Eating for exams

When you're busy revising and thinking about your exams, it's easy to forget about eating healthily and to just reach for the nearest piece of food.

But eating properly is just as important as revising properly – and can actually help you to revise better.

Like revision, eating healthily should start well before your exam but – also like revision – it's never too late to start.

Follow our top 10 tips to help you eat healthily.

1. Get the balance right

It’s really important to eat a healthy balanced diet during the exam period (and all year round, too!). This should include:

• plenty of fruit and veg (at least five portions a day and try to eat a variety of different types)
• plenty of starchy foods, such as bread, rice, potatoes, and pasta. Choose wholegrain varieties whenever you can
• some milk and dairy foods
• some meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein
• just a small amount of foods and drinks high in fat and/or sugar

The 'eatwell plate' shows how much of what you eat should come from each food group, to make up a healthy balanced diet.

2. Base your meals on starchy foods to keep your energy levels up

Starchy foods such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta and potatoes are an important part of a healthy diet and should make up about a third of the food we eat.

They're a good source of energy, so they’re perfect to help you get through your revision and exams.

Try to choose wholegrain varieties of starchy foods whenever you can because the energy is released more slowly, which means they give your body energy for longer.

Most of us should eat more starchy foods – so try to include at least one starchy food with each of your main meals. You could start the day with a wholegrain breakfast cereal, have a sandwich for lunch, and potatoes, pasta or rice with your evening meal.

3. Don’t skip meals, especially breakfast

Are you having trouble concentrating? It could be because you’re not eating regularly enough to give your brain the fuel it needs.

So it's important to eat regular meals and not to skip breakfast.

When you wake up, your body hasn't had any food for several hours. Breakfast gives us the energy we need to face the day, as well as some essential vitamins and minerals. And eating breakfast could help you control your weight.

For a tasty and healthy start to the day, base your breakfast on starchy foods such as bread or breakfast cereals. Here are some tips on what to try:

• A wholegrain breakfast cereal that is lower in salt and sugar, with semi-skimmed, 1% or skimmed milk, or low-fat yoghurt.
• Fit in some fruit – fresh, frozen, tinned or dried fruit all count towards your five daily portions of fruit and veg. Slice banana on your toast, or add chunks of apple, berries, or dried fruit to your cereal.
• Wash down your breakfast with some fruit juice – a glass (150ml) counts as one of your fruit and veg portions, so long as it's 100% juice. Fruit juice counts as a maximum of one portion a day.
• If you have time, you could make your own milkshakes or smoothies by blending fruit with milk or yoghurt.

4. Eat healthier snacks

Make sure you have healthier snacks with you while you're revising, to help keep you going.

Snack foods such as cakes, biscuits, chocolate and sweets can be high in sugars and saturated fat, and low in certain vitamins and minerals. Instead, pick up an apple, some grapes, a currant bun or malt loaf with lower-fat spread. Always check the label and choose food that is lower in fat (especially saturated fat), sugars and salt.

5. Drink plenty of fluids

If you're feeling tired and lethargic while trying to revise, you might not be drinking enough water. Our bodies need water or other fluids to work properly. It's very important to make sure we're drinking enough.

In climates such as the UK's, we should drink approximately 6 to 8 glasses (1.2 litres) of fluid every day to stop us getting dehydrated, so keep a glass of water on your desk and take a bottle of water into the exam if you can.

Drinks that contain caffeine, such as tea, coffee and cola, can act as mild diuretics, which means they make the body produce more urine. This affects some people more than others and also depends on how much caffeine you drink and how often. It's fine to drink these sorts of drinks, but you should also drink some fluids each day that don't contain caffeine.

6. Eat iron-rich foods

If you're not getting enough iron in your diet you could end up having difficulty concentrating for long spells and it could make you feel tired. Iron is important because it helps make red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. Girls need even more iron than boys because growth spurts in your teens and periods can leave you low in iron.

Choose red meat, green leafy vegetables and dried fruit to top up your iron and talk to your GP if you're worried.

7. Eat more fish

Fish is a great choice – it's an excellent source of protein and it contains essential vitamins and minerals. White fish, such as cod, haddock, plaice and whiting, are very low in fat. Oily fish such as salmon and sardines are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, which are good for your heart. You should try to eat at least two portions of fish a week, including one of oily fish. Try sardines on toast for a tasty and nutritious snack when you're revising.

You might have heard the hype about omega 3 in fish and school performance. At the moment, there isn't enough evidence to reach a firm conclusion on the effect of omega 3 fatty acids on most people's learning, but there is some evidence of benefits for some children with learning difficulties.

8. Get some sleep

Also think about how much sleep you're getting and don't push yourself to revise too late if it means you won't get enough sleep. Decide what time you're going to stop revising in the evening and allow yourself time to relax before getting an early night. That way, you'll be fresher for the day — and the revising — ahead.

9. Get active

Get active to break up your day. You could go for a jog in the park, a swim, cycle, or even just walk down to the end of the road to your local shop. Even having a dance around your room to your favourite song can help relieve stress, clear your mind, lift your mood and make studying seem easier when you go back to it.

10. Think about what you'll eat on the day of your exam

Make sure you don't miss breakfast and you have some healthy snacks and a bottle of water to hand.

Try to plan when you're going to fit in your meals on the day, because your exam might cut into your usual meal times.