The Olympics: be inspired

Beijing 2008 is one of our most successful Olympic Games ever. And as the Olympic flag passes to London we can all take inspiration to get more active or even learn a new sport.

At the 2008 closing ceremony, on 24 August, the Mayor of Beijing will hand the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London. This ceremony marks the start of the four-year build-up to the next Games, and celebrations in Beijing will include a performance to promote London 2012, which will be screened in public places around the country, as well as a free concert in London and lots of local celebrations.

The handover party gives us the perfect excuse to think about our own health and how we can get more active and eat a healthy balanced diet! Try our top tips to combine fun physical activity with some healthy eating.

Partying in the park

If you're off to watch the handover party in your local park, consider taking a picnic. You can keep it fun with creative snacks – why not include foods representing different sports and get your friends to guess their Olympic connection? Cherry tomatoes make great shot puts, carrot batons for javelins and a breadstick pole vault! Serve them up with spicy tomato salsa and low-fat dips.

For dessert, try fruity javelins – use kebab skewers with fruit in the Olympic colours – strawberries for red, green grapes, yellow chunks of peach, blueberries and black grapes. Simply wash and dry the fruit, pierce on to skewers and store in your chill bag.

Mini-Olympics

You don't have to do things on an Olympic scale to get active and have some fun. Why don't you arrange a 'mini-Olympics' of your own? Test your balance in the slow bicycle race, get your heart pumping by competing in a good old sack race or go for gold in the egg and spoon race. And if you don’t have a spring in your step for the high jump – why don't you stoop to conquer the limbo competition?

During the handover party, there will be plenty of music to get up and dance to. Dancing is a great workout whatever your fitness level.

Whatever you choose to do, make it fun – it doesn't have to be Olympian standard yet!

Scoring goals

Four years might seem like a long wait until the Games arrive in London, but why don't you use this time to set goals for where you want to be in 2012? You might want to lose weight, get more active, improve your diet or learn to cook.

Thinking about where you want to be further in the future and making small changes in your lifestyle in the short-term can really help you reach your long-term goals – running a marathon might seem impossible this week – but with a 5k this year, 10k next year, a half marathon the year after, who knows where it could take you?

Whatever your aspirations, we hope the handover celebrations make you motivated to get active and eat a healthy diet.