Some quick health tips...
Your Teeth
Always remember to brush your teeth twice a day.
This way you'll get healthy gums, sparkling teeth and fresh breath.
Brushing your teeth twice a day helps prevent gum disease, gum disease can lead to serious health problems later in life.
According to dentists, fluoride helps to keep your teeth nice and strong, so make sure you have fluoride in your tooth paste.
When brushing, make sure you don't press down too hard on your teeth, this may cause bleeding to your gums and does not mean your teeth are any cleaner! On the other hand though, try to keep a nice pressure on your teeth and gums and try rotating the brush in a circular motion on each tooth for around 10 seconds.
If you find this difficult, why not ask for a electrical tooth brush as a Birthday or Christmas present, a lot of these have brilliant built in features such as strangely shaped brushes which reach areas your normal tooth brush can't, some even tell you if you're pressing down too hard or if you need a new head for your brush.
Don't just brush the tooth, brush the gums and your tongue too. This will help prevent bad breath and also get rid of those disgusting smelly germs which have built up on your tongue during the day or night.
Try not to drink juice before brushing your teeth in the morning, drinking orange juice and then brushing your teeth is not particularly good for them, even though it is much more tempting that brushing your teeth and having the horrible mixture of mint toothpaste and acidic orange juice! Eurgh!
Your Diet
Always eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg (even if you don't like them!)
It's really easy to get 5 portions of fruit and vegetables into your diet. There may be a number of vegetables or fruits that you don't like, but there may be some that you have never tried that you may love!
If you normally have cereal for your breakfast, try adding a handful of raspberries, blueberries or strawberries to the bowl. Add all three and you not only have contributed to your 5 a day but you won't be hungry for hours after!
Strawberries and blueberries have high levels of vitamin C, as well has containing antioxidants which fight against the free radicals you may breathe in on a daily basis. Free radicals damage cells within the body, so eating strawberries can help fight off these horrible free radicals!
If you have porridge, raisins and sultanas taste amazing in a warm bowl of porridge, as do blueberries.
Most importantly, never skip a good breakfast, you need the energy for the rest of the day and it helps you to concentrate better in class!
Try adding some salad to your sandwich, a bit of lettuce, cucumber and tomato adds colour and taste to a boring cheese sandwich, since lettuce is made up of mainly water, it also goes towards your daily water intake.
If you don't like the taste of lettuce, then spinach leaves are a good alternative, they are full of flavour and vitamins such as vitamin A and C, and spinach contains fiber, (good for your digestive system). Spinach helps protect against heart disease, try it, you may like it!
For a tasty snack, take a small container of cherry tomatoes, they're really juicy and tasty and they're full of brilliant vitamins which help to fight cancer and make your skin glow.
If you're not too into tomatoes, try a small container of raisin or sultanas, just a small amount of this fruit is 1 of your 5 a day, and they taste as sugary as sweets!
Yogurt has always been a lunchbox favourite, good yogurts are full of calcium and come in all sorts of tasty flavours. A lot of yogurts these days have added ingredients which are great for your digestive system, so they stop you from getting tummy aches and help to digest your food to really get the best out of the cheese salad sandwich you just ate!
Adding a glass of pure juice to your daily diet and this can be yet another of your fruit portions for that day. There are so many different flavours of juice from orange to pomegranate (brilliant for your skin). Keep an eye out when you go shopping with your parents/supervisor.
Try to have a glass of milk every day, whether it's a cold glass before or during school or a warm mug of milk before you go to sleep at night, you'll do your bones and teeth a lot of good by looking after them, they need their calcium!
If you look after your health in school, it's always great to come back to home cooking where you'll get just the right amount of great, yummy food from your parents/supervisors too. They know just what you need to help your body grow and keep you full of energy to annoy them with!
So, open your mind to new possibilities and enjoy your new found healthy food!
See some of our ideas for yummy lunchboxes here...
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