your guide to raising a fit and healthy family

Your Guide to Raising aFit and Healthy FamilyGetting Fit, Having Fun, Building Healthy Family Relationships

HEALTHY FAMILY MATTERS

Erica Brooks

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Healthy Family Finances

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Your Family Deserves to Live a Fit, Healthy and Quality Lifestyle - NowMore Than Ever

Today’s family dynamic is much different than it was 30, or even 20, years ago.Today there are considerably more single parent homes, homes with bothparents working outside the home and homes where the grandparents areraising the children.

With this change in the family structure and with today’s technology, familiesare less active and eating out has replaced family meal time togetherness.

In this report, you'll be given several ideas, tips and suggestions so that youcan stay active, eat healthy meals together and more importantly, create astrong family bond that will withstand the test of time, no matter what yourfamily makeup and lifestyle.

You'll learn things such as:

▪ Finding Time in Your Busy Schedules to Spend Together

▪ Meal Planning

▪ Cooking Together

▪ Physical Activities to Help the Entire Family Get & Stay Fit

▪ Getting the House Clean & Getting Fit at the Same Time

▪ And much more...

Here's to a fit and health family where togetherness makes it possible. Let'sget started!

A Healthy Family Starts with a Plan

HEALTHY FAMILY MATTERSYOUR GUIDE TO RAISING A FIT AND HEALTHY FAMILY

HEALTHY FAMILY MATTERS , HTTP://WWW.HEALTHYFAMILYMATTERS.COM2

Since most families are super busy with careers, sports, dance, and otherextracurricular activities, it’s important to know everyone’s schedule and haveit on a calendar. The purpose of this is to know what nights you are able to getthe family together for a meal.

Updating the calendar weekly is a great way to make sure it stays up to date.In addition, use only one calendar for everyone to write their schedule on tomake sure everything is included. For example, when your daughter comeshome and announces she is in the school play, get the dates and mark themon the calendar immediately.

If your family is technology driven, another way to accomplish this is by usinga calendar program in which you can all share one calendar on the computer.

Plan your family dinners together on the nights everyone is available. If thereare not any nights when everyone is home at the same time, see if there issomething that can be cut out or rescheduled for another night.

Because feeding is the most basic form of caring, sharing meals is one of themost central of family bonds. Through the mini lessons of table manners,children learn to share and think of others, by saying “please” and “thank you”.

The following statistics show that families who have at least 4 meals togetherare happier, stay together longer and are more successful:

More mealtimes at home was the single strongest factor in betterachievement scores and fewer behavioral problems in children all ages. Moremeals at home also resulted in less obesity.

More than a decade of research by The National Center on Addiction andSubstance Abuse at Columbia University has found that the more often kids



eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or usedrugs.

Experts everywhere agree: Sharing meals helps cement family relationships,no matter how you define "family."

"Sitting down to a meal together draws a line around us," says Miriam Weinstein,author of The Surprising Power of Family Meals. "It encloses us and, for a brieftime, strengthens the bonds that connect us with other members of our self-defined clan, shutting out the rest of the world."

Meal Planning

Once you have your schedule set up, then it’s time to plan the meals you aregoing to eat with your family. Let’s assume you’ve worked out your familyschedule so now you actually have 4 nights out of each week to sit downtogether. Now you want to make those meals healthy because heaven knowsthe rest of the meals probably aren’t, especially if they involve fast food.

Planning ahead makes meal time so much easier, so choose food items likelean meats, leafy vegetables and nice, ripe fruit. Also, stick with whole grainswhen choosing bread items like rolls, sandwich bread and cereal.

One system that seems to work well to help choose healthier foods at thegrocery store is to only shop the perimeter of the store. In other words, don’tgo down the any of the aisles and just choose foods from the produce section,meat, dairy and breads. This way you are avoiding purchasing prepackagedfoods that are full of hidden chemicals and other ingredients that aren’thealthy to consume.

Teaching your kids how to plan healthy meals and then shop for them is bytaking them to the store with you. I know shopping with kids can bechallenging, but when they are involved and get to make some choices, theywill enjoy shopping more, and they get the added benefit of that quality timewith Mom or Dad.



When your children are still small is the opportune time to teach them healthyeating habits. Let them learn that vegetables really can taste good.

One way you can do this is by eating them yourself and when doing so, makeit obvious how good they are by using words like “Yum!” and saying thingslike, “This is so good.”

Children really do learn from what they see and hear, so practice saying good,positive things about healthy food in front of them.

Cooking Healthy Meals Together

Once you have your meals planned out, start cooking them together. This is agreat time to teach your children about healthy cooking, and it affords a greatbonding time.

Cooking doesn’t just have to be about mothers and daughters either. This is agreat opportunity for Dads to show off their cooking abilities to their sons anddaughters as well.

Another option for dads to bond with their kids is while they are grilling.Grilling is a very healthy way to prepare most of your meats and somevegetables. Parents, you can teach your kids how to grill properly and teachthem grill safety. This opens up a great bonding time between parents andkids.

Physical Activities You Can Do Together as a Family

Once you have your family schedule down, you will also be able to see timesthat you can utilize to get your family together and do something that doesn’tinvolve a computer, a cell phone or a TV.

Walking



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One of the simplest, yet most beneficial activities you can do is walking. Withspring here, or almost here, depending on your location, walking together as afamily can be fun and open up great opportunities for conversation.

Walking is known for its health benefits: reducing the risk of disease, like heartattack and stroke, helps with weight loss, raises “good” cholesterol and helpscontrol your blood pressure.

It’s About More than Just Exercise

Walking can also contribute to the making of a healthy family, and you can doit simply by walking out your front door and around your neighborhood.However, if you prefer, many communities have nice parks or walking trails. Asyou are walking, talk to each other about your day at work or school, yourfriends, your goals and your dreams and desires.

This is also a good teaching opportunity. Teach your smaller children aboutnature. You can pick up leaves and rocks along the way and explain what kindof tree they fell from or how rocks are formed. You can also talk about the sun,moon, and atmosphere and the weather; what makes it rain, windy, cold andwarm or snow. You may even see some animals along the way; they alwaysmake for great conversation.

It doesn’t matter what the conversation is; the important thing is to get outand walk as a family to boost your health benefits and to bond your familyunit together.

Bike Riding

Another activity that is simple to implement into just about any familyschedule is bike riding. Biking offers a good cardiovascular workout, buildsmuscle, increases balance and reduces stress. Most people in America have orhad a bike as a kid growing up and it was often their form of transportation toschool, the corner market or their friend’s house. However, bike riding as afamily can be used for a great workout and spending time together.



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Hiking & Walking Trails

Hiking along nature trails is also a fun family sport that offers great healthbenefits, opportunities for conversation, and teaching. Hiking usually requiresadditional skills like map reading and is a great opportunity to teach yourchildren about nature and wildlife. Hiking also includes other skills you maynot use on a typical day; there may be some minor climbing involved overboulders and you will want to know what plants are safe and which are not fortouching and or eating. You may find some berries along the way that lookdelicious to eat, but you will want to be sure they are safe for humanconsumption. You will also want to be aware of any wildlife in your area thatcould pose a potential threat if you run into them along your hike. Usually ifyou stick to the trails designated for hiking, this shouldn’t be too big of aproblem. Check with your local Department of Natural Resources or NationalForest Service before heading out, however.

Swimming

Swimming is my favorite sport of all. I grew up swimming in Olympic sizepools and now that my family and I live near several lakes and beaches,swimming is an integral part of our summer.

But, you don’t have to live near a beach to enjoy swimming together as afamily. Most communities have public swimming pools where you can enjoyyour time together as a family and get the exercise needed to maintain ahealthy lifestyle.

Swimming uses just about every muscle in your body and water resistance isgreater than air resistance so the muscles have to work harder. Swimming alsopromotes better circulation, breathing and helps combat the aging process. Inaddition, swimming is one of the best forms of exercise for toning the upperarms, shoulders and legs. You get great over all body toning by doing thefreestyle, breast stroke and back stroke.

Swimming also has great psychological benefits such as:

• Relieving stress



• Heightening a sense of well being• Increasing energy• Soothes the mind and body

Beach & Water Sports

Other water sports like skiing, wake boarding and beach volleyball are allactivities you can enjoy together as a family.

If you have a water skier or wake boarder in the family, have them teach theothers.

Tubing is another sport that requires some muscle strength. In addition, beingout on a boat offers a small space where there’s usually not much room for thekids to escape. Take advantage of it and offer some conversation that will getyour kids to open up. Or simply enjoy one another’s time together as a family.

Go for a long walk on the beach. Walking in the sand is one of the best legexercises there is and what better way to exercise, than with your family inbeautiful, peaceful surroundings.

Volleyball

Volleyball is another sport that can be played together as a family. We havevolleyball nets in our yard, and as soon as the snow melts and until it fliesagain in the late fall, you will usually find us outside spiking the ball over thenet, or at least trying to. You can usually find volleyball nets and balls fairlyinexpensively at Wal-Mart or other sporting goods stores. Believe it or not,they are pretty easy to set up. It’s a great way to get outside together as afamily and get some exercise.

Tennis

Tennis is a sport that can be fun to get your family together to hit some ballsback and forth. Most local community centers have tennis courts you can usefor free and may even have the equipment available as well. Not only is tennisfun, but it offers great health benefits.



People who participate in tennis 3 hours per week, at moderately vigorousintensity, cut their risk of death in half from any cause, according to aphysician who studied over 10,000 people over a period of 20 years.

Our grandparent’s generation played a lot of tennis. As a matter of fact, myown grandfather played tennis everyday with his buddies and colleagues andlived to be 94 years of age.

In addition to the many physical benefits, tennis has also been shown to:

• Build self esteem• Reduce depression and anxiety• Aid in continued brain development

Golfing

Golf is a sport you may not typically think of as a family sport. However, if youbegin teaching your kids at an early age, they will most likely pick it up easilyand learn to enjoy it into adulthood. When golfing, try not to use a cart if at allpossible.

Take the kids along to learn how to play but also let them be your caddy. Thewalking alone kept will keep everyone in shape and many memories can bemade on the golf course.

Family Team Sports

How about joining a sports team together? Many local churches orcommunity centers have baseball or softball teams that people of all ages andgenders can join.

Simply get outside and throw a football to each other for half an hour. It’s funand rewarding!

Basketball



Go to a basketball court, (if you don’t have a hoop in your driveway set up),and shoot hoops with your kids for an hour or so.

Baseball/Softball

Take your family to the batting cages and practice hitting a few balls together.This can be quite expensive, especially if you have a large family.

If you’re looking for a way to “Play Ball” without spending a fortune, set upsome bases in your backyard or in a park and play baseball or softball as afamily.

Kickball/Dodge BallJust like baseball or softball, kickball and dodge ball are two more great familygames. You can play right in your backyard and use markers (stones, treestumps, etc.) as bases.

SoccerSoccer is fun and great exercise for all ages. Set up some goals in your yard orgo to the soccer field near you when it’s available and kick the ball around. Youcould also get some other families to join in if desired.

More Back Yard Play for Family Fun

Hula & Double Dutch Anyone?Other physical activities you can participate in as a family include hula hoopand jump rope contests. Come on Mom and Dad, you can give it a try too.Your kids will love to see you swing those hips and jump up and down tryingto keep up with them.

Inexpensive Backyard Games the Entire Family Will Enjoy

Frisbee and Badminton are other great sports you can do right in your ownbackyard as a family. Or how about simply playing a game of Tag with yourkids? You’ll be surprised at how much exercise you’ll get just running fromyour kids.



Bocce Ball is a fun backyard game for the whole family. Other fun familybackyard games are Croquet, Bolo Ball, Bean Bag Toss and Horse Shoes. Manyof these games can be purchased fairly inexpensively or be easily homemadewith items lying around your home or in your shed or garage.

Bring Back Your Own Childhood Favorites

Start a game of street hockey. Remember that from your childhood? If not, itinvolves a small ball as the puck and some sticks. You may have to teach yourkids how to play, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole neighborhood joinsyou eventually. Of course you should only do this in neighborhoods withminimal traffic.

Some other childhood games you can teach your kids, and play with them,are:

• Red Rover• Mother May I• Simon Says• TV Tag• Freeze Tag• Hide and Go Seek

These are fun activities that get you moving in a variety of ways and once kidslearn about them, they will continue playing them for years to come.

Did you used to play hopscotch in the driveway or on the sidewalk? If youhave a dirt driveway, use a stick to draw the hopscotch board. For concrete orblacktop driveways and sidewalks, you can use sidewalk chalk. You may beable to find a plastic hopscotch game at a local store.

Hopping around with your kids is sure to be a memory that will last a lifetime,along with the health benefits.

Go Fly a Kite



No, not like the way your children may mean it when they tell their brother orsister to go fly a kite because they've made them angry either. ;)

On a warm, breezy day take your kids kite flying.

Kite flying is one of many parents' favorite childhood memories. Remembergetting the kite as high as you could?

When it came back down and the next good wind came along you workedeven harder to get it higher than the last time. Ahh…what fun kite flying canbe. Running and the use of your arms is wonderful exercise, but the memoriesyou make with your kids is the greatest reward.

Mini Golf for Friendly Competition

Putt-putt golf, or miniature golf, is one of a lot of kid’s favorite things do to as afamily. All the fun and bonding you’ll experience as a family make it worth thecost.

Hit the Playground

Walk to a nearby park and play with your kids on the monkey bars, swings anda horizontal ladder. Challenge each other to see who can swing the highest,do the most rotations on the monkey bars or get across the horizontal ladderthe fastest.

Roughing it Can be Great Exercise & Bonding Time

Take the family to the river or across the lake in a canoe. Take turns rowing andplan a healthy picnic lunch along the river bank or on the beach. You canusually rent a canoe for a day at a reasonable price, and the quality time spentoutweighs the monetary expense.

Camping is one of the best family fun times in my book. Go to a campgroundwhere you can hike, bike, walk, and of course swim. Take advantage of thenatural surroundings to talk together as a family.



Don’t forget to spend time together around the campfire in the eveningsreminiscing about the day, planning the next day’s activities or just tellingjokes and stories.

The great thing about camping is that you can do it right in your ownbackyard if you want to. No need to spend money on a camping site at a statepark or other place far away.

Winter Time Activities to Keep Your Family Moving

Just because it gets cold out doesn't mean you have to hibernate like bears allwinter. Here are some fun ideas for having fun outside during the cold wintermonths.

Be safe and bundle up to stay warm and come inside to warm up frequentlywhen you're playing out in the snow and wind.

Enjoy the Snow! - In the winter months, shoveling snow together gets the jobdone quickly, and is a great workout. Make a snow angel afterwards, whichalso works the arms and legs. Be sure to build a snowman and have a snowballfight too. Your kids will love it! You can head inside afterwards and warm upwith a healthy veggie soup or hot tea.

Sledding – If you've got a hill near your house, sledding is a great way to getthe heart pumping and have fun too. For the older kids, they can pull theyounger ones on the sled for even more of a workout.

Skiing & Snowboarding – Whether it's Cross Country or downhill, skiing is agreat form of exercise the whole family can have fun with.

Cross country skiing is an activity the whole family will enjoy. Not only is it agreat workout for your entire body, but you can also plan other activitiesaround it like a campfire in the snow.



Downhill skiing and snowboarding are both sports the whole family can learntogether. Some resorts offer lessons as a family group and this is not only agreat way to get some good exercise, but it brings a family together as they alllearn something new together.

Ice Skating - There are so many health benefits to ice skating: cardiovascularworkout, awesome leg strengthening, and total body workout. Get everyonein your family together and hit the ice (not literally of course). Holding handswhile you skate and teaching one another tricks or simply how to skate canform great bonds and memories for your family.

Indoor Activities for Family Fitness

Okay, now that we’ve covered the many outdoor activities you can do as afamily, how about some indoor activities? Whether the weather is cold, rainyor you just can't get outdoors to get some exercise, being inside is not excusefor not keeping your fitness and family togetherness a priority.

With today’s technology, gaming system companies have come out withvideo systems that help promote fitness. One such fitness system is Nintendo’sWii Fit.

Wii Fit is created so that every member of your family can compare theirprogress together. There are categories of exercise that are perfect for eachmember of your family: Yoga, Balance, Strength Training and Aerobics. If yourfamily is addicted to video games, or simply just enjoys them, Wii Fit is theperfect solution for getting your family together for some exercise.

There is also the Wii Sports where your family can play against one another insports like bowling, tennis, baseball and more.

If you're looking for more of a traditional workout with a few sports throw in,you can get just that with EA Sport's Active for the Wii. Active allows eachfamily member to set up a profile that tracks not only your daily workout, butcalories burned, eating habits and more. You can even set up a 30 dayworkout plan to track progress and follow others doing the same in theirforum for 30 Day Challenge Active members.



Plan a workout schedule that can be done in your living room. Working outdoesn’t have to involve expensive gym equipment. Working out as a familycan be fun and beneficial in so many ways.

Get creative when it comes to how you get your exercise. Think of ways youcan replace pricey equipment with items you have right there in the house.

For instance, you can substitute cans of soup for weights when you needsome extra resistance in your workout. You can also turn on your favoriteupbeat dancing music and make up your own aerobic dance movements orexercises. Your kids will get a blast out of watching you shake your booty, butsimply moving around in this manner will give you a great cardiovascularworkout.

Compete against one another to see who can do the most sit ups or push ups.Even if you know you'd lose, participate anyway. It gets you off the couch orout of the computer chair and doing something that is fun and familyoriented.

Help hold each other’s feet as you do sit ups and have the foot-holder be anencourager to do just one more and so on.

This will open up opportunities to teach family members perseverance, howto be a good sport even when they don't win and how win with respect andgrace. It will also teach your children the importance of teamwork.

Put Those Exercise DVDs Collecting Dust to Use

Get out one of those workout DVDs you've purchased and used once (ornever) and gather everyone in the living room for a half hour of aerobics orPilates. Your kids will get a kick out of being on the floor and dancing aroundwith Mommy and Daddy, especially if they are smaller. If you have teens, itmay be a bit harder to get them to join you, but with some persistence andseeing how much fun you're having, not to mention how good you look, theywill eventually join in.



If you have exercise equipment lying around your house, get it out and startusing it. Ask your kids if they would like to learn how to use it. Encourage themto do so. If you have a spare room or space set up a “gym” where you all canworkout together. You’ll be surprised at how fast a half hour goes by whenyou exercise together.

Indoor Activities Away from Home

You can take your family roller skating at a rink, even when the weather's bad.As with ice skating, roller skating is a great cardiovascular workout, as well asan overall workout for your entire body. Many memories are created when afamily goes roller skating together. Yes, they do still have roller skating rinks. ;-)

Go bowling as a family.

Get one or two lanes right next to each other and bowl to your heart’scontent. It’s fairly inexpensive and it’s great exercise your whole family willenjoy.

Join a mixed age martial arts class, ballet, gymnastics, or other sports activityas a family.

In-line skating is another popular form of skating and can be done indoors oroutdoors. Be sure to wear the proper protective gear such as knee pads, elbowpads and helmets to ensure safety and less injury in case of falling.

Clean Up & Shape Up TooCleaning & Exercise Go Hand in Hand

When spring is in the air, spring cleaning often comes to the minds of manyhomeowners. Getting your family together and everyone pitching in is a greatway to not only get your home in shape but your bodies too.



After the snow melts, yards tend to be messy with leaves and branches lyingall around. Raking is amazing exercise for your arms and bending down andrising up is great for the waist line.

Smaller children, as well as teens, will benefit greatly from the exercise theythey receive when helping Mom or Dad clean up the yard. Not to mention allthe other fun things that happens when a family is outside together.

In the fall, rake the leaves into large piles and take turns jumping in them. Thismakes for great photo opportunities as well, so make sure you've got thecamera handy.

Gardening

Starting a garden, or getting your present garden ready for the new season isalso a terrific way to get the family all together. A vegetable garden servestwo-fold in helping your family get healthy and fit. Not only will you all benefitfrom the exercise digging and planting, but you'll also reap the rewards oflovely, healthy, all natural fruits and veggies grown by your own hands.

Flower beds aren’t just for Moms. Many Dads enjoy flower gardening as well.Why not take the extra step and get the kids involved too. They can learn, helpand get exercise all at the same time. I would even go so far as to say that onceyour kids got their hands in some dirt and learned a little about the flowersthey’re planting, they’ll come to love it as much as you do.

Another fun outdoor activity is chopping wood. Teens can get involved withthe actual chopping which is an amazing workout for the arms, but little onescan get their workout by carrying the wood to the wood pile. Rewardafterwards with a campfire.

Mowing the lawn probably sounds like more of a chore than a fun familyactivity. However, if you each take turns, not only will you have a great lookinglawn, everyone will have gotten a great workout as well.

Scrub a Dub Dub – Washing for Fitness



Window washing is never an idea of fun for most of us, but it can be whendone as a family. The reaching, scrubbing and wiping tones your arms and ifyou have to climb a ladder (do so with caution) this works out your legs andincreases balance.

Washing the car in the driveway is a fun summer past time in manyhouseholds. With all the bending and scrubbing, your entire family is sure toget a great workout.

It’s also a great excuse to have a water fight! There is something about thebonding that happens when your son or daughter “accidentally” sprays you ortheir sibling.

Cleaning the Inside of the House

As much fun as you might have cleaning up and getting fit outside, don'tforget about indoors too. After all, that's where your family spends the mosttime.

Sweeping & De-Cluttering

Sweeping the cobwebs out of the corners is great exercise for all ages. If yourchild is tall enough to reach with a broom or duster, they can join in on theaction.

Cleaning out a closet or junk drawer is a task we all hate to do. But, if you haveyour kids and hubby help organize the closet or drawer, the task is donequickly and everyone in the house knows where those odds and ends are.

Carrying out bags of unused items to take to the nearest resale shop requiresmuscle usage of the arms and legs. In addition, everyone benefits from lifting(carrying boxes and bags to the car), walking (putting items away in theirproper location), and reaching (taking down or storing items up high).

Having your kids and hubby help you with these small tasks not only helpsyou get the work done quicker, it also helps get them off the couch.



Dust Bunnies Be Gone

Dusting is a task even the smallest of hands can do. Given proper instructionand using disposable dust clothes, little ones and teens may find they enjoyhelping make the house look and feel cleaner.

Vacuuming & Shampooing

Carpet shampooing requires use of the arms, back and legs. Let your familymembers run the shampooer across the carpet a few times. This will help takethe load off of you and give them a feeling of accomplishment.

Redecorating

Painting walls can seem like a tedious job, but with the entire family involvedit can prove to be great fun, not to mention all the exercise everyone willbenefit from. Allow your kids to pick out the color they’d like for their room forstarters as a motivator to get them involved. Using a roller brush works thearms and shoulders, not to mention all the benefits of bending and stretching.

Use this time together to teach about colors, personal styles or simply to talkabout life. In the end, you will have a new and improved home and have madeanother family memory.

As if those activities were not enough to get you thinking and start youplanning things you and your family can do together to get fit and healthy,here are a few more to consider.

More Activities Families Can Do to Stay Healthy

Holidays & Family Gatherings

Create your own Olympics events at a family reunion or Holiday party. Becreative and come up with games for everyone of all ages.

Walk in holiday parades together, enter activities at an ethnic festivity or join acharitable function like a Relay for Life event or something similar.



Go shopping together, even if it’s only window shopping. All of the walking isgreat exercise and you can enjoy some family bonding time. Afterwards, top itoff with a healthy lunch or dinner out.

Give Back & Get Healthy at the Same Time

• Adopt a highway, street or park and keep it clean together on a regularbasis.

• Compete in a walk or run for a cause. There are walks and runs of allsizes that benefit charities and research for diseases such as Autism,Cancer and many more.

• Create your own fundraiser for a cause near and dear to your heart. Youcan do things like a car wash, a run or walk, hold a sports competition,etc. Get creative but make it fun and keep it moving to benefit not onlythe recipients of the funds, but the participants and volunteers too.

As you can see there are so many ways to get your family off the couch, out ofthe computer chair and away from their cell phones and video games. With alittle diligence, effort and persistence you can have a fit and healthy familythat spends lots of quality time together doing things that will help everyonebe more successful, have better self confidence and self esteem and live ahappy and prosperous life.

