How To Display Hierarchy List

query in order to display a hierarchy list. Example:

Database has three tables

Heading --> id, status, order, title
Sub-heading --> id, status, order, title, heading_id
Item --> id, status, order, title, heading_id, sub-heading_id, actual_content

order = the sequence in which they are to be displayed a sub-heading's heading_id refers to the parent heading, likewise an item's sub-heading_id refers to the parent sub-heading.

I assumed there was no need to track child content.

Now, the output format should be something like this, where the sub-headings are not repeated, nor are the items. Sort of like chapters in a book, things in a catalogue, or even topics in a forum.

Heading 1
Sub-heading 1
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Sub-heading 2
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Heading 2
Sub-heading 1
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Heading 3
Sub-heading 1
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Sub-heading 2
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Sub-heading 3
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3

Where I'm getting hung up is how to query the data so it's quick, efficient, clean and easy to read and maintain. I've only gotten to listing the sub-headings and already the query looks convoluted. So, how should I approach this? Should it be done all in one query, and always checking against the results to know when to print a new heading or sub heading. Or should I run multiple queries and save the results to a variable, and then run sub-queries off that? Is there a better way to do this, am I going about it the hard way or am I in the right direction and just haven't gone far enough with it yet?