Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge

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1 FIGHT FOR EVERY HEARTBEAT bhf.org.uk Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge As part of Hearty Lives Cornwall we challenge you to make a small healthier lifestyle change each week for you and your family for just 6 weeks A copy of this leaflet can be downloaded (and the kids Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge diary) on our website

2 Thank you for joining Hearty Lives Cornwall and taking part in the 6 week challenge getting started The Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge aims to help you and your family make small, simple healthier lifestyle changes that can make a big difference to health. This booklet, and the Kids Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Diary, can help you see what s going well and where more help or information might be useful. Each week there will be other information available to help support challenges, and you can also get extra information from the website. So, Let s Get Started Encourage and support your child to participate in all the activities and help them update their diary, but, most of all, remember to have fun together! For more information see

3 goals & rewards To help make a big difference, small changes need to be sustainable. One way to do this is to set small, achievable goals and give rewards and praise for success. In this way change can become easier. In the Kid s Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Diary there is a star chart. Get this signed off by the course leaders for each challenge your kids complete. If they get all 6 stars they will be entered into a free prize draw! TOP TIP: Don t give food as a reward for kids! Instead try rewarding them with a small toy or stickers or an activity with you that they will enjoy. Or you could build credits towards a bigger treat like a trip out. And don t forget yourself... you need to reward your changes and successes too!

4 Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Session 1 healthier drinks Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Help your child keep the drinks record in the Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Diary to monitor the types and quantity of drinks being drunk. Encourage them to drink more water and fewer fizzy or sugary drinks. Our body is nearly two-thirds water. We all need to drink plenty of fluids to stay healthy. If we do not get enough fluid we feel tired, get headaches and can t concentrate well. It is recommended to drink on average 6-8 glasses of fluid a day. For adults this is around 1.2 litres. (Primary aged children need to drink smaller amounts). Does it matter which drinks you choose? All drinks count towards the recommended amount of fluid, including hot drinks such as tea and coffee, but water, milk and fruit juices are the healthiest.

5 Types of drinks drinks Try to avoid sugary, soft and fizzy drinks that can be high in added sugars. These can be high in calories and bad for teeth. Some energy drinks are high in both sugar and caffeine. Aim to choose healthier drinks. Checking the nutrition labels on soft drinks, such as fruit juices and fizzy drinks, can help you make healthier choices. For more information about food labels see page 8. TOP TIP: Drink plenty of water Water is the healthiest choice for quenching thirst at any time. It has no calories and contains no sugars that can damage teeth. If you don t like the taste of plain water, try sparkling water or add a slice of lemon or lime. You could also add some no-added-sugar or reduced-sugar squash or fruit juice for flavour. Kids The best drinks to give children are water, milk and milkshakes without added sugar. If you or your kids like fizzy drinks, try diluting fruit juice with sparkling water instead. Remember to dilute squashes well to reduce the sugar content in the drink. TOP TIP Diet versions of fizzy drinks might have fewer calories but they also contain very few nutrients, so milk or water are much healthier choices.

6 Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Session 2 5 a day Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Use the chart in the diary to keep a record of how much fruit and veg your kids eat this week. Get them to try one new fruit or vegetable (and why not try something new yourself). It s easier than you think to give your kids five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. TOP TIP: For kids, one portion is roughly a handful. Here are some of ideas on getting some good things into them: Frozen and canned fruit and vegetables count too. And it only takes a couple of minutes to boil some frozen peas or open a can of sweetcorn. Get kids to drink a portion. One glass of unsweetened fruit juice or one smoothie a day count as one of the five. A piece of fruit or vegetable can help cheer up a lunchbox. Try carrot sticks, baby tomatoes or a banana with a face drawn on the skin. Try this fab interactive tool on the Change4Life website Pages/five-a-day-every-day.aspx

7 5 a day What Counts? Almost all fruit and vegetables count towards your 5 a day, making it easier than you may think to get your recommended amount each day. NB potatoes don t count, these count as a starchy food. TOP TIP Fruit and vegetables don t have to be fresh to count as a portion. HELP! But what if they don t like fruit / vegetables? I ve tried to get my 6 year old son to eat vegetables. But whatever I give him, he says he hates it and refuses. Help! It can be difficult to get kids to eat things they ve made up their minds they don t like - it can take a while to persuade them. So try to do things little by little - he doesn t have to eat 5 a day straight away. First, try getting him to put some sweetcorn or peas in his mouth by offering him something small, like a sticker as a reward. Next time get him to eat just a mouthful, then two, and so on. You could also try disguising veg, mix some mashed carrot into mashed potato, or add some finely chopped peppers to a pizza. Another idea is to invite a friend to tea - ideally one who likes veg. If your son sees someone else tucking in to veg he may be tempted to do the same. Kids love to copy their friends! More 5 a day ideas at

8 Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Session 3 sugar and fat swaps Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Together with your child look at some labels from food and drinks at home. Look for the total amount of sugar and fat per 100g (not per portion) and record it in the Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Diary. You may be surprised at how much hidden sugar and fat there is in foods. Try to make one fat and one sugar swap for the family this week. Look out for the red, amber and green on food labels. Some food labels use this colour coding which makes it easier to choose food that is lower in total fat, saturated fat, and sugar and salt. Choose more greens and ambers and fewer reds. How can I tell what else is in food? More information on food labels can be found in the BHF booklet Guide to Food Labelling You can tell by looking at the ingredients list. Each item is listed in order of the total amounts. The further down the list an ingredient is, the less it contains.

9 sugar and fat swaps Swapping sugary snacks and drinks for ones that are lower in sugar can make a huge difference to kids calorie intake. Not only that, but it s better for their teeth too. Here are a few ideas on what to swap: Swap to water, semi-skimmed milk or diluted fresh fruit juice instead of drinks with added sugar like cola or squash. Switch to snacks like fresh or dried fruit, breadsticks and unsalted nuts instead of sweets or biscuits. Swap to lower sugar cereals, fruit or toast instead of cereals with lots of sugar. We all know too much fat is bad for us. But it s not always easy to tell where it s lurking. Here are a few fat-busting tips: Cut down on snack foods as they re often jam-packed with fat. Try and keep foods like crisps, buns, cakes, pastries and biscuits as occasional treats only (see more about snacks on page 12) Grilling or baking food in the oven rather than frying it on the cooker can reduce the fat content by as much as two-thirds. Literally cut the fat. If you can see fat on meat, trim it off before you cook it. Skin chicken and turkey first. Draining off the fat after cooking will also help. Want more ideas? Go to Change4Life Sugar swaps Fat swaps

10 Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Session 4 getting up and about Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge This week s challenge will help you identify how much activity your child is doing each day. Help your child to record each 15 minutes of activity they do throughout the day. Do something active with your child to help them to reach 60 active minutes a day. How much activity should we be doing? Most people are not getting the amount of activity they need to stay healthy. Parents tend to overestimate how much the kids are doing. Adults needs to be active for at least 150 minutes each week Kids aged five to 16 need to be active for at least 60 minutes each day Kids under five need three hours of active play a day Helping kids get those 60 active minutes Get them off the bus and out of the car - if it s walkable, walk it. Clock up 60 minutes worth of active play each day after school and at weekends - this includes running around, going to playgrounds and kids outdoor games. And it s all free! Get them splashing about. Whether it s lengths of the pool, or just playing in the shallow end, a trip to the pool is a great way to get them moving and wear them out.

11 getting up and about Why is being active important? Being active can help keep our heart healthy and strengthen muscles and bones. It can also reduce stress levels and lift mood. As well as using up all that additional energy it can help improve sleep quality. Research is showing that active kids learn better and achieve more at school. Get loads more great activity ideas with the Change4Life Fun Generator TOP TIP: Don t forget to use your pedometer and record the number of steps taken each day, You could register on our Pedometer Challenge website as a family team or as an individual at TOP TIP For more information on local activity ideas and opportunities see or Ask PHIL at

12 Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Session 5 snack checks Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Use the Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Diary to keep count of the number of snacks your kids are having between meals. You might be surprised just how many sweets, crisps and biscuits they have. Aim to swap at least one of these for a healthier snack each day. This week s challenge will help identify whether your child eats because of hunger or just grazes because it has become a habit. Try these tips to get you started on reducing the number of snacks being eaten: TOP TIP: It s the simplest tip in the book if you don t have the snacks in the house, no-one will be able to eat them! Aim for three regular meals a day. So if your child is raiding the snack cupboard several times a day, have a think about the meals being eaten and when. Sometimes when a child says they are feeling hungry it may be worth trying a glass of water instead. The chances are they could be thirsty rather than hungry.

13 snack checks Does it matter if we snack during the day? Yes! Many snacks are full of the things that are bad for us - sugar, salt, fat and calories. So try and keep a careful eye on how many the kids (and you!) are having. Often when we snack, it s so easy to grab a chocolate bar/biscuit or a bag of crisps and not notice how often it happens. More ideas for health snacks? Have a look at change4life

14 Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Session 6 celebrate and keep going Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Celebrate all the small changes you ve made so far and make a plan to keep going Well done on completing the Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge. Hopefully you are already starting to see the benefits of the lifestyle changes you have been making as a family. Remember small changes make a big difference over a year. We also hope that you have had fun doing the challenges. You can download more Kids Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge Diary pages from our website and get more ideas about healthier lifestyles. Join other families to get support by following us on facebook.com/heartylivescornwall or tweeting us

15 celebrate and keep going Healthier Hearts, Happier Lives... One of the most important things we can do for our health is to look after our hearts. You re never too young (or old!) to start. Taking regular exercise, eating a healthy diet, stopping smoking and being aware of the risk factors are all important for our long term health. If you want to know more about looking after your family s heart health see the British Heart Foundation website for information including healthy eating, healthy lunch box tips and fun activities for all the family. Have a look at: BHF tips for parents BHF for kids FIGHT FOR EVERY HEARTBEAT bhf.org.uk

16 Facebook: For more information about Hearty Lives Cornwall and the Hearty Lives Cornwall 6 Week Challenge contact us: hearty.lives@cornwall.nhs.uk