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Bones are for
life!
Learning Objective
I know that I can protect my bones by eating
a balanced diet, and doing weight-bearing
exercise.
Why do we need our bones?
• As a framework for our bodies.
• To protect vital organs such as the heart
and lungs.
• If we didn’t have bones we might look like
this!
Which animal is this?
A rabbit!
Which animal is this?
A cat!
Are our bones alive or dead?
Alive!
• We have until we are about 25 years old to
make our bones really strong.
Healthy Bone
Osteoporotic bone
If you don’t look after your
bones they could look like
this!
You need to eat a
balanced diet to
build strong
bones.
What is a balanced diet?
Why is calcium important?
Calcium is vital for
strong bones and teeth.
Which foods are calcium
rich?
• Dairy products such as milk,
yoghurt and cheese.
• Green leafy vegetables such as
curly kale.
• Bony fish such as sardines and
pilchards.
• Dried fruit such as apricots and
currants.
Why do we need Vitamin D?
• We need vitamin D to help
our bodies to absorb calcium.
• The best source is sunlight.
• Vitamin D can also be
obtained from a small number
of foods in our diet.
Which foods are rich in Vitamin D?
• Oily fish such as sardines,
mackerel and pilchards.
Don’t forget to eat the bones
in tinned fish!
• Egg yolk
• Margarine
• Breakfast cereals
Healthy Eating Tips
• Eat fruit and vegetables, at
least 5 portions a day.
• Eat fish and remember to
mash the bones into tinned
fish such as sardines.
• Don’t skip breakfast, it kick
starts the day!
Weight-bearing exercise
builds strong bones.
Put bone in the bank, now!
• During childhood, when the
skeleton is growing, we need to
build bone strength.
• By ‘putting bone in the bank’ we will have strong
bones for when we naturally start to lose bone
strength when we are older.
Why should we exercise?
• Bone is living tissue which
reacts to weight-bearing
exercise by growing stronger.
• Weight-bearing exercise
means any exercise where
you are supporting the weight
of your own body.
Are these weight-bearing?
Sport
• Team sports like football,
netball and hockey are good
for bone building.
• Tennis is another high impact but
enjoyable sport that builds bone strength.
What do you do each day to build strong
bones?
Vitamin D
• The sunshine vitamin. We get
90% of our vitamin D from the
sun.
• We need vitamin D to help
your body absorb calcium.
Remember!
• Eat a balanced diet.
• Do weight-bearing
exercise regularly.
• Get your vitamin D
Log onto the bones4life web site and
have some fun with us!
www.bones4life.org