Keeping Kids Fit and Healthy - 4 Easy Beginner Steps

So, you're ready to make the commitment to raising fit kids, being a fit kid or being the fit parent. Then you must understand that the most direct route to success is to make small changes in your current lifestyle. Too many programs are designed with a lot of change and restrictions that only make you very unhappy, setting you up for failure because you won't be able to maintain that lifestyle.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on which way you look at it, habits only take a few weeks to form. I am a very habitual person so it is even quicker for me...that means it takes no time at all for me to firmly entrench a bad habit into my lifestyle. I concentrate on replacing old less healthy lifestyle habits with new, healthy choices so I do specific things in order to avoid failure.

I'm very human, and if there are treats in the house I will find them. So I don't have it in the house. If I bought a bag of chocolate chip cookies I would eat them by the row, so I don't buy them. I make a healthier version of my own, but if I didn't like to bake I wouldn't have them.

Many parents and caregivers put a lot of effort into their kids' healthy eating but not for them selves. What are you telling them...that you aren't important, or that different rules apply for adults? Think about it. Children learn what they live, and hear, and see and eat!

So my suggestion to you, if you are ready to make some changes in order to avoid the current childhood obesity epidemic, or just raise a fit family, is to make the first changes incremental. That way nobody goes into shock. It will take longer to see a difference in your bodies on the outside but you are moving from an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy lifestyle, and we want it to stick. If you are an unfit parent you likely got that way slowly, one day at a time. Reversing the trend slowly will allow you to replace old habits with healthy new habits...and each one is going to take a couple of weeks to get firmly set. Here are some suggestions for you and your family. Pick one or two to start with and then add more as you feel confident and comfortable.

Swap sodas and excess caffeinated drinks with water. That goes for any juice you may drink outside of your meals or snacks. Even 100% juice can be naturally sugar laden and high in calories.
If you must drive your kids to school, park a couple of blocks away and walk in with them if they are young, drop them a couple of blocks away if they don't want to be seen with you. Unbelievable but it happens!
If you watch TV in the evening, make the commercials time when everyone must move.
Substitute sweet desserts with a small yogurt cup. Myself, I would choose to miss the dessert at dinnertime, because I'm not actually hungry after dinner, and have the yogurt and part of a piece of fruit part way through the evening.

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