effective, as well as helping to protect against future disease. For students, a healthy diet can help us stay alert, retain information, avoid low energy levels, and be more effective when it comes to taking notes, studying, and writing exams.

A healthy diet is a balanced one, rich in nutrition-dense food and low in processed foods high in unhealthy amounts of fat and sugar. Health Canada has provided guidelines to healthy eating, with Canada’s food guide. You can download a free copy of the food guide here. (insert hyperlink - http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/order-commander/index-eng.php#1)

Ryerson’s Health Promotion department is happy to provide interested students and faculty members with resources for how to create and maintain a nutritious diet, how to shop for healthy foods on a tight budget, and where nutritious meals can be found around campus.

Resources:

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/index-eng.php
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/order-commander/index-eng.php#1

Brochures

Snack Attack Brochure Snack Time... You’re hungry. Your stomach is grumbling. You reach for a snack. Your body needs extra energy and nutrients from food. Now, read on for some tips to help your snacking to be top! Download our brochure for more information

Snack Happy Brochure

How To Snack Happy!

Snacks are a great way to keep your energy level up and your mind alert!
What to look for in a snack:
• Contain at least two food groups
• Watch foods with high calories, sodium, sugar,
transfat and saturated fat!
• Try to emphasize fruits and vegetables, whole
grains and/or protein-rich snacks

Download our helpful brochure for more great information

Eating Disorders

Disordered eating occurs for many reasons. There is terrific pressure in society to achieve certain body types . This pressure is also fueled by the media and how it portrays men and women.
For some, disordered eating can mean eating a lot, while for others it means eating little to nothing. It can also mean a combination of the two. In general, eating becomes disordered
when it becomes a major preoccupation
or obsession in someone’s life or is causing distress or harm to the individual.
Two major eating disorders include
Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa; however, disordered eating does not have to fall under these categories to be harmful.
Yoyo dieting, constant thinking about weight and shape, feeling guilty about eating and weighting one’s self more than once a day are signs that body image and eating is disordered.

Download our brochure for more information of eating disorders