healthy & active...together!

A lot of our blogs are about personal fitness – the importance of having a commitment as an individual to a life that is active, healthy, and balanced. And that'’s good! We all need to challenge ourselves toward greater levels of commitment, personally, in these areas. Health and active living won'’t just “happen.” We need to be going after it.

But, we want to remember, too, that one of the best ways to get into the good and healthy habits that make up an active lifestyle is to get there as a family. We don'’t do this alone; we shouldn'’t have to! A family can together make a decision to “set the tone” for what their family life will look like – either unhealthy and inactive, or something quite the opposite. Here are just a few suggestion to get you thinking about how your family can take some simple steps toward going after a healthy and active lifestyle together:

1. Watch less television.
It'’s great to have a few T.V. shows or sports teams that you watch together. But don'’t make family life all about the television. Limit it. Set parameters (on yourselves, too, parents!) for how often the television will be on during the day. Chances are, with the television turned off, you’re not going to spend all of your time sitting on the couch, with nothing to watch! Treat the TV. as a “special” treat, not as a constant presence.

2. Sit down and eat together – for as many meals as possible!
You'’ve all heard that the statistics point clearly to the healthy benefit of eating a few solid meals in a day, rather than unhealthy snacking all the time. One easy way to move in that direction is to sit down, gather around the table, and eat meals together.  Eat at the table, not “on the run,” or standing around in the kitchen. Make meal time family time, and limit the unhealthy snacking tendency.

3. Make your own fun.
Parents (and kids!): get creative. Make a decision to do something together that you haven'’t tried before. Go to the gym all together, and play basketball. Take a jog/walk as a family in the park. Go on a bike ride. Explore a forest preserve, or walk around a lake together. A key part of making new habits as a family will be breaking the old ones (especially if they include sitting around watching T.V. every evening). Make a drastic change, and do something fun and active – together.

4. Start habits early.
If you'’re a parent of young children, you have a major advantage! You can start now, so that your kids grow up being used to a family that eats healthy, stays active, and does both exercise and fun activities together. When the weather is warm, make a family tradition out of an after-dinner walk. In the winter, head to your local gym every Saturday morning together, or go for a hike in the woods. It'’s easier to set the course now, then change it later!

Doing this together as a family is only going to strengthen your individual resolve to eat healthy, stay active, and live well. So, next time you find yourselves standing around and snacking before an evening of several hours planted in front of the television… -reconsider! Sit down as a family. Look each other in the eye and talk. And then head out to do something active and fun together.