Refining and diversifying our diet allows for more choices, but without understanding proper selection principles, it can lead to a lack of essential nutrients and impact our health.

• Bring a water bottle and choose "plain water" or "unsweetened" beverages instead of sugary drinks.

• Replace large portions of food with appropriate amounts; reduce consumption of sweets, snacks, fast food, high-fat, and high-sugar items.

• Emphasize diversity in fresh fruits and vegetables; consume whole foods rather than processed ones; substitute refined grains with whole grains.

• Have breakfast every day; encourage parents and children to have healthy dinners together at home; avoid eating while watching TV. Teachers can accompany students during nutritious lunches and teach the importance of healthy eating.

Resources: K-12 Education Administration

Diversifying and refining our diet allows for more choices, but without understanding the principles of selection, it can lead to a lack of essential nutrients and affect our health.

• Bring your own water bottle and choose "plain water" or "unsweetened" beverages instead of sugary drinks.

• Replace large portions of food with appropriate amounts; reduce consumption of sweets, snacks, fast food, high-fat, and high-sugar items.

• Emphasize the diversity of fresh fruits and vegetables; consume whole foods instead of processed ones; substitute refined grains with whole grains.

• Have breakfast every day; encourage parents and children to have a healthy dinner together at home; avoid eating while watching TV. Teachers can accompany students during nutritious lunches and teach the importance of healthy eating.

Walking has been ranked at the top of the list of physical activities by the Ministry of Education's Sports Administration for many years. Not only in Taiwan, but also in countries around the world, walking is consistently the most popular form of exercise.

Apart from beach cleaning, energy conservation, and reducing waste generation, what else can we do to love the Earth? The answer lies in our daily meals – choosing a "low-carbon diet" to be eco-friendly!

There is extensive research on the health benefits of walking, and the results consistently demonstrate significant health benefits in terms of "physiological," "psychological," and "social" aspects (Hanson & Jones, 2015). However, the "exercise intensity" of walking is relatively low, and for individuals who already have a "regular exercise habit," the health benefits may be limited.

As an advocate for promoting exercise, I strongly encourage individuals to engage in moderate physical activity consistently to develop a regular exercise habit. So, if you are a supporter of walking as a form of exercise, please continue doing so. However, I also suggest considering "interval walking"... through this interesting exercise mode and by changing the exercise intensity, walking can bring us even more health benefits.

Principles of interval training:

You may have heard of HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training), which has become quite popular in fitness classes. However, interval training has been used in the training of track and field athletes since the mid-20th century, and it has shown excellent results. The term "interval" refers to a training method that combines different exercise intensities, such as high intensity and low intensity. The main benefits of interval training are improving cardiovascular function, enhancing lactate tolerance, and elimination ability. Using "walk-jog" as an example, you can combine slow jogging (high intensity), brisk walking (medium intensity), and leisurely walking (low intensity) to create an interval training combination. For example, you can try intervals of 1:3 (30 seconds of slow jogging, 1.5 minutes of leisurely walking), 1:2 (30 seconds of brisk walking or jogging, 1 minute of leisurely walking), or even 1:1 (30 seconds of brisk walking, 30 seconds of leisurely walking) based on time or distance. Regardless of using time or distance as units, the key to successful interval walking is to give your maximum effort during the high-intensity exercise phase.

Practical applications and precautions:

Applying interval training to walking is not difficult, but here are a few recommendations for your reference:

Seriousness principle: In parks or school tracks, you can see many people "walking." However, upon closer observation, you will find that most of them are engaged in low-intensity strolling rather than high-intensity walking. Sometimes we can casually walk and treat it as a leisurely relaxation time, but if we want to gain health benefits from exercise, we must have the motivation and behavioral pattern of "serious exercise." Interval walking is a way to increase the enjoyment of walking and enhance its health benefits.

Gradual progression principle: Regardless of any exercise training, gradual progression is the most important rule for ensuring safety. For individuals without an exercise habit, a simple guideline is to walk for a long enough duration and cover a sufficient distance. Once the exercise pattern stabilizes, then try interval walking.

Overload principle: If the exercise activity and intensity remain the same, individuals will gradually "adapt" to the challenge, which may lead to falling into the "efficiency trap." In other words, our bodies become accustomed to a certain movement pattern, and although the efficiency of the movement improves, energy expenditure may decrease (Karstoft et al., 2013). The overload principle means that each exercise session should be "a little bit stronger": whether it's increasing the distance or intensity, always aim to be stronger than the previous session.

Exercise and its health benefits are unquestionable, just like "nutrition." Cultivating the correct exercise habits, such as having a sufficient number of exercise days per week (at least three days) and accumulating at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or higher-intensity physical activity per week (WHO, 2020), also considering the exercise intensity. This article presents the concept and application of "interval walking" and suggests that if you already have a walking habit, you can try incorporating this walking mode into your daily walking routine. If you haven't started exercising yet, you can also try adding "walking" to your exercise list. After all, "move, move, move, and move seriously!"

Resources: K-12 Education Administration

(https://health99.hpa.gov.tw/article/18722) 

Many famous snacks and dishes feature the presence of scallions, such as scallion pancakes, scrambled eggs with scallions, and stir-fried beef with scallions. Scallions have a distinct aroma due to the presence of organic sulfur compounds and allicin. People use scallions to enhance the fragrance of their dishes, reduce fishy odors, and balance flavors. It is evident that scallions have become irreplaceable in our culinary repertoire and their nutritional value also contributes to our overall health.

When we consume scallions, we typically eat the above-ground parts, including the sheath and leaves. The appearance of scallion leaves is a pale green color, forming a hollow cylindrical shape. The lower part of the stem, closer to the roots, is white in color and is known as the "white part" of the scallion. Sometimes, a small fluffy ball may be found at the top of the scallion, which is the flower of the green onion.

Resources: K-12 Education Administration