Family Fitness
by Terje
Ellingsen
zone3
Family fitness is fun! So, how do you get your family off the sofa and
encourage them to get moving with you? It can be a simple task if you find
an exercise program that the entire family can enjoy!
We all know that too many Americans are overweight and even more that
don’t follow a regular exercise program. It is up to mom and dad to
initiate some movement within their own household. There’s an old saying
that the “family that plays together, stays together.” This is the
approach you should take to get your family moving! It’s not exercise,
it’s time to play!
First, you should pay close attention to what everyone in the family
likes to do. For example, if both you and your spouse are tennis fanatics,
tennis should definitely be on the exercise agenda. If your son is an avid
golfer, you need to learn to swing! If your daughter is a devoted jogger,
guess who needs to jog too? Find out what everyone in the family likes to
do (and you probably already know) and then do it as a family!
Your family’s fitness is important and the fitness schedule should be
something that you will stick with throughout the year with a “plan B” if
the weather prohibits the ability to follow through with one of your
preferred activities. Make sure that everyone in the family gets to choose
an activity to insure overall enthusiasm and participation from everyone!
While planning your Family Fitness plan, you need to start planning some
major changes within the kitchen and refrigerator as well. It’s a good
time to throw out all of the stale chips and make a commitment to replace
the unhealthy choices with healthy alternatives!
Vegetables like carrot sticks, celery sticks, and fruits like apples,
bananas, seedless grapes, fig newtons as well as air-popped popcorn,
graham crackers and pretzels are excellent choices that children and teens
will grab without a second thought if you make them available. Fill your
fruit bowl, refrigerator, and cabinet with the healthier snacks and watch
how your entire family doesn’t even notice a significant difference. While
you’re at it, fill the refrigerator with bottled water and a variety of
fruit juices. Diet sodas are loaded with sodium so toss them out the door
too!
You can make some subtle changes that your family will appreciate you
for later in life. Now is the time to make a healthy change for you and
your family. Don’t even mention the changes in the kitchen. Your children
and teenagers will likely just grab something when they are in search of a
snack. If you announce that the “family is going to start eating more
nutritious meals and snacks” what kind of appeal does that have to the
child who was raised on chicken tenders from Burger King?
Healthy living is maybe the greatest way to care for your family. It
starts with you and most likely, your children will continue to do what
they learned to do at home once they spread their wings and fly solo. Make
sure you provide the healthy start they need to carry with them a
lifetime!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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