Healthy eating and wheelchair exercise

Wheelchair exercise and healthy eating

For lots of people wheelchair exercise and healthy eating can be daunting or they don’t know what they ‘should’ eat to be healthy.  In this blog series I’ll give you some simple hints and tips.

Tip 1: What to eat.

• Eat breakfast, it’s an easy meal to skip, but we can all take 5 minutes to eat! For a super simple breakfast try having some natural yoghurt with some fresh fruit.

Tip 2: How to cook.

• Use a slow cooker, so long as you can chop some veggies/meat you can make some great tasting food. Check out the recipe idea below.

Exercising

 Wheelchair users with manual chairs will do a lot of pushing motions which work the chest and shoulder muscles, this can mean that back muscles can become weaker.  Paralyzed Living shows some gym based wheelchair exercise that can help.

Many of the exercises in the video you could practice at home either using no weight or using a tin of tomatoes (or similar) instead of a dumbbell.  Make sure you listen to your body when performing any kind of exercise – it should not be painful.

Warning: Remember before you start or change your exercise program speak to your doctor.

If you’re thinking of trying something new, wheelchair dance is a great way to meet new people and get some wheelchair exercise at the same time!

Recipe

Slow cookers can be used to make some super simple and super tasty meals!!  Here is one of my favourites!

Slow Cooked Chicken

What you’ll need

• A slow cooker
• A tin opener
• A knife
• A tablespoon
• A plate
• 2 forks
• Measuring jug

Ingredients

(tbs=Tablespoon)

• 600g chicken (breast is easiest)
• 1 tin tomatoes
• 1 tin Kidney beans
• 1 red onion chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 tbs of smoked paprika
• 1-2 tbs mixed herbs
• 1tbs ground cumin
• 300ml water
• 1 chicken stock cube
• Salt and pepper

How to make it

Step 1: Turn on the slow cooker, on High.

Step 2: Chop the onion (use a grater if you struggle to chop an onion) and garlic.  Measure out the water.

Step 3: Put all the ingredients (add the chicken breasts whole) in to the slow cooker and put the lid on – when adding the herbs and paprika start with 1 tbs and add more half way through cooking if desired.

Step 4: Cook for 2 hours (adjust seasoning and paprika/herbs after an hour)

Step 5: Take chicken breasts out and place on a large chopping board or plate and shred the chicken with two forks (should look a bit like pulled pork)

Step 6: Put the chicken back in the casserole dish and stir well – you can continue to cook on low heat to further develop flavour or serve it up.

Step 7: If you are preparing ahead divide into portions, allow to cool and place in containers for fridge or freezer.