Article by my son Andrea prepared for his Home Economics lesson at De La Salle College -
it's excellent that boys are learning this from an early age.

Healthy Eating

• It is always important to eat healthy snacks not just at school, but also at home.
• Being healthy does not only mean eating healthily but also practising physical exercise such as jogging.
• When one doesn't eat healthily it might not reflect on the person suddenly, but also when one grows up.
• Unhealthy eating could result in obesity, tooth decay, heart problems, high or low blood pressure,
  cholesterol problems, accidents, blockage of the arteries etc.

Here are 10 tips of how to eat a healthy snack so one improves his healthy lifestyle.

1. Instead of white bread, eat wholemeal bread as it contains more fibre which prevents constipation.
2. Try to include pulses regularly in a snack for more protein. Example in rice salads or with bread.
3. Avoid preserved ingredients (such as ham and canned food) and instead use fresh tuna,
   low fat cheese like ricotta and add vegetables such as lettuce and tomatoes so as to avoid salty foods.
4. Also include local food such as local cheeselets and local fruit and vegetables.
5. Try to include lots of vegetables, if possible different coloured so they will contain different types of vitamins.
6. Include bright coloured fruit and vegetables to make the snack more interesting and attractive.
7. Avoid salty ingredients and instead put herbs and spices for flavours in order to prevent high blood pressure.
8. Instead of adding high fat chesse such as cheddar, it is better to add less fattening ingredients to prevent obesity. One can opt for medium fat cheese eg Edam or Mozzarella or low fat cheese eg Ricotta.
9. Lots of children take soft drinks when available. This could result to tooth decay. Make water your drink instead or drink healthy fresh fruit juices.
10. Instead of having packets, sweets or other junk food once we are ready from our snack, it is much better to take a fruit or something that children tend to like more such as 'sweet bread' (that is low in fat and sugar).

It is very important to start living a healthy lifestyle from when one is very young so that one gets used to this type of eating. If we start to eat healthily when we have grown a little older it might be more difficult to get used to this type of food.