Healthy, positive kids develop strong bodies by exercising daily and eating whole foods from nature. Unfortunately many children today are moving too little and eating too much of the wrong foods leading to an explosion in childhood obesity and diabetes rates. Thankfully there are simple action steps parents and kids can do that will produce positive and significant results.

HEALTHY EATING TIPS

Eat a Nutritious Breakfast
Children who eat breakfast perform better on tests and are better able to concentrate and think clearly. Pop-tarts and cereal bars don’t count. We’re talking protein and fiber. Oatmeal with raisins. Whole Grain Bread with peanut butter. Hard boiled Eggs and Fruit. Banana and a piece of cheese. French Toast with Pure Maple Syrup.

Have your Children Eat More Foods that Grow on Trees and Plants and Less Foods that are Manufactured in Plants
Our children’s growing and developing bodies need vitamins, minerals and nutrients found in whole foods (from nature). There is a direct correlation between diet and physical health and depression.

Serve Fruit with Breakfast and a Vegetable with Lunch and Dinner.

Switch Your Candy Bowl with a Fruit Bowl
If candy is available and convenient children will eat candy. If there is no candy children can’t eat candy. If there is fruit children will eat fruit.

Drink Water instead of Soda

Make Homemade Smoothies instead of serving Fruit Juice. Click here for recipes.

Practice the 90-10 Rule.
We don’t have to be fanatical to raise healthy children. Children can still enjoy treats and candy. Just make it 10% of the time instead of all the time. The other 90% of the time eat whole foods.

Plan your Children’s Meals each Week
When you plan your meals you will be able to feed them a nutritious breakfast and send them with a healthy lunch.

Read Labels and Know the Ingredients in Everything You Buy.
And have your children read them too. You should know everything you are ingesting into your body and allowing into your children’s bodies.

Choose Organic
In a study published in the Environmental Health Perspectives Journal, Children who ate conventional diets had pesticide concentrations in their urine 9 times higher than the children who ate organic! Their levels indicated that they had exceeded safe exposure levels set by the EPA and were at increased risk to their health. By contrast, those children who ate organic foods were well within the EPA levels deemed to cause negligible risk

Visit your Local Health Food Store or Whole Foods Market
Become acquainted with the healthy choices and brands available to you. Talk to store employees and ask questions. Ask them what makes their food healthier. Most employees are very knowledgeable.

HEALTHY EXERCISE TIPS:

Help Children Get off their Dot.com chairs:

Limit Television and Video games to an hour a day.
Create an after school exercise plan with your children, post it on the refrigerator and have them take action after school.

Play outside with your Children
In a study of nearly 4,600 middle-school students found that seventh graders who got even the bare minimum of exercise--20 minutes at least three times a week--had fewer symptoms of depression than those who were less active. The more they moved, the happier they were. Kids who became more active during the 2-year study ended up with more positive moods. Even 20 minutes makes a difference. Try these activities:

Ride bikes together
Play catch.
Have them run to a tree or building and back and time them. See how long it takes and then encourage them to beat their first time.
Play tag, or hide and seek.

Take a Daily Success Walk with your Children
After dinner take a walk with your children and share your success of the day with each other. This walk will reduce stress, create a powerful bond between you and your children and help them develop an optimistic mindset. Each night your child will go to bed a success and this will help them to start thinking more positively. I do this nightly with my children, ages 6 and 4, and it works.

Play Inside with Your Children

Put on fun dance music and dance around the house.
Blow up a balloon and try to keep it in the air.
Do a child’s yoga video with your children.
Have them shadow box or practice karate.

Sign Them Up
If they are not playing sports at school sign them up for a sports league, dance class, karate class or any other class that includes physical activity. If these classes are expensive then sign them up for activities at the YMCA or Boys and Girls Club. Just keep them active, healthy and out of trouble.

At School:
Learn from Ponte Vedra Palm Valley Elementary School. They planted 4 trees in the shape of a rectangle and made a tree-track that every child runs around three times during gym class. When Coach first started the tree track most kids couldn’t even make it once around the track. In just a few weeks most of them could run around it three times. Exercise is a habit and thankfully it’s easy to practice.

*In accordance with Federal Law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, the Phenix City Public School District is prohibited from discriminating on the basis or race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Rm 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Av, SW, Washington DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.