Hi guys and girls!
This is Peter Pancreas, and I want to send a big HELLO to all of you kids reading this right now. I hope everyone is excited about being back in school. It’s so fun to be at school with everyone—but boy, it sure takes a lot of energy to tackle all of the schoolwork, exercising during PE, talking and playing with friends at recess, and then I have more activities once I get home! After the first day back I was exhausted, which was weird because I got plenty of sleep the night before. Since lack of sleep wasn’t the issue and I seemed to be getting a good amount of exercise, I thought that maybe my eating habits needed to improve. Hmmm, “What foods could give me more energy?” I figured sodas, cookies, and candy are all filled with sugar, so I would just eat lots of those the next day to stay awake. And that’s what I did.
That day was AWFUL. I was all energized for about 20 minutes after I ate those “energy” foods, but then my energy levels crashed—hard! I was even more tired than I was the day before! All day, I felt sluggish, lazy, and just plain gross. And I was still hungry! No wonder these are food that you should eat in moderation! Well, you guessed it; I abandoned my high-sugar diet. Now, in order to keep my energy levels up and not feel gross all day, I eat healthy foods and snacks such as apples, pears, grapes, whole grain cereal, and carrot sticks. Not only are these foods healthy, but they are DELICIOUS too!
Boy, am I glad I figured that out. (You’d think I’d know all of this already, being a pancreas and all!) But the good news is I learned from my mistakes and changed my behavior. You can do it too!
Keep eating healthy!
Peter Pancreas
