Diet

Your diet and the foods you can eat isn't impacted by your HIV but guidance around eating a healthy and balanced diet is important and may help you to stay well. 

One aspects of having HIV that you should be aware of in regards to diet is when you take your medication and eat, many HIV drugs aren't impacted by this but some are and need to either be taken with or separate from food to be effective. This can have an impact on when you are able to eat and flexibility around food which can be difficult for some people. You can talk to your team if you are finding this hard. It can be helpful to know that if you do need to take your medication with food it doesn't always have to be a meal. A snack may be sufficient. Your team or dietician can help you think about what might work for you. 

As each medicine is different it is important to know the dietary requirements for the medication you are on. Your team will talk to you about this but you can also find out information here. 

Exercise 

Alongside diet it can be helpful to think about exercise. There are many ways that exercise can help support your health both physically and mentally and it is important where possible to try and make something you do every week. Most of the benefits such as heart and lung health, increased bone and muscle health and flexibility are relevant to everyone however there are some specific ways exercise can have a positive impact if you have HIV.

HIV can sometimes cause increased fat and sugar levels in the body and exercise  can help manage this alongside increasing the levels of HDL, which is sometimes known as the good cholesterol. Finding a type of exercise you enjoy is important and so it can be good to try different types. This might be running and muscle strengthening exercises but could also be swimming or team sports.   

You can read lots more about exercising with HIV including good tips to help keep going here.