From Our Student Leaders

HEALTH SEASON

By Aidan Droney, Yahia Nasr, and Zaahid Mansoor

Hello fellow students, this is the student leadership team! We hope you’re having a great school year. Your well-being is important so you can do your personal best in school and life. We want to help our community through the student leadership team’s Health Season!!!

In Health Season you will get to improve your health and help yourself do the best you can. Health Season lasts from Oct.12 to November. We will have mental health, physical health, good sleep health, healthy nutrition, all in four weeks.

Next week will be Healthy Nutrition, so stay healthy, and try to stay in the Green Zone! We hope that you have benefitted from this article, and will join us in the partaking of this great program!

HEALTHY NUTRITION

By Zaahid Mansoor and Yahia Nasr

Eating healthy is crucial so your body gets the vitamins and minerals it needs to survive. To keep your body ship-shape, there must be some variety.

First, fruits and veggies. Fruits and veggies have a huge variety of minerals and vitamins. Examples that supply Vitamin A is:

• Apricots

• Asparagus

• Yellow squash

• Beets and turnips

• Broccoli

• Carrots

• Cantaloupe

And for Vitamin B:

• Corn

• Potatoes

• Bananas

• Peas

• Cabbage

• Spinach

And Vitamin C:

• Oranges

• Lemons

• Grapefruits

• Guavas

• Pineapples

• Strawberries

• Kiwi

And other minerals which fruits and vegetables supply:

• Bananas (potassium)

• Chickpeas and other beans(zinc)

• Leafy greens (iron)

I know what you’re thinking. “But, can’t I just take the pills and chewables that come in a bottle?” Well, those don’t supply enough of the good stuff, the stuff you need to keep your body working. Vitamin A promotes good eyesight and skin, Vitamin B energizes you and boosts your digestive system, and Vitamin C encourages a healthy immune system. Make sure to find products in your meals that have lots of vitamins, like bananas and broccoli!

Second, in that variety of foods, you must have some protein such as fish, meat, and eggs. Protein gives you energy and helps your body grow. Protein also provides 10 to 35 percent of the calories your body needs. Another reason protein is important for your body is that protein helps your mental health and is good for your brain. A high protein diet will aid in fat loss, muscle improvement and keeps you full for long periods. The average human needs 40 to 50 grams of protein a day but watch yourself, for too much protein will cause discomfort and indigestion.

Lastly, you need whole-grain foods. Whole grains are rich in carbohydrates and other key vitamins. Make sure to include pasta, bread, and rice. They benefit vitamins but don’t ever eat too much because then you might bloat a lot and believe me I’ve been there, but that’s another story.

One more thing is that you need a goal for your meal. Such as “I want to eat more protein and eat less whole-grain foods” or “I’ve been eating too many fruits and veggies and I want to eat more whole-grain foods” if you don’t have a goal and try to improve your eating it might cause you to become worse with your diet. But if you write it down and keep persevering, you might just get your diet perfect.

Now here are some tips from our school nurse. Mrs.Burrow

There's a lot of talk these days about fit kids. People who care (parents, doctors, teachers, and others) want to know how to help kids be more fit.

Being fit is a way of saying a person eats well, gets a lot of physical activity (exercise), and has a healthy weight. If you're fit, your body works well, feels good, and can do all the things you want to do, like run around with your friends.

Some parts of this are up to parents — such as serving healthy meals or deciding to take the family on a nature hike. But kids can take charge too when it comes to their health.

Here are five rules to live by, if you're a kid who wants to be fit. The trick is to follow these rules most of the time, knowing that some days (like your birthday) might call for cake and ice cream.

1. Eat a Variety of Foods

You may have a favorite food, but the best choice is to eat a variety. If you eat different foods, you're more likely to get the nutrients your body needs. Taste new foods and old ones you haven't tried for a while. Some foods, such as green veggies, may taste better the older you get. Shoot for at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day — two fruits and three vegetables.

Here's one combination that might work for you:

at breakfast: ½ cup (about 4 large) strawberries on your cereal

with lunch: 6 baby carrots

for a snack: an apple

with dinner: ½ cup broccoli (about 2 big spears) and 1 cup of salad

2. Drink Water & Milk

When you're really thirsty, cold water is the best thirst-quencher. And there's a reason your school cafeteria offers cartons of milk. Kids need calcium to build strong bones, and milk is a great source of this mineral. How much do kids need? If you are 4 to 8 years old, drink 2½ cups of milk a day, or its equivalent. If you're 9 or older, aim for 3 cups of milk per day, or its equivalent. You can mix it up by having milk and some other calcium-rich dairy foods. Here's one combination:

2 cups (about half a liter) of low-fat or nonfat milk

1 slice cheddar cheese

½ cup (small container) of yogurt

If you want something other than milk or water once in a while, it's OK to have 100% juice. But try to limit juice to no more than 1 serving (6 to 8 ounces) a day. Avoid sugary drinks, like sodas, juice cocktails, and fruit punches. They contain a lot of added sugar. Sugar just adds calories, not important nutrients.

3. Listen to Your Body

What does it feel like to be full? When you're eating, notice how your body feels and when your stomach feels comfortably full. Sometimes, people eat too much because they don't notice when they need to stop eating. Eating too much can make you feel uncomfortable and can lead to unhealthy weight gain.

4. Limit Screen Time

What's screen time? It's the amount of time you spend watching TV or DVDs, playing video games (console systems or handheld games), and using a smart phone, tablet, or computer. The more time you spend on these sitting-down activities, the less time you have for active stuff, like basketball, bike riding, and swimming. Try to spend no more than 2 hours a day on screen time, not counting computer use related to school and educational activities.

5. Be Active

One job you have as a kid — and it's a fun one — is that you get to figure out which activities you like best. Not everyone loves baseball or soccer. Maybe your passion is karate, or kickball, or dancing. Ask your parents to help you do your favorite activities regularly. Find ways to be active every day. You might even write down a list of fun stuff to do, so you can use it when your mom or dad says it's time to stop watching TV or playing computer games!

Speaking of parents, they can be a big help if you want to be a fit kid. For instance, they can stock the house with healthy foods and plan physical activities for the family. Tell your parents about these five steps you want to take and maybe you can teach them a thing or two. If you're a fit kid, why shouldn't you have a fit mom and a fit dad?

These were some great tips weren’t they?

I hope you learned something, next week will be physical health week, thank you Mrs.Burrow for some great tips, have a great school year and stay healthy!