We are all growing! We all eat, drink and breathe and move about ..... so this is about doing it healthily - and making ourselves feel happy!
 

The things that keep us, animals and plants healthy are almost the same...

Fresh air Clean water Nutritious food Plenty of exercise (particularly if you are an onion) Warmth and Light

We all enjoy love and hugs and the occasional good laugh too... even onions!

Plenty of clean fresh air is good for your body - not least because fresh air is full of oxygen. A lack of oxygen makes us sleepy - which is why at the end of a long lesson you might start to nod off. If you have been sitting still for a long time and breathing shallowly, then your brain is getting less oxygen.

	Get your family and school to buy its electricity from a renewable energy electricity supplier
	Walk or cycle to school rather than travelling in the car - you will be reducing pollution, getting some fresh air and some exercise
	If you have a garden, do some gardening - not only will you benefit from the fresh air, but the plants will help make the air healthier, you'll get some exercise and you'll get to eat fresher food
	Talk your local garage into selling Bio diesel! (made from vegetable oil - it's carbon neutral!). Buy food that is produced as near to where you live as possible
	Avoid smoky rooms - cigarette smoke can kill you by hardening arteries or causing cancers

In this country we are really lucky. We have plenty of water for most of the year and, compared to some other countries, it is very clean. We are so wealthy in this country that we even flush good drinking water down the loo! - or spray it on the garden! It takes energy to clean water so be concious of how much you are using.

We (humans) need to drink lots of water, because we are made up of 70% water and our brains and bodies stop working properly if we become dehydrated. So drink lots of water to help keep your body in good working order! (6-8 glasses a day is a good amount for children)

Remember to refill your water bottle: don't keep buying new ones, it's expensive but most of all it's bad for the environment. All that energy wasted in making and transporting a bottle that is only used once and then buried in a hole in the ground with the rest of the rubbish. (By the way, most fizzy drinks are not good for you, they are very sugary and salty. They often make you thirstier and are generally not much use apart from the taste.) If your school doesn't have facilities for you to get clean drinking water, then ask for them!

There's loads of stuff said about eating food that is good for you - you know - like eating all your greens and eating jacket potatoes instead of chips. Eating a balanced diet is very important - a wide range of foods is good, and so is trying to include 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day in your diet - cooked or raw, baked banana's, raw carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes or a fresh, crisp apple!

Things to think about when planning your dinner, breakfast, lunch or tea..

	Try to eat fresh foods instead of processed.
	Try to eat food that is produced close to home (it'll be fresher).
	Eat organic food whenever you can (no poisons and pesticides).
	Try to stick to foods where you recognise all the ingredients on the label.

But the best idea is...

That way it'll be really fresh, won't have travelled miles to get to you, has not been processed, you'll have enjoyed some exercise whilst growing it, it wont use packaging, it'll be really cheap and you'll have been able to ensure that the plants were well fed - so that they can feed you well!

Just remember to try to...

Organic gardening looks after the whole growing system. It carefully ensures a good mix of nutrients in the soil and in our food and avoids poisons and herbicides. Organic gardening is fantastic for us because it takes everybody and everything in the food chain into account.

It involves digging in fantastic mucky things like manure (that's usually horse, cow or chicken poo to you and me), leafmold, wood chip and other things to nourish and build up the soil.

The soil becomes strong and healthy from all this attention and has a lot of micro organisms and bacteria and mini beasts - of which the earthworm may well be the largest.

Plants that get to grow in healthy organic soil tend to be big and healthy, nourishing and very, very tasty!

And - because no herbicides are used, the water stays clean and unpolluted. And - because no pesticides are used (not even slug pellets,) none of the pests are poisoned, which means that they can be breakfast, lunch and tea for all sorts of species, like hedgehogs, birds, frogs and voles.   Indeed, organic gardening uses companion gardening and mini-beasts to protect plants. For example, greenfly will generally stay away from plants that have garlic or onion planted near to them and ladybirds love to eat greenfly too. Encouraging frogs or birds into your garden can help to keep down slugs and spiders will rid your garden of all sorts of plant-eating mini-beasts.

If we don't exercise then our bodies slowly stop working properly which might give us health problems. If our muscles are strong then they protect our joints from being injured. And if our heart is strong then we have more stamina to do things like enjoy sports, run about laughing and ride bicycles.

Taking exercise speeds the blood moving around our systems and increases the amount of oxygen to our cells, which means that we grow better and stronger. Lots of exercise can feel really nice too, our body's way of rewarding us for doing the things that it wants us to do.

Sometimes you have to go through the pain barrier first...!

If you dislike physical or energetic games, then perhaps you would enjoy martial arts? How about dancing or climbing? Walking, swimming or cycling, Tai Chi or yoga? Of course, exercise will increase the flow of oxygen to your brain, which helps it work better too!

We need to stay warm. Plants can't grow without warmth, and neither can we. We have a lot of advantages over plants in that we can put lots of warm clothes on or move about to keep warm (that's what shivering does - although jogging about is even more productive), have porridge for breakfast (food generates energy in our bodies which makes heat), or go inside where it's warmer. Remember to shut the doors if the heating is on! Good insulation and double glazed windows help a lot to keep the heat in - and the heating bills down. It is often possible to get grants from your local council to help your house become more energy efficient - and of course it's good for the environment too.


We all need light - preferably daylight. Plants don't grow without it and we all need sunlight to keep us healthy. It has been suggested recently that if we don't get enough natural daylight in the winter it can upset our hormonal balance making us depressed. Did you know that sunlight stimulates our bodies to produce vitamin D, which is good for your bones, because it make sure your blood has the right level of calcium and phosphorus? Without this vitamin children can get rickets and adults can get osteomalacia - bendy breaking bones.

Often just walking or cycling to school and back can give us the daylight we need - although an hour's run about outside is even better!

Sometimes it is difficult to eat and drink well, particularly in schools.

	Do you have easy access to clean water in the corridors (not from the taps in the toilet,
	Are you allowed to take water into the classroom?
	Is there anywhere you can buy fruit? (fresh or dried) or fresh vegetables (ever chewed on a carrot or eaten fresh peas from the pod?)
	Do you have a healthy eating option in the school canteen?
	Does the school tuck shop sell healthy snacks?

If not then ask!

Campaign!

Request it!

- WHY NOT?

If you want more information about

	Growing food in the school grounds
	Websites about eating healthily
	Possible funding sources for healthy tuck shops and lunches
	Lesson plans on healthy eating and growing

Then come on further into our web site...