Start your day with breakfast.
Breakfast fills your "empty tank" to get you going after a long night without food. And it can help you do better in school. Easy to prepare breakfasts include cold cereal with fruit and low-fat milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt , whole-grain waffles or even last night's pizza! See also: Breakfast on the Fly
Get Moving!
It's easy to fit physical activities into your daily routine. Walk, bike or jog to see friends. Take a 10-minute activity break every hour while you read, do homework or watch TV. Climb stairs instead of taking an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for a total of 30 minutes every day.
Snack Smart
Snacks are a great way to refuel. Choose snacks from different food groups -- a glass of low-fat milk and a few graham crackers, an apple or celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins, or some dry cereal. If you eat smart at other meals, cookies, chips and candy are okay for occasional snacking.
Work up a Sweat
Vigorous work-outs -- when you're breathing hard and sweating -- help your heart pump better, give you more energy and help you look and feel your best. Start with a warm-up that stretches your muscles. Include 20 minutes of aerobic activity, such as running, jogging or dancing. Follow-up with that help make you stronger such as push-ups or lifting weights. Then cool-down with more stretching and deep breathing.
Don't Eat Too Much of One Thing
You don't have to give up foods like hamburgers, french fries and ice cream to eat healthfully. You just have to be smart about how often and how much of them you eat. Your body needs nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, fat and many different vitamins and minerals such as vitamins C and A, iron and calcium from a variety of foods. Balancing food choices from the Food Guide Pyramid and checking out the Nutrition Facts Panel on food labels will help you to get all these nutrients.
Get Fit With Friends and Family
Being active is much more fun with friends or family. Encourage others to join you and plan one special activity event, like a bike ride or hiking, with a group each week.
Eat more grains, fruits and vegetables.
These foods give you carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins, minerals and fiber. Besides, they taste good! Try breads such as whole-wheat, bagels and pita. Spaghetti and oatmeal are also in the grain group.
Bananas, strawberries and melons are some great tasting fruits. (See: Easy Ways to Eat More Fruit). Try vegetables raw, on a sandwich or in a salad.
Join in at school.
Whether you take a education class or do other at school, such as intramural sports, structured are a sure way to feel good, look good and stay physically fit.
Foods aren't good or bad.
A healthy eating style is like a puzzle with many parts. Each part -- or food -- is different. Some foods may have more fat, sugar or salt while others may have more vitamins or fiber. There is a place for all these foods. What makes a diet good or bad is how foods fit together. Balancing your choices is important. Fit in a higher-fat food, like pepperoni pizza, at dinner by choosing lower-fat foods at other meals. And don't forget about moderation. If two pieces of pizza fill you up, don't eat a third.
Make Healthy Eating and Fun!
Take advantage of you and your friends enjoy doing together and eat the foods you like. Be adventurous -- try new sports, games and other as well as new foods. You'll grow stronger, play longer, and look and feel better! Set realistic goals -- don't try changing too much at once.
Four playground favorites you can use as a personal gym!
If you have little children you enjoy taking to the park, make use of that time and get in your own workout with the following moves using the playground equipment.
Swings
pumping your legs to swing high, targets your quadriceps and hamstrings (front and back of your thighs). The harder you pump, the higher you swing and the more intense your workout becomes. Hop off and push someone on the swing next. This will work your arms, or biceps.
For an extra move that targets your abdominal muscles, sit on the swing; grasp the chains with your hands overhead. Support yourself with your hands and pull your knees toward your chest. Hold for a second, and then slowly lower. This is a tough one so you may only be able to do a few repetitions. That is okay, do what you can.
The Slide
Climbing up the steps is good for your quadriceps, hamstrings and buttocks. The best part -- sliding down -- does wonders for lifting your spirits and boosting your energy. If you are stick at the bottom of the slide catching your child while she/he has all the fun, lift him overhead each time for a great upper-body . For an extra move, that your triceps, or the back of the arms, place your hands behind you on the edge of the slide. Extend your . Bending your elbows so they point behind you, slowly lower yourself. Hold for a second then slowly press back up. This is equivalent to a triceps dip.
Monkey Bars
swinging from bar to bar is a fabulous for your upper body. So is climbing up and down the bars to exercise your arms and at the same time. Just hanging from a bar is a great way to stretch your whole body. For an extra move, that your arms, back and shoulders do chin-ups. If chin-ups are too difficult, do not sweat it (no pun intended), do these variations: Using a bar that is taller than you, place your hands about shoulder-width apart with your palms facing you. Step on a nearby bar to boost yourself up so your arms are bent and your chin is above the bar you are holding. Slowly lower your body by extending your arms. When your arms fully extend, use your feet to boost yourself back up.
Seesaw
The up-and-down motion is sure to put a smile on your face; the impact each time you land will help keep your bones strong and pushing off to go back up works your and buttocks. For an extra move, that your chest, shoulders and arms, when it is not your turn to ride, use the main bar to do push-ups. Place your hands about shoulder-width apart and extend your behind you. Keeping your head back, and in a straight line, bend your elbows and slowly lower your chest toward the bar. Hold for a second then push back up.
There you have it -- your four moves to look and feel younger as well as enjoy some quality time with your children! Imagine how fun it will be for them to see mom enjoying the playground as well. Just think of the memories -- and the great example you are setting by encouraging activity.
Quick Tip:
To avoid accidents, always keep an eye on your kids, of course, and stick close by them. In fact, make this entire experience more fun for all by swinging with your kids and seesawing with them. If you have more than one child, set them both on the other end of the see-saw to challenge your leg muscles while you put them up into the air. If you do have to run after your child, or children for any reason, that will burn calories as well. In addition, it will get your metabolism moving!
Getting kids involved in cooking is one way to encourage healthful eating. If they help prepare it, they just may eat it. Following are suggestions, tips, the best and worst foods for kids, plus some healthy recipes you're children are sure to enjoy!
An eating regimen that is too rigid or rigorous also has pitfalls. Moderation is the key to success.
As children develop good eating habits, praise them. Reward an all out good effort with an occasional non-edible treat, such as a movie pass or tickets to a ball game.
Do not expect immediate results. Changing eating and exercise habits gradually offers a much better chance that your child will make them a way of life.
It may be more convenient to feed kids smaller meals and give them nutritious nibbles between meals when they are hungry. That is one way to sneak in fruits and vegetables when the kids are not expecting them and are the most likely to eat them because they are hungry. See also: Easy Ways to Eat More Fruit
Remember to combine different colors and textures at mealtime to make it more interesting and enticing.
The Worst and Best Foods for Kids
Following are ten of the worst children's foods, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The Worst:
Soda
Hamburgers
Hot dogs
Ice cream
Bologna
Whole milk
American cheese
French fries and Tater Tots
Pizza loaded with cheese and meat
Chocolate bars
The Best:
Fresh fruits and vegetables (especially carrot sticks, cantaloupe, oranges, watermelon, strawberries)
Chicken breast and drumstick without skin or breading
Cheerios, Wheaties or other whole-grain, low-sugar cereals
Skim or 1-percent milk
Extra-lean ground beef or vegetable burgers
Low fat hot dogs
Non-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt
Fat free corn chips or potato chips
Seasoned air-popped popcorn
Whole wheat crackers or Small World animal crackers
"Build-Your-Own" Recipes for Kids
Pita Pockets:
Put out whole wheat pita breads sliced in half, small pieces of sliced turkey breast or low fat cheese and vegetables such as lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, sliced cucumbers and bean sprouts. Let the diners spice up their sandwiches with mustard, cranberry sauce or salsa.
Baked Potato:
Offer healthful toppings for baked potatoes such as grated part-skim Parmesan cheese, plain non-fat yogurt flavored with curry or dill, ratatouille, vegetables sauteed in water or a little oil, canned (without salt) or frozen peas and salsa.
Chef's Salad:
Set out washed and torn lettuce, fresh spinach, diced turkey and lean ham, low fat cheese, hard-cooked eggs or egg whites, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and carrots. Serve fresh bread on the side.
Burritos:
Offer cooked ground turkey, cooked kidney or black beans (drained if using canned), hot sauce, black olives, cooked rice, torn-up lettuce, diced tomatoes and warmed flour tortillas.
Teeth health begins with proper eating habits and not necessarily with the avoidance of sweets, including chocolate candy, candy cane, candy bar or hard candy, but the clue is getting the balance right. When it comes to choosing the food for your kids, consider sweet candy as part of their diet, teaching them to keep healthy teeth.
Caring for teeth requires your children brush their teeth twice a day, no matter if they eat chocolate candy or just other types of foods during the day. A Candy cane is not a tool to clean their teeth, as many kids believe playing with it in their mouth. Anyone who eats foods high in sugar is required to brush daily.
Sweet candy plays a part in tooth decay. The best way to keep smiling is using fluoride toothpastes. Help children develop a teeth brushing routine, limiting candy bars and hard candy intake during the day, and never after brushing their teeth at bedtime to avoid microorganisms working on their mouth by night.
The American Dental Association has animations and games online aimed to teach children how to brush and other fundamentals of oral health care. They teach kids to be aware of the damage that chocolate candy, candy cane, candy bar, hard candy and other sweet candy may cause in the long run if cleaning regularly is practiced.
The best way to encourage kids' dental hygiene is by providing them with flavored fluoride toothpaste to make brushing a more enjoyable experience. In fact, many dentists recommend changing the taste and appearance of toothpaste on a regular basis for better results.
Research has found children who like to brush twice each day, do it for longer periods of time when the toothpaste is flavored because they associate the taste with sweet candy. Appropriate brushing prevents gum disease, cavities and other dental health issues caused by the consumption of a candy bar or chewable hard candy.
Kid’s age 6 or less should brush using no more than a pea-sized dab of toothpaste to remove plaque. This simple action is enough to provide the necessary fluoride protection against chocolate candy, candy cane and regular food that is stuck to teeth during the day.
Healthy eating habits contribute to healthy teeth, because the snacks that kids eat are basically made of sweet candy, the more they eat the more risk of leading to formation of cavities. Limit your children's snacks is not a good idea because they need food for energy, but substituting candies for nutritious foods such as vegetables sticks are best.
What snacks are good for my child?
Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low- or nonfat dair also make great snacks for children. Here are some ideas for ways to serve these foods to your kids:
Fruits:
· Bits of fruit stirred into nonfat yogurt
· Strawberries
· Raisins
· Grapes
· Pineapple chunks
· Orange or grapefruit sections
· Bananas cooked lightly in apple juice
· Apple slices with all natural peanut butter
· Dried fruit mixes
Vegetables:
· Carrot sticks
· Celery sticks with all natural peanut butter
· Raw broccoli and cauliflower florets with a low-fat dip or salsa
Protein:
· 1% fat or fat-free cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
· Water-packed tuna mixed with fat-free mayonnaise on top of celery sticks or whole-grain crackers
· Fat-free yogurt topped with sunflower seeds, chopped dried fruit or a spoonful of oat bran
Whole grains:
· Cereals or cereal bars that are low in sugar and fat, and high in fiber and protein
· Whole-grain crackers, breads or bagels
Sweets and desserts:
· Fat-free frozen yogurt
· Juice bars
· Sherbet and sorbet
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