Last week, you learned about your heart: how it works and how important it is. Wali and the students have been learning ways to keep our hearts healthy and beating strong!
When you run and play with your friends, your heart beats extra fast, pumping lots of blood to the rest of your body. This is cardiovascular exercise (cardio), kind of like taking your heart to the gym.
Cardio makes your heart pump, stretch and become stronger! About 30 minutes of cardio a day is one of the best things we can all do; more than 30 minutes is even better. Cardio exercise is anything that gets you up and moving. It could be chasing your friends, walking your dog, doing sports or playing on a beach!
Another way to help your heart be the best it can be is to give it safe food supplies. Energy comes from the foods and drinks we have every day. Some foods give quick energy, but don’t last as long. Others give us less energy but last all day.
Quick energy foods usually have lots of sugar. We all love chocolate and candy (especially at parties) but if we eat it every day, our heart and other muscles do not get the best energy and will not work so well.
That is why it is important to eat balanced, with lots of slow energy foods like fruits and vegetables. Plus, slow foods have lots of vitamins to help all our cells work well.
Too much sugar is really bad for our teeth, can make us excited and stop us from sleeping. Being aware of what we put in our body is really important! Eating healthy can be fun. There are lots of colours in fruits and vegetables and so many cool ways to put things together.
My treat is “Ants on a Log”. It is celery with peanut butter with some raisins or chocolate chips on top! My mother, Momma Emma, used to make it for me and I used to pretend they were real ants!
See you guys next week when Wali and the students learn about something new!
Authors: Rachel Leib, Dr Colin Michie and the AUC Kids Herald Group with Wali.
Photo credit: Blissfully Domestic.
