FINLAND: Food and Excercise Diaries

The first grade ( Age 7) Breakfast: The typical breakfast includes porridge or cereal, bread, yoghurt, milk or cocoa. Lunch: salmon soup, meat soup, chicken and rice, oven sausage and mashed potatoes. A snack: yoghurt. cereal, bread, milk or cocoa, fruit. Dinner: different kinds of soups: pea soup, fish soup, meat soup, macaroni casserole, ham and potato casserole, pizza, chips and sausages, salmon, potatoes and salad. An evening snack: yoghurt, berries and cereal or porridge, bread, Karelian pastries,ice cream, fruit, vegetables, such as carrots or swedes, milk or cocoa. Excercise: on an average 1 hour/ day. Skiing, skating, ice hockey, football, gymnastics, playing outside, wall climbing, circus club. 3rd Grade (Age 9) Breakfast: the typical breakfast includes bread with cheese, milk or cocoa or yoghurt and cereal or porridge. School lunch: is sometimes soup: meat, fish or chicken soup /, or pasta / or fish and potatoes /, school lunch is always served with milk and bread with margarine. Salad is also always served but not many children eat it. Lunch at weekends at home: e.g. soup / or hamburgers / or sausages with potatoes A snack: a typical snack after school includes youghurt or bread or fruit or a snack bar and juice. A dinner: pasta: lasagna, spaghetti bolognese,/ meat or sausage soup, /chicken sauce and rice / , fish and potatoes / sausages and potatoes. An evening snack: fruit, bread, cereal or yoghurt and milk. Excercise: The third graders excercise for one hour / day on an average. They play ice hockey, skate, swim, play outside, play football and take the dog out. 5th Grade (Age 11) Breakfast: a typical breakfast includes bread, cocoa, milk or juice, cereal and yoghurt. School lunch: is the same as with the third graders: soup, pasta, fish and potatoes, chicken and rice but they eat only seldom salad with the meal, bread and milk. A snack: a typical snack after school is yoghurt, bread and juice or milk, fruit. At weekends 5th graders also have a piece of cake as a snack. Dinner: potatoes with meat sauce or fish, different soups, lasagna and spaghetti bolognese. At weekends many fifth graders eat pizza or Chinese food. An evening snack: is typically bread, yoghurt or pudding, water, milk or cocoa, some pupils have porridge. At weekends the evening snack can also be a slice of pizza, berries and ice cream. Excercise: on school days the fifth graders excercise for 2 hours/ day and during the weekend 3-4-hours/ day on an average. They walk to school, go skating and skiing, and play football.