STAY FIT With ORVILLE & WILBUR

Hello!  We’re Orville and Wilbur, brother ostriches from the dry savanna of Africa.  We’re twins!  Did you know that we run faster than anything with two legs on the whole planet!?   Working at Mercy Hospital for Injured Birds as EMT’s, we’ve seen plenty of sick and injured birds.  We have learned three ways to help our bodies stay as healthy as possible – 1)  Eat right, 2)  Get plenty of exercise, and 3)  Wear safety equipment. We want to stay healthy, so we eat plenty of lizards and dune grass, avoid too many sweets, we drink water whenever we can, and we get plenty of exercise by getting outdoors and running!  We LOVE to run! We also wear our seatbelts every time we’re in the ambulance, sun block when we’re going to be on the savanna all day, and we wear helmets whenever we try to fly.

We don’t want to see YOU at Mercy Hospital, so here are some tips to keep you fit and healthy:

Eat healthy:
According to the USDA ( www.mypyramid.gov ), certain food types and amounts are recommended to stay healthy.  Of course, you may have special dietary needs, so be sure to consult your doctor and see the USDA website for more information and tips.  Here is a list of USDA recommended food types and amounts:

	Kids ages 4 to 8	Kids ages 9 to 13
Fruits	1 to 1 ½ cups	1 ½ cups
Veggies	1 ½ cups	2 to 2 ½ cups
Grains	2 to 2 ½ ounces	3 ounces
Meat (or Beans)	3 to 4 ounce (or equivalent)*	5 ounce (or equivalent)*

*See USDA website for equivalent amounts of beans and other sources of protein

Also, avoid eating lots of sweets and soda which don’t help your body and can cause
tooth decay, obesity, and other health problems

And don’t forget to drink plenty of water! 

http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/recipes/index.html has a ton of healthy recipes, including recipes for kids with certain diseases such as diabetes and Celiac disease – check it out! 

Get exercise:           
Kids get fat if they sit at a computer or in front of a TV all day – GET OUTSIDE!
Running, flying, swimming, and bike riding are all excellent exercises for your body. 
Gather your brothers and sisters or neighbors for a fun game of tag or hide ‘n seek or rock relays.  You don’t know what a “rock relay” is????  Okay, here’s how you play:

Rock Relay

Have kids form teams of equal numbers of runners, each leader carries a fist-sized rock – this will be the “baton.”   Draw a starting line and a finish line for the runners to relay between.

Begin the game:  the first runner from each team races from the starting line to the finish line and back again, passing off the rock to the next runner, who does the same.  Make sure the waiting runner stays behind the starting line until he has been handed the rock.  The first team to get all the players back to the starting line wins.

Stay Safe:                
Wash your hands often to keep from spreading germs – especially just before you
handle food and right after you use the bathroom
Always wear your seatbelt when you’re in the car
Wear a properly fitted helmet for bike-riding, skateboarding, and roller-skating
Wear a good sun block whenever you’re going to be outdoors and re-apply it often on hot days or when you’ve been swimming.