My title might be curious to some people, but the dreaded “D” word in this case is indeed Diet! I can sense readers thinking not another blog posts about diets, there is thousands, I agree. But for a disabled person keeping a healthy weight, particularly for people in a wheelchair can be extremely difficult. From my own experiences I can eat unhealthy for two days and feel like I’m already putting weight on. Nightmare! Being disabled can mean you are less active due to having to ‘sit on your arse all day’ as everyone knows the less active you are the slower it takes to burn calories. It’s not rocket science to see the common sense but never the less that sense leaves me when chocolate appears.

Disabled people can and do have physio but not every session is about fat burning. It is more about keeping the muscles as exersized as possible and in some cases the purpose is to teach you how to walk for the first time or to walk again. Some disabled people are very active but you need the resources and sometimes financial support in order to take part in physical therapy or activities, and not every disabled person has this. Being disabled can be very expensive (I’ll go more in detail about this in future posts). Having a disability means that you automatically have to be more health conscious not just to do with weight but the health conditions that we face as individuals, as well as being disabled. For example, asthma, which I am sure added weight as well as little exercise can have a profound effect. I used to love swimming as it gave me full body workout and gave me the ability to “float” weightlessly which was amazing. However some leisure centres have made it hard for me as a disabled person to access the swimming pool because of thier not so disabled pool chairs! Although, don’t let this be a deterrent, there will be plenty of swimming pools across the country and  the world with fabulous resources, I would highly recommend, if possible to give it a go. It’s extremely beneficial. Hydrotherapy is a type of swimming which is very good for disabled people but once again, it does come at a cost. Dieting and keeping healthy can be extremely hard and feel sometimes impossible when you are disabled but keep in mind as long as you eat a good balanced diet you will be feel the benefits. Most importantly love yourself no matter your weight or appearance!