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Heartline Magazine October - December 2007
ESSAY COMPETITION WINNERS - 2007
1ST PRIZE – OLIVIA
ALLEYNE – CHRIST CHURCH GIRLS SCHOOL
Team Up For Healthy Hearts
Most people, including my friends, believe
that they have healthy hearts – even those who are overweight.
This is not surprising as not many people want to admit that
they are overweight, unfit, and possibly unhealthy.
The medical experts are constantly reminding
us of the dangerous consequences of a prolonged unhealthy
lifestyle. It seems as though these warnings are not working
because more fast food than ever before is being eaten by
children and they are exercising less.
So, perhaps some other approach is needed. I
therefore encouraged a few of my friends to team up with me for
a two-week healthy heart lifestyle. I gave each a questionnaire
to fill out as I wanted to see which foods they were eating and
if they were exercising regularly.
Some evenings we met and had a great time
bicycling, roller skating or skipping. When it was time to go
home I reminded them to eat their fruits and vegetables and to
omit the snacks. I promised each of them a prize before they
teamed up with me. The prise: healthy hearts … THEIRS!
My friends and I are young, so we still have
time to develop a healthy lifestyle. Sadly it may be too late
for older citizens who are on medication for diabetes, strokes,
heart attaches and high blood pressure.
I think the time has come for children to be
educated about these diseases. In addition, I hope that they
would encourage their parents to buy more fruits and vegetables
and fewer salty, sugary snacks. Children should also remind
their parents to cook less fattening meals. However, parents
cannot do it alone. They need other team players to team up with
one another and campaign for the sale of healthier foods, fruits
and vegetables at cheaper prices and recreation areas with play
equipment where children can go to exercise.
Please team up and take care of my
generation or we too will be a statistic in the World Health
Organisation future reports on unhealthy hearts around the
world.
Olivia Alleyne
Aged 10 years
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2ND PRIZE – STEFAN FORDE – ROLAND
EDWARDS PRIMARY SCHOOL
Team Up For a Healthy Heart
It was a Thursday afternoon at the Sally
Walters Primary School. Tricia, Alex, Chad, Shanice, Chris and
Tyra were playing their favourite game in the school yard. As
Alex was running by the flamboyant tree he saw Susan sitting
under it. He didn’t think much of her at first.
The next day, the same children were playing
in the school yard. Alex was again running to his favourite
hiding spot and he saw Susan sitting under the same tree. He
asked “What is the matter? I saw you sitting under this tree
yesterday, is there a problem?” She didn’t respond. He asked
again, this time she began to cry. She said that she felt ill.
Alex took her to his friends.
However, Susan said very little, she was a
very quiet girl. She was very depressed. She then told us that
her mother and father died tragically while on a business trip
in New York and three weeks later her grandmother died of a
heart attack. We tried to comfort her but she kept crying. A
week later when Alex and I started playing with her we noticed
that she ate lots of unhealthy snacks and fried foods, so we
decided to start a Healthy Hearts Group with permission from the
principal and staff. We got together and encouraged her to eat
healthy. She even became leader of the group. We encouraged all
the other children in the school to eat healthy foods as our
parents taught us to do.
The students were told to eat less fried
foods but more steamed or baked instead. Eat green leafy
vegetables, Bajan cherries and guavas and to drink about six
glasses of water daily. We also encouraged them to replace white
bread with whole wheat and Irish potatoes with sweet potatoes,
breadfruit, yam and green bananas. Exercise was also to be part
of this Health Group.
The group grew from strength to strength and
soon the entire school got involved in this worthwhile project
and it soon became the foundation for an island wide programme
called “Team Up for A Healthy Heart.”
Stephan Forde
Aged 10 years
3RD PRIZE –
NICHOLAS BENN – ROLAND EDWARDS PRIMARY SCHOOL
Team Up For a Healthy Heart
One glorious sunshine morning, while
strolling through the school yard, Steve thought of a brilliant
idea. It was about forming a Health Club. He went excitedly to
the principal Mr. Watts and shared his thoughts with him. The
principal said he would think about it and get back to him as
soon as possible.
That evening Mr. Watts told Steve that it
was alright for him to start a Health Club. Steve jumped for joy
and rushed home that evening to tell his mother the good news.
She was as pleased as punch that her son could think of such a
worthwhile thing to do.
The next day Steve called two of his friends
Tony and Ron and shared his big plans with them. They too
thought it was a great idea. They gathered some more students
and formed the group officially at lunch time. They voted for a
president. In the end Steve was elected to that post. Steve told
the group that the club was formed out of concern for children
who were not eating a healthy diet and he noticed that many of
them were overweight. They would therefore concentrate on the
things that needed to be done in order to have a healthy heart.
This would include daily exercise and eating lots of fruits and
vegetables.
The Following week Steve invited a
nutritionist Mrs. Burke to talk to the group about the benefits
of eating right. This time more students came to listen. Pupils
were told to go for the good stuff. They were advised to leave
out the sweets, the fried foods and the fast food and instead
eat fruit, fibre and vegetables everyday. We were told that it
is always said “An apple a day keeps the doctor away but one
guava has four times the amount of fibre, a little more
potassium and nineteen times the amount of Vitamin C as an
American Apple. It also has twenty five times more Vitamin C and
four times more fibre than a bunch of grapes. She also
encouraged us to lay games and exercise daily.
We were excited about our health group
because more students joined every week as we all teamed up for
healthy hearts.
Nicholas Benn
Aged 10 years
SPECIAL AWARD -
POEM
MELANIE TROTMAN – ST WINIFRED’S SCHOOL
Healthy hearts, healthy hearts
We should strive for a healthy heart
If you are big, if you are small
Everyone needs a healthy heart
Nurturing activities that’s just what we
need
No over work, calm down please
A good balanced diet to start your day
And lots of water, that’s the way
Spiritual food from the Father above
Oh yes, take your vitamins, they’re good, good, good.
All these things give us a healthy heart
If we do this we can have a whole new start
No snack, no sweets that’s how it should be
Together we can work as a team
If we do this please remember TEAM
For in that word there is no “I” to be seen.
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