Healthy Living

What we eat and drink affects our mood, energy levels and shape, but, most importantly, it can have a big impact on our heart’s health.

Eat more fruit and veg!

A third of the food you eat each day should be fruit and vegetables.

The more colours you include on your plate, the more different vitamins, minerals, fibre and water you have – and it tastes great!

What about fat?

You need a little fat in your diet, but not too much or you can put on weight and your arteries could become furred up.

There are good fats and bad fats. Good fats come from fish like mackerel and salmon and are found in olive and vegetable oil and nuts.

Bad fats are found in the visible fat on meat, in processed meats like sausages, in many ready meals and takeaways, especially fried foods.

But sausages are my favourite!

Well, once in a while they won’t do you any harm.

But there are ways to enjoy these treats in a way that won’t slow you down.

Sausages and chips can be cooked in the oven and meat can have the fat cut off and be grilled instead of fried in oil.

Exercise is important

Your heart is a muscle. Like the strongman at the circus, the more you work your muscles the stronger they get!

Plus, there are all sorts of other benefits for your heart like redistribution and burning of fat!

You should try and get an hour of exercise every single day.

You don’t need to be lifting weights or going mad running marathons, just doing anything that makes you feel warm and out of breath.

Try dancing, football, scootering, skateboarding or even gardening!

Whatever it is you like doing, if it means you are moving, then it is good for your heart.

How else can I squeeze exercise into my day?

You can make small changes too, like using the stairs instead of the lift.

Walk to the park – don’t wait for mum or dad to give you a lift.

Any chance you get, make your heart beat a little bit faster because the more exercise you get, the stronger your heart will be so that it can pump the oxygen and nutrients around your body.

They’ll be finding out all about the cool stuff that goes on inside your heart and how it manages to pump blood around your body all the time – even when you’re asleep!