Ever seen those tv ads that have film stars with shiny hair or glowing skin, talking about shampoos or face creams with fancy vitamins that make you look beautiful? Well, did you know that having beautiful skin, hair, nails, teeth etc, is actually more about what you put into your body rather than on the outside of it?
It's the vitamins and minerals in foods that can make you look good and feel healthy. For example vitamin E, in peanuts, sesame seeds, beans, peas, salmon and tuna, is good for the skin. And vitamin B5, in mushrooms, watercress, broccoli, tomatoes and eggs helps keep hair healthy.
Start with a balanced diet. Your clever body does 3 basic things with food:
- It uses it to grow and make you stronger
- It uses it to repair any damage that's been caused
- It stores some of it away to use as energy later, in between meals
So, what should a girl eat to maintain her princess-like beauty? Basically, follow this simple advice:
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Eat fruit or vegetables with every meal - they are our main sources of vitamins and minerals, which keep our skin soft, our hair shiny and our brains quick enough to sing all the words to our favourite song! Choose what you like.
- Have fruit with breakfast, e.g. chopped up apple with a sprinkle of cinnamon in your porridge, a pear after your toast or mixed berries in your yoghurt.
- Have veggies with lunch, e.g. lettuce, tomato and cucumber in your tuna sandwich, carrots and celery with your hummus or spinach and red peppers in your chicken salad. Fruit for dessert is good too - cherries and plums are delicious and sweet.
- Have 3 or 4 veggies with dinner. Maybe you like peas, green beans and sweetcorn with your salmon fishcakes? Or do you like sweet potato mash, red cabbage and courgettes with your steamed chicken? The more colours on your plate the better!
- Fruits and vegetables can also be snacks in between meals. Sweets and crisps only offer a spurt of energy and can sometimes make you feel more hungry and tired than before you ate them.
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Eat foods containing 'protein' (which is a type of food, pronounced pro-teen) every day - these foods help you grow and develop.
- 'Protein' foods include: fish (try to eat salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines and swordfish 3 times a week), chicken, beef, ham, turkey, nuts, seeds, yoghurt, eggs, cheese and beans.
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Eat foods containing 'carbohydrates' (which is a type of food, pronounced car-bo-high-drayte) before and after exercise - for energy and to repair any damage.
- 'Carbohydrates' foods include: a jam sandwich, a banana, a cereal bar, a flapjack or honey on oatcakes.
- Drink plenty of water. It's important because if you don't drink enough, you can get ill. Try to drink at least 4 glasses a day. If you don't like the taste, you can add a splash of squash.
Of course, you need a little exercise too. Things like yoga, pilates, ballet and contemporary dance classes, running, swimming, netball, hockey and many other sports help you stay healthy and feel good. They also really help to improve your mood, which is an extra bonus- leave the diva tantrums to other celebs!
Sarah was one of the nicest girls you could ever meet. She was always helping people and being friendly. There was one thing that made Sarah sad though - her hair wouldn't grow. All of her friends had long hair that they could plait or put in ponytails and Sarah felt really left out.
One day, Sarah read this story in a magazine about Sharon, who had a similar problem when she was about 9. Apparently, it was all because she was a fussy eater and never ate any vegetables. Sarah was a fussy eater too - maybe this was the solution to the short hair problem? Sarah didn't really believe it could be true and had a little cry at the idea of having to eat Brussel sprouts, cabbage and broccoli because she hated them.
Sarah decided she would eat the foods she didn't like, she just cut up all her vegetables really small and put them in the foods she liked, like her spaghetti sauce, or into her mashed potatoes, where she couldn't really taste them. And it worked, she now wears her hair in a ponytail.
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Lizzy lived in the middle of a busy city. She and her mum were always rushing around because Lizzy liked lots of different sports. She played netball, tennis and swam twice a week, which really took it out of her! So to treat herself, she'd have sweets every night after her dinner. The thing is, she would generally not eat her dinner - she'd secretly feed it to the dog.
One day, Lizzy was just joking around with her friends and she poked her tongue out at one of them, who noticed that Lizzy had a lizard-tongue. It was all white and kind of bumpy. Lizzy felt really embarrassed and that night she went to see the doctor. She said her tongue had actually been quite sore too.
The doctor said it was because Lizzy didn't have enough vitamin B in her body. It came from eating a variety of foods. Uh oh. So, she did a taste test of lots of different fruits and vegetables and discovered she liked red kidney beans, peas, mushrooms, avocados, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and watermelon, so she ate them. And her tongue went back to normal.
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Amy was always feeling poorly. She got ill more than anyone she knew and she really didn't like it. She was always having to stay home from school with a cold or an achy tummy and it was really boring.
After about a year of being ill, Amy looked on the internet and she found that her decision to become vegan and eat only vegetables meant that she hadn't been getting the protein she needed to get properly well and grow. When Amy changed what she was eating, she hadn't found out how to make sure she was still getting all of the things her body needed to be healthy.
So, she asked her dad to take her to see a nutrition specialist, who knew all about food. The nutritionist told Amy what vegan foods she could eat get the protein and fats that she needed to be healthy and strong. Amy decided that she actually didn't mind eating cheese and yoghurt, it was just fish and meat that she didn't like, so she was actually vegetarian. That was great news because those things (and some other things like beans, nuts, seeds and brown rice) had protein she needed in them. Once Amy started eating these things, she got strong and well again and now she hardly ever has a day off school.
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