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Your Health

Get A Healthy Start For The School Year

Posted 10/18/2011

Healthy eating and regular physical activity will give you and your teens energy and may help them stay alert in class.

(NAPSI)—The start of a new school year signals time for teens to be with their friends, study new subjects and play their favorite sport. With so many demands on yourself and your teen during the school year, it is easy for your healthy eating and physical activity habits to take a backseat. However, many teens and their families have learned they don’t have to let school days lead to skipped meals and inactivity.

Expert Advice

To help, the Weight-control Information Network (WIN), an information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health, offers the following tips for parents and teens:

• Don’t skip meals. For increased time and ease, prepare and freeze meals in advance so you’ll have something to grab on the go.

• Think about what you eat and drink. When part of a well-balanced eating plan, fruits and vegetables can help keep you healthy. Read food labels and limit high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods and beverages.

• Don’t eat in front of the TV. Avoid eating in front of the TV or while you’re busy with other activities. It’s easy to lose track of how much you’re eating if you eat while doing other things.

• Be active every day. Teens should be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day but they don’t have to do it all at once. Ten minutes walking or biking to a friend’s house, 30 minutes shooting hoops, plus 20 minutes of dancing fills up the hour.

• Make time for physical activity. Work activity into your day, whether through schedule adjustments or 10-minute bouts of exercise.

• Text less, turn off the TV and move more. Enjoy the outdoors; try jumping rope, playing Frisbee or flag football and skateboarding.

Free Brochure

You can read WIN’s free brochure “Take Charge of Your Health! A Guide for Teenagers!” at http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/PDFs/TakeCharge.pdf. For more information, call WIN at (877) 946-4627 or visit www.win.niddk.nih.gov.

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