Grade 2 St Benild School, Sliema set off on a healthy Christmas party. The aim of the event was to show students that with a little effort we can keep healthy even during the festive season.

The teaching team planned and organised the event. The teacher bought all the consumables a day prior to the event so as to set the children thinking about the mission. On the day of the party, the boys were eager to put on the chef’s attire and prepare their own food.

A class of twenty-five boys was divided into five groups, where each group prepared at least three healthy festive dishes – a vegetable dish, a fruit dish and a Santa dessert. The Teacher and Learning Support Assistants in the class helped with the peeling and chopping of the food items, while the boys enjoyed mixing and displaying their own party food. The boys exposed their taste buds to different fruits like berries, kiwi, banana, and grapes, and to different vegetables like coloured peppers, olives and cherry tomatoes. A variety of white and brown bread, pita bread and water biscuits was displayed with cheese, ham and pesto dips. The boys were encouraged to try water infused with strawberries and fresh oranges, whereas the less daring pupils drank plain water.
All the boys enjoyed themselves while eating the party snacks they created themselves. The Santa dessert was the highlight of the event. The healthy Christmas party was a complete success. The boys had lots of fun both preparing and eating healthy food. Engaging the little ones actively encouraged them to try new food items whilst and experiencing an array of unfamiliar tastes.
Well done to the teaching team who came up with this brilliant idea and the pupils for collaborating to the full. Keep it up….until the next celebration!

Why is Breakfast important?

Breakfast is the first meal of the morning which literally means “breaking the fast”. It is a great way to help refuel your body after the night and give you and your child the energy you need to get things done. Imagine you are a car. After a night’s sleep, your fuel tank is empty and in need of a refill. A car without fuel will not perform well and so does our body. Children who do not eat a nutritious breakfast have lower energy, become tired at school and have shorter attention spans. Various studies have shown that school- aged children who take a nutritious breakfast perform better at school and are able to concentrate more.
A well balanced breakfast helps your child feel full for longer periods and suffer less from hunger pangs. Children who do not eat a good breakfast are more likely to eat junk food during the day and snack on foods which are high in sugar and fat offering low nutritional value. This would not only have an impact on their general health status but even their weight.
A wholesome breakfast is also good way to ensure your child gets the necessary vitamins and minerals from healthy foods such as diary, wholegrains and fruit.
These are just a few reasons why breakfast is an important meal for your child but be careful not all breakfasts are the same!

What kind of breakfast?

It is not only important that your child has breakfast everyday but what your child eats is even more important. Opening a packet of biscuits or a sugar loaded cereal pack is a quick and easy option but be very careful these are very  high in calories, sugar, and fat and do not contain the required nutrients that your child really needs.  Just like with any other meal try choosing nutritious foods that contain some carbohydrates, proteins and high amounts of fiber, while being low in added sugar and fat.

Here are some ideas for a quick healthy breakfast:

• whole-grain cereal with semi-skimmed/skimmed milk  and ½ banana
• whole-wheat pita stuffed with sliced hard-cooked eggs
• whole-grain cereal topped with low-fat yogurt, nuts or fruit sprinkled with cinnamon or allspice.
• whole-grain toast topped with fresh fruit (banana or apple wedges)and some nuts plus a glass of low-fat milk to drink
• vegetable omelet with whole-grain toast
• bran muffin and berries

Tips to make it happen

While reading this you might probably be thinking… ‘in the morning I barely have time to finish and get my children ready on time let alone prepare breakfast for them and make sure they eat it!’
Here are some suggestions to help you make it happen and ensure that even when you are in a rush your child manages to get a good breakfast.

1. Keep convenient food readily available e.g. fruit, cheese, wholegrain sliced bread, small packs of healthy whole grain cereal. It takes no more than one minute to put a sliced cheese between two slices of whole grain bread or grab a plain yogurt and pre-cut fruit from the fridge. (Be careful fruit flavored yogurt can have a lot of added sugar)
2. Try preparing for breakfast the day before.  Boiled eggs are an example of a perfect breakfast food which can be prepared the night before – to save time, you can even prepare a whole batch on a Sunday for the whole week. You can also for example cut fruit and place it in an air tight container in the fridge to find it ready in the morning. Let your child help you in this preparation.
3. Allow your child to eat breakfast on the way to school if your child had no time to have it at home.

Don’t forget how important being a role model and setting a good example is. Allow your children to see you have breakfast everyday. This way you will be showing them that it is important to start the day with a healthy morning meal. So why not try sleeping a little bit earlier and waking up ten minutes before to try and make time for breakfast together!

Below is a list of some tips to work on:-

1. Serve fruit and/or vegetables at every meal and snack. Your child will probably not eat it the first, second or third time – do not be discouraged. Keep offering very small pea size quantities of that vegetable or fruit until your child actually tastes it. Always give this before giving your child his/her favorite food. It takes time for a child to accept a different texture, taste and decide they actually like this new food. I WOULD INCLUDE THAT STUDIES SHOW IT TAKES 8-13 TIMES BEFORE A CHILD COULD ACTUALLY TASTE A NEW FOOD

2. Don’t be afraid to say no to chocolate, sweets, crisps, sugary drinks etc. especially if your child already had some that day. Your child will probably break down into a tantrum, start crying, yelling and loads more. Be strong and affirmative in your decision!

3. Be careful about portion sizes and allow your child to stop eating when they are full (even if you think they did not eat enough). Giving to much food and insisting that your child finishes all the food given even if they are no longer hungry can lead to unhealthy overeating habits.

4. Encourage children to participate in food preparation and shopping. This will give you the opportunity to teach your child about nutrition and will give your child a sense of accomplishment. Also, children are more willing to try a new food if they helped in preparing it themselves.

5. Do not use food to punish or reward your child. It is not uncommon to hear phrases like “if you finish your vegetables I will give you a dessert”. This send the wrong message to a child that desserts are actually better than vegetables.

6. Plan snacks. Constant snacking may lead to overeating and reduce your child’s appetite at meal times. Try to plan specific snacking time and avoid giving snacks very close to meal times.   Make sure to have healthy snacks available! See our next blog for some healthy snack ideas.

7. If your child skips a meal, do not let them “make up for it” with some sweets or crackers. Offer a healthy snack instead for example some fruit or vegetable sticks with cream cheese, and make sure that they eat enough at their next full meal.

8. Be a role model. From a young age children want to copy what adults do. Eat the way you want your child to eat. If you never drink water or eat vegetables you cannot really expect your child to do so!

Do not try to attempt making all these changes at once. it will not work. Change takes time, try to aim at small changes which are constant over time, reinforce these changes and build on them.

Bottle size is of essence because we need to provide enough water for a child during school. For primary school aged children (5 years up), the recommended daily water intake is 1280ml. Considering they spend 50% and more of their awake time in school at this age the bottle size needs to be at least 650ml. Of course, this does not apply if there is free water access in school and the child can help himself. An alternative would be to supply your child with two (2) standard sized bottles. These usually hold up to 330ml of liquid.

Remember that your child might be shy and not ask the teacher to refill the bottle thus it is your responsibility to ensure you supply enough.

Clear is Better! 

We recommend that you purchase a clear see through bottle as this will enable you and the teacher too know whether the child’s bottle is empty or full. It is recommended that all schools should encourage the purchase of this type of bottle and that both teachers and parents lead by example in drinking water in front of the children from clear bottles so that the children may observe good habit of drinking enough.

Clean is a Must!

Parents need to ensure that bottles especially the spout and any removable parts are thoroughly clean as besides the settling of germs this results in altering the taste of water making it unpleasant for the child to drink. Furthermore, some bottles have spouts and straws that can be replaced avoiding the need to buy a whole bottle.

Additional Information!

Further guidance in Maltese on the importance of water and how to flavour it may be found by clicking on the link here Ixrob l-Ilma 

Read on for information on water, its importance and how we can make it more pleasant to drink.

Plain water has a multitude of benefits and is inexpensive to buy.

Below is a list of some benefits your child will have when drinking the adequate amount of water:

• Maintenance of proper renal/kidney function
• Maintenance of adequate blood volume
• Helps in keeping a healthy weight
• Regulation and maintenance of body temperature
• Improvement in cognition and ability to learn
• Improvement in the level of concentration during lessons
• Improvement in strength, endurance, and performance during physical activity
• Decrease in dental caries

Hereunder is the Recommended Daily Water Intake by Age according to The British Dietetic Association. For school-aged children, fifty percent (50%) is to be consumed at school and 50% at home because they spend nearly equal (if not more at school) awake time in both settings.

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The Church Schools participating in our project have taken a proactive approach by encouraging the children to increase their water consumption during school hours through the provision of regular structured water breaks in between lessons.

At home, parents need to encourage their children to drink a glass (approx. 200mL) of water first thing in the morning followed by another one upon return home and another one at supper time. The parents should drink with the children and lead by example – this is extremely important. You can not expect your child to drink water if you aren’t.  Adults should drink approximately 2 Litres of water daily.

If your child does not like water get creative! Here are some tips to get your child to drink more water:

1. Make water more fun using colored beakers, cups and straws
2. Add fruit pieces to plain water. For example add some strawberries, kiwi, oranges or pineapple. These can be used separately or mixed together.

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In the next post we will discuss the importance of choosing an appropriate water bottle and the importance of keeping them clean.

Healthy Children:

Show better academic performance

Have fewer behaviour problems

Have positive attitudes

Gain food experience (food literacy)

Tend to miss school less because they have fewer sick days.

The “6 Ways to a Healthy Lifestyle” image here under sums up all the key elements we as responsible adults, should keep in mind in order to keep our children as well as ourselves healthy.

Healthy Children require:-

An adequate intake of daily water intake. Primary school aged children need to drink 1.3L of plain water daily.

Well balanced nutritious food. Providing children with nourishing lunches at school is important for the development of healthy eating habits for life. Well balanced meals help improve concentration, energy levels, and motivation and help lower the risk of diabetes and obesity.

Adequate sleep:- Children aged six to 13 need 9-11 hours of sleep. Watching TV close to bedtime has been associated with bedtime resistance, difficulty falling asleep, anxiety around sleep and sleeping fewer hours.

Adequate physical activity. At least 60 minutes a day is recommended. It may not be necessarily a PE lesson or an extracurricular activity. However, it is important to keep your child moving as much as possible This can be done by asking for the help with house chores as well as playing fun games at home which are more physical rather than sedentary. In this way, it reduces time spent looking at a screen.

This pilot project aims to empower school administrators and educators to bring about a culture change through influencing policy in the school environment where healthy habits are concerned. The school Klikks system and social media can be a platform for parent outreach. Children spend half the time in school and half at home. The home education with regards to the development of healthy eating habits takes priority. Thus it is imperative to communicate short practical tips and reminders about healthy lifestyle to parents. Teachers and parents will be offered health check-ups on a voluntary basis for participation and against a voluntary donation. It is also important that adults are well aware of the importance of being healthy.

Launch a stratified (by age) educational campaign within schools that emphasizes the importance of a healthy lifestyle such that obesity and its sequelae may be avoided.

Identify obese/overweight individuals (using BMI and waist circumference as criteria) in a community pharmacy setting, and to perform HbA1c and lipid profile point of care screening with the overall aim of referring undiagnosed at-risk individuals for medical care. For further information contact us on info@behealthy.org.mt

Here are some tips to help celebrate the festive season while ensuring that your child’s nutritional requirements are still met.

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1. Offer healthy alternatives

When possible offer healthier alternatives. Try offering crunchy vegetables with homemade dips, fresh fruits, and nuts. Aim for a variety of colours and textures on vegetable and fruit trays. This will ensure your child gets a range of nutrients.  Presentation is very important when serving nutritious food to children. Try using cookie cutters to cut food into fun shapes.
Instead of soft drinks or juices, try infusing water with fresh fruits such as oranges or lemons.

In the following link, you will be able to find a collection of healthy ideas in a fun way your kids will definitely enjoy.  https://www.cleanandscentsible.com/healthy-christmas-food-ideas/

2. Try to keep things structured!

As adults, we have a tendency to skip meals such as breakfast or lunch in preparation for the ‘big’ meal or party thinking that this would save us some calories. This is not a good idea both for adults and children. Skipping meals can lead to overeating . Try to stick to structured eating times – breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks in between. Plan the parties around this structure. If for example, you will be having a big family lunch, plan a light breakfast and healthy snack for your child and do not allow nibbling all day long.

3. Keep control

You probably cannot control what food you will be offered when you are invited over to your friends or grandparents house. However, you can definitely control the rest of the food your child will eat during the rest of the day. Plan ahead to be able to provide your child with the right required nutrients during the day while trying to avoid sugar overload. Stock up your kitchen with easy-to-grab healthy options such as homemade dips, vegetable sticks, fruits, and nuts.

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4. Watch those portions

While some children may tend to get very excited and overeat at parties where there is food everywhere, others feel overwhelmed and can hardly wait to go and play with their cousins and friends. Do monitor your child’s intake of food without creating unnecessary pressure. It is OK if your child does not eat during the ‘big meal’, however, then plan a larger nutritious healthy snack.

5. Be active

During the Christmas holidays, the school day routine is disrupted and replaced with more days at home. Try to plan fun-filled events and activities which can get the whole family active instead of the usual sit down activities.

Do what you can to promote healthy eating during this holiday season.However, remember that a healthy lifestyle all throughout the year is more important than just monitoring what your child eats during this season. Relax, have fun and enjoy the time with your family and friends without unnecessary pressure. In the meantime, commit to start making constant sustainable changes in the coming new year. As parents, it is important to instill healthy eating practices all throughout the year.

Look out for more articles in the upcoming blogs. We will be guiding you about healthy eating strategies for your child, which food groups should be limited, and lots more!

• Launch a stratified (by age) educational campaign within schools that emphasizes the importance of a healthy lifestyle such that obesity and its sequelae may be avoided.
• Identify obese/overweight individuals (using BMI and waist circumference as criteria) in a community pharmacy setting, and to perform HbA1c and lipid profile point of care screening with the overall aim of referring undiagnosed at-risk individuals for medical care.