Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK.
The summer school holidays are upon us here in the UK and this week’s healthy tip is all about keeping children healthy and happy over the break. During the summer holidays normal routine is broken and without a robust plan in place, this can result in unhealthy foods and activities creeping in more than usual. Here we give you some ideas to ensure everyone starts the new school term feeling nourished and healthy, including parents and caregivers.
Anybody who has looked after children will know that you usually hear ‘I want a snack’ about 100 times a day. Add an extra snack section to your shopping list over the holidays and include healthy options such as nuts and seeds (chopped for small children), cheese, rice cakes, yoghurts, fruit, and vegetables to chop into sticks. Children can feel hungry soon after a meal if it wasn’t nutritionally balanced so make sure you include a source of carbohydrate and protein with every meal and add some heart healthy fibre from fruits and vegetables to help keep them full.
Get active: If you’re a parent or caregiver, your usual exercise routine may be thrown out during the holidays. Thinking about activities you can do as a family to hit those movement goals is a great way to ensure everyone fits that all important exercise in over the summer. Some ideas include joining your local family parkrun or planning in swimming days each week. Even just going out for a walk or organising a bug hunt to keep the younger children engaged will help everyone get the daily steps in.
Plan ahead: Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail. Sitting down with the calendar for the next month or so and spending some time making plans will make the summer holidays run much smoother and most likely mean everyone eats healthier and has more fun. Planning activities and meals in advance will ensure you aren’t caught out and end up reaching for the takeaway menu. Keep it simple and follow a similar weekly structure where possible.
Heart Research UK is the charity dedicated to your heart. They inspire and invest in pioneering medical research, ground-breaking training and education, and in communities to improve their heart health for themselves. For over 50 years they have driven advancements in the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease to benefit patients as soon as possible.
In the last 10 years, Heart Research UK has funded over £10.2m in medical research in hospitals and universities across the UK, as well as £2.2m on innovative community-based lifestyle projects to improve the heart health of the nation. For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk
To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart Recipes or have a look through our Healthy Heart Cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers.
If you’d like to support Heart Research UK’s vital work into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease, please visit www.heartresearch.org.uk for inspiration on how you could help.
