Staying Active

Having regular exercise is important for your overall fitness and cardiovascular health (heart, lungs, blood vessels and blood), as well as for your bone and muscle development. Try to be active every day and build up the amount you do. For example, a fast pace walk could be part of your daily routine. Try to walk at a good pace. You do not need to join a gym or be sporty to be active. Being active is a necessary way to use up extra calories, and maintain a steady weight. You could:
. Walk or cycling to school - maybe ask to be dropped off a mile or so away
. Kick a football around in an open space
. Go for a walk along Wenlock Edge, with your or someone else's dog
. Play rounders at lunchtime
. Go for a bike ride

. Play with a Frisbee at lunchtime
. Jog
. Clean the car (maybe for money)
. Walk to the shops
. Join a lunchtime club at school
. Go skateboarding or roller blading
. Do a short exercise routine, maybe using equipment (like a rowing machine)
. Help with the house work or in the garden.
. Skip with a rope
. Dance to music or with a dance mat
. Swim at the Leisure Centre
. Play some sport: badminton, basketball, netball, tennis. Join a club.

Maintaining a healthy weight

Being overweight is caused by two obvious factors - an unhealthy diet, usually with too much sugar and fats and not doing enough exercise to burn off the calories you take in during the day. You need to eat a balanced, possibly high carbohydrate, diet and be reasonably active for some time during a day, even if only dancing around in your bedroom.

The effects of being overweight
You might feel drowsy and not able to pay attention. If it becomes more serious you might have problems with your joints and bones and you could develop high blood pressure, with too high levels of blood fats and become diabetic. There are also effects in the way that you feel about yourself when you look in a mirror and this can lead to low self-esteem and you might feel depressed about the way you look - with no easy way to change things.

Who is affected?
More and more children in the UK seem to be becoming obese - it's been described as a modern trend. Between a quarter and a third of children are now overweight and research says that the main problem is a considerable decrease in the amount of exercise that young people take. You need to have exercise to stay and feel healthy. Sometimes family lifestyles are unhelpful - if no-one else goes out then you are unlikely to.

How do I tell that I am overweight?
Your body mass index (BMI) is calculated using the rule: weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres squared. If you know your height and weight you can find out by using the BBC BMI calculator at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living/your_weight/bmimetric_index.shtml

What can I do about it?
It's not at all easy to stick with a diet. When starting to diet or by eating more sensibly you might loose a few pounds quickly. Unfortunately this is usually just water and losing fat takes a while longer. You have to be prepared to lose weight slowly, over several months. A sensible reduction is about a pound a fortnight for most people. Making long-term changes to healthy eating might need to involve all the family and young people definitely need to be involved in some form of sport or exercise. You have to change from eating too much fat and sugars to eating more starchy carbohydrates and fibre.

Healthy Intake

You need fuel. Adolescence is a time for rapid growth, and the main dietary drive is for energy - often shown in a huge appetite! Ideally, the foods that you use to give you energy should be based on healthy eating.

It is important to eat a variety of types of food so you get all the nutrients you need. Aim to increase your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables. When you are hungry, try eating a banana or an apple rather than crisps or chocolate. As you know, you should be having five portions of fruit and veg. a day and not be having too much of a fat intake.

Foods to choose from
Your growth needs a variety of foods, particularly:
. Plenty of starchy carbohydrates - bread, rice, pasta, breakfast cereals, chapattis, couscous and potatoes.
. Plenty of fruit and vegetables - at least five portions every day.
. A modest amount of dairy products, such as milk, yoghurt, fromage frais and cheeses.
. Enough protein, such as meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses.
. Wholegrain foods usually contain more fibre and other nutrients than white or refined starchy foods.
. Oily fish is an excellent source of protein and contains many vitamins and minerals.

Foods to avoid
Foods high in saturated fat build up fatty deposits in your body. Eat these sorts of foods less often or only in small amounts:
. meat pies, sausages, meat with visible white fat
. butter and lard
. hard cheese
. cakes, pastry and biscuits
. cream, including soured cream and crème fraîche
. sugar-rich foods.
. coconut oil, coconut cream or palm oil

Start the day with breakfast
Breakfast gives you a boost in the mornings and if you don't eat in the morning you will be more inclined to eat badly throughout the day. It will also help you to concentrate. Choose a fortified breakfast cereal with semi-skimmed milk and a glass of fruit juice.

Drink water.
You should try to drink about 6 to 8 glasses (1.2 litres) of water, or other fluids, every day. When it is hot or you are active your body needs more than this. Avoid drinking soft and fizzy drinks because these are too high in added sugar.

Be sensible with alcohol.
Experimenting with alcohol is often part of growing up and asserting your independence. If you do drink, try not to binge and keep intakes within sensible limits.

Have healthy snacks.
Try to find some you like, and encourage your family to sit down together at least once a day for a balanced meal. You could try:
. dried fruit and nuts
. a banana
. fruit smoothie
. fruit loaf
. small sandwich
. flavoured milk - drink a ready-made one or you could make your own
. carton of low-fat yoghurt or rice pudding
. cereal (or healthy) bars
. fruit in juice

Eat less sugar
It's tempting to have sugar-rich foods and drinks too often. This causes tooth decay, especially when you have them between meals. Many foods that are sugar-rich are also high in calories. A high amount in foods is more than 15g sugars per 100g

Don't eat too much salt
Lots of people think they don't eat too much salt, especially if they don't add much to food. Three-quarters (75%) of the salt we eat is already in presented food so you could easily be eating too much without realising it. Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure, making you more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke. Try cutting down, gradually.