BNF Healthy Eating Week The challenges!

What are the challenges?

Have a different healthy breakfast every day for a week! Have breakfast What is the challenge? Have a healthy breakfast every day – go for wholegrain or higher fibre foods, include a drink and at least one of your 5 A DAY! Why? Breakfast helps get the day off to a good start by providing some of the energy and nutrients we need to be healthy. Having breakfast may help you do better at school! Super challenge! Have a different healthy breakfast every day for a week!

What makes a healthy breakfast? Choose wholegrain or higher fibre foods, e.g. wholemeal bread, wholegrain breakfast cereals Have at least one of your 5 A DAY (e.g. chopped banana). Always include a drink. Water and lower fat milk are good choices. You could include dairy foods as they help to keep bones and teeth healthy. You could include a source of protein (e.g. eggs).

Have 5 A DAY What is the challenge? Have at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day – choose a variety! Why? Fruit and vegetables provide vitamins and minerals which help us stay healthy. They contain fibre which helps keep our digestive system healthy. Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables can help reduce the risk of developing health problems in the future. Super challenge! Aim to have at least 25 different fruit and vegetables during the Week!

What counts? Fresh, frozen, canned, dried and juiced types of fruit and vegetables all count! A portion of fruit and vegetables is roughly what fits into the palm of your hand. Dried fruit (e.g. raisins) and beans or pulses (e.g. kidney beans) only count once each day. (Eat dried fruit at mealtimes, rather then as a snack, to reduce the impact on teeth.) You can have one 150ml glass of unsweetened juice or smoothie each day.

Over the Week, try three different drinks you have not tried before. Drink plenty What is the challenge? Have at least 6-8 unsweetened drinks every day – water is a great choice! Why do we need to drink plenty? The body is about 60% water and this is needed for many roles in the body. One role is to control our temperature. We lose water when we sweat, breathe and use the toilet, so it is important we drink plenty. If we do not drink enough, we can become dehydrated. This can cause headaches, tiredness and make it harder to concentrate. Super challenge! Over the Week, try three different drinks you have not tried before.

What counts? Water, lower fat milks and unsweetened fruit juices or smoothies are all healthier choices. Fruit juice and/or smoothies should be limited to a combined total of 150ml per day. We should have at least 6-8 drinks each day. When it is hot or if we are active, we will need to drink more.

Do 60 minutes of a different activity on each day of the Week. Get active What is the challenge? Get active for at least 60 minutes every day – move more! Why? Being active helps keep your heart healthy and strengths muscles and bones. Being active can help you to stay a healthy weight. Taking part in different physical activities can help us make new friends and learn how to be part of a team. Being active can help us relax and stay happy! Super challenge! Do 60 minutes of a different activity on each day of the Week.

What counts? Any activity which makes you: feel warmer; breathe harder; makes your heart beat faster. As well as being active, we need to move more!

Make a change What is the challenge? Make a change – set a goal to make a positive lifestyle change that lasts! Why do we need to make healthy changes? To help us stay healthy. To form healthy habits.

Challenge tracker Use the tracker to monitor your progress with the challenges. You could: use one tracker per challenge; divide your tracker with horizontal lines so you have one row per challenge.

Will you be awarded a certificate?

The BNF Healthy Eating Week 2018 challenges: Good luck!