Currently in Canada, government spending, media and health activities focus heavily on ‘lifestyles’ and the ‘obesity epidemic.’ In the last decade, many health and education professionals have adopted policies to improve health and fitness among youth, seeing them particularly “at risk” for engaging in unhealthy behaviours. This presentation focuses on the results of a study which aims to understand how young children in one Canadian province discursively take up the tenets of the Canadian Vitality message (health as healthy eating, physical activity and self-esteem). Based on focus groups with 123 grade 2 and 4 students from Newfoundland, we use a feminist postructuralist approach to examine how children themselves understand healthy practices and messages about the ideal “healthy” body. In addition to talking about health, participants in our study drew images of themselves doing something they like and trying a new activity with a friend. A thematic and performance analysis of talk and drawings reveals the complex and nuanced ways in which children take up and experience health and self-esteem in their own specific contexts. This paper also reflects on the various ways of knowing and expressions reflected in different methods used to explore health knowledge and the self.