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10 Tips to healthy eating and
physical activity for you.
- Start your day with breakfast.
Breakfast fills your "empty tank" to get
you going after a long night without food. And it
can help you do better in school. Easy to prepare
breakfasts include cold cereal with fruit and low-fat
milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt
with fruit, whole-grain waffles or even last night's
pizza!
- Get Moving!
It's easy to fit physical activities into your daily
routine. Walk, bike or jog to see friends. Take a
10-minute activity break every hour while you read,
do homework or watch TV. Climb stairs instead of taking
an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for
a total of 30 minutes every day.
- Snack smart.
Snacks are a great way to refuel. Choose snacks from
different food groups - a glass of low-fat milk and
a few graham crackers, an apple or celery sticks with
peanut butter and raisins, or some dry cereal. If
you eat smart at other meals, cookies, chips and candy
are OK for occasional snacking.
- Work up a sweat.
Vigorous work-outs - when you're breathing hard and
sweating - help your heart pump better, give you more
energy and help you look and feel best. Start with
a warm-up that stretches your muscles. Include 20
minutes of aerobic activity, such as running, jogging,
or dancing. Follow-up with activities that help make
you stronger such as push-ups or lifting weights.
Then cool-down with more stretching and deep breathing.
- Balance your food choices - don't eat too much
of any one thing.
You don't have to give up foods like hamburgers, french
fries and ice cream to eat healthy. You just have
to be smart about how often and how much of them you
eat. Your body needs nutrients like protein, carbohydrates,
fat and many different vitamins and minerals such
as vitamins C and A, iron and calcium from a variety
of foods. Balancing food choices from the Food Guide
Pyramid and checking out the Nutrition Facts Panel
on food labels will help you get all these nutrients.
- Get fit with friends or family.
Being active is much more fun with friends or family.
Encourage others to join you and plan one special
physical activity event, like a bike ride or hiking,
with a group each week.
- Eat more grains, fruits and vegetables.
These foods give you carbohydrates for energy, plus
vitamins, minerals and fiber. Besides, they taste
good! Try breads such as whole-wheat, bagels and pita.
Spaghetti and oatmeal are also in the grain group.
Bananas, strawberries and melons are some great tasting
fruits. Try vegetables raw, on a sandwich or salad.
- Join in physical activities at school.
Whether you take a physical education class or do
other physical activities at school, such as intramural
sports, structures activities are a sure way to feel
good, look good and stay physically fit.
- Foods aren't good or bad.
A healthy eating style is like a puzzle with many
parts. Each part -- or food -- is different. Some
foods may have more fat, sugar or salt while others
may have more vitamins or fiber. There is a place
for all these foods. What makes a diet good or bad
is how foods fit together. Balancing your choices
is important. Fit in a higher-fat food, like pepperoni
pizza, at dinner by choosing lower-fat foods at other
meals. And don't forget about moderation. If two pieces
of pizza fill you up, you don't need a third.
- Make healthy eating and physical activities fun!
Take advantage of physical activities you and your
friends enjoy doing together and eat the foods you
like. Be adventurous - try new sports, games and other
activities as well as new foods. You'll grow stronger,
play longer, and look and feel better! Set realistic
goals - don't try changing too much at once.
Food
Guide Pyramid
Food Guide Pyramid is a practical
tool to help you make food choices that are consistent
with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Using the
Pyramid enables you to eat a variety of foods daily
so that you can get the nutrients you need.
To make the most of the Pyramid, you
need to know what counts as a serving.
Food Group: Vegetable
Serving Size: 1 cup raw, leafy vegetables, 1/2
cup cooked or chopped raw vegetables or 3/4 cup vegetable
juice
Food Group:
Bread
Serving Size: 1
slice bread, 1/2 bagel or English muffin, 1 ounce ready-to-eat
cereal, 1/2 cup cooked cereal, rice or pasta, or 5-6
small crackers
Food Group:
Fruit
Serving Size: 1
medium piece of fruit, 1/2 cup mixed fruit or 3/4 cup
fruit juice
Food Group:
Milk
Serving Size: 1
cup milk or yogurt, 1-1/2 ounces natural cheese or 2
ounces process cheese
Food Group:
Meat
Serving Size: 2-3
ounces cooked lean meat, poultry or fish (about the
size of a deck of cards.) Other foods which count as
1 ounce meat; 1/2 cup cooked dry beans, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons
peanut butter or 1/2 cup nuts
The Kids Activity Pyramid
Each week you can have fun and be
active by trying the following things...
With Friends:
-Dance to music
-Play games like tag and hopscotch
-Join a sports team at school or the park
With Family:
-Go on a walk together
-Play at the park
-Turn off the TV for a day
By Yourself:
-Fly a kite
-Do cartwheels, somersaults, or jumping jacks
-Practice sports skills
What's Your Nutrition and Physical
Activity I.Q.?
Can you fill in the blanks to find
these secrets to healthy eating and physical activity?
- Eat from the five food groups every day. These include
a) ??, cereals and grains, b) fruits, c) vegetables,
d) milk, yogurt and cheese and e) ?? And proteins.
- Do moderate physical activities for ?? minutes daily.
- Eat ?? to get going in the morning.
- Vigorous activities make you ?? and breathe hard.
- Eat a ?? of foods every day.
- Take a 10 minute ?? break every hour while you read,
?? or do homework.
- Smart ?? are just what you need if you get hungry
between meals.
- Be sure to ?? your muscles before and after work-outs.
- Use the ?? Facts Panel and the Food ?? Pyramid to
help you balance food choices.
- Keep ?? to stay in shape.
Answers:
- a) breads e) meats
- 30
- Breakfast
- Sweat
- Variety
- Activity, watch tv
- Snacks
- Stretch
- Nutrition, Guide
- Moving
If you Want to Know More:
For additional information about food
and nutrition, or a reference to a registered dietitian
(R.D.) In your area, call the ADA's National Center
for Nutrition and Dietetics (NCND) Consumer Nutrition
Hot Line (800/366-1655).
For more information about improving
your physical activity level, write the President's
Council on Physical Fitness and Sport at the address
below.
The American Dietetic Association
National Center for Nutrition and Dietetics
216 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60606-6995
International Food Information Council
Foundation
1100 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Suite 430
Washington, DC 20036
President's Council on Physical Fitness
and Sports
HHH Building, Room 738 H
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20201
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