Health and Illnesses

There are a lot of ways to keep fit, for example, you should do exercise every day or at least
three times a week. If you play sport, you won’t become a couch potato and you won’t get
fat. You can do a lot for your good health. You can take part in different sports activities, such
as water sports: swimming, canoeing, kayaking, water-skiing, windsurfing, and winter sports:
skiing, skating, snowboarding, but you can also play ball games with your friends, for
example, handball, basketball, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, badminton, squash, floorball
etc. or you can go running or jogging on your own.

If you want to lead a healthy way of life, you should eat healthy food, a lot of vegetables
and fruit every day, you should avoid fatty meals or junk food. Try not to eat red meat and
sweets/chocolate a lot, but some people say a bit of dark chocolate can be good for you.
Energy drinks, fizzy drinks and too much coffee or black tea can also be harmful. It is very
important to eat a balanced diet that means your body needs six elements: carbohydrates,
protein, fibre, vitamins, fat and minerals. We get energy from complex carbohydrates like
bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, and breakfast cereals. Protein comes from meat, fish, cheese and
eggs. Vegetarians get a lot of protein from beans. We get most of the fibre, vitamins and
mineral from fruit and vegetables.

I was last ill about .......ago. I had flu, I had a high temperature and a sore throat, my nose was
running and I was coughing so I decided to go to the doctor’s. The doctor examined me
thoroughly, s/he checked my temperature, looked at my throat, sounded my lungs and
wrote a prescription. S/he told me to stay at home, lie in bed, drink a lot of tea with lemon
and honey and take my medicine twice a day after meals. It took me four days to get well.

I go to the dentist’s once or twice a year because it’s good if the dentist checks your teeth
regularly. I had toothache about three months ago. He filled my tooth, which didn’t hurt,
because he gave me anaesthetic. If the tooth is bad, he pulls it out.

When you break any part of your body, you are taken to hospital. Your broken arm/leg is X-
rayed and put into plaster for some weeks. After that doctors remove the cast and it’s
advisable to go to physiotherapy for a couple of days/weeks.

In my family there is nobody who smokes, fortunately. / My parents smoke, unfortunately.

They smoke a whole packet a day so they spend a lot of money on cigarettes. If you want to
give up smoking, there are several methods: medicine, patches, herbal teas and hypnosis.

People try drugs because they are curious about the effects and would like to behave like
celebrities or they don’t want to be outsiders. Drugs easily cause addiction, that’s why it’s
difficult to stop taking drugs.

What advice would you give to your friend to lead a healthy way of life? (=Milyen tanácsot
adnál a barátodnak, hogy egészséges életmódot folytasson?)