80 ways to keep your child healthy

In celebration of the 80th Child Health Day on Monday October 6, and keeping with the theme “Eat Healthy and Be Active for a Healthy Future” I compiled a gigantic list of ways to help you achieve this goal for your family. Here are –

80 WAYS TO KEEP YOUR CHILD HEALTHY

HELP KIDS STAY ACTIVE:

1. Bike to the library together.
2. Walk or bike to your children’s sports events to cheer for them.
3. Have your children come to your sports events and cheer for you.
4. Celebrate special occasions—birthdays, anniversaries—with something active, such as a hike, a volleyball game, a Frisbee™ match.
5. Train together for a charity walk or run.
6. Walk the dog with your children.
7. Exercise while you watch TV.
8. Park farther away from your destination.
9. Plan social activities involving exercise.
10. Plan a party with physically active games and activities for your family and your children’s friends.
11. Develop new friendships with physically active families and children. Join a group, such as the YMCA or a hiking club.
12. Schedule physical activity for times in the day or week when you feel energetic.
13. Make physical activity a regular part of your family’s daily or weekly schedule and write it on a family activity calendar.
14. Enroll your children in community sports teams or lessons, or swimming, gymnastics, or tennis.
15. Develop a set of regular activities for you and your family that are always available regardless of weather, such as indoor cycling, aerobic dance, indoor swimming, stretching and strengthening movements, stair climbing, rope skipping, mall walking, dancing, and gymnasium games.
16. Look at outdoor activities that depend on weather conditions, such as cross-country skiing, outdoor swimming, and outdoor tennis as “bonuses”—extra activities possible when weather and circumstances permit.
17. Take a family walk after dinner.
18. Replace a Sunday drive with a Sunday walk.
19. Do yard work. Get your children to help rake, weed, plant, etc.
20. Work around the house. Ask your children for help doing active chores
21. Use an exercise video with your kids if the weather is bad.
22. Play with your kids 30 minutes a day.
23. Dance to music. Play your favorite dance music for your children and have them play their favorites for you.
24. Make a Saturday morning walk a family habit.
25. Stretch, do yoga, lift hand weights while watching TV.
26. Go out and enjoy the sun, but be sun-protected.
27. Challenge the family to see who can do the most push-ups, jumping jacks, or leg lifts during commercial breaks, or switch to an exercise tape during commercials.
28. Provide other alternatives for them to spend their time, such as playing outside, learning a hobby or sport, or spending time with family and friends.

(Keep reading, there are 52 more ways…)

HELP KIDS MAKE DEVELOP EATING HABITS:

1. Make eating together a priority and schedule family meals at least two to three times a week. Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products.
2. Eat GO foods almost anytime: lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts.
3. Eat foods low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.
4. Substitute the low-fat and fat-free versions of foods as alternatives to the full fat items.
5. Have SLOW foods sometimes or less often. SLOW foods include: vegetables with added fat, white refined flour bread, low-fat mayonnaise, and 2% low fat milk.
6. Have WHOA foods only once in a while or on special occasions. And, when you do have them, have small portions. Examples of WHOA foods are: whole milk, cheese, fried potatoes, croissants, muffins, butter, and creamy salad dressings.
7. Stays within your calorie needs.
8. Grill, steam, or bake instead of frying.
9. Flavor foods with herbs, spices, and other low-fat seasonings.
10. Keep to a regular eating schedule.
11. Eat before you get too hungry.
12. Don’t skip breakfast.
13. Get into the habit of eating breakfast, even on weekends and holidays.
14. Stock your kitchen with easy-to-prepare, healthy breakfast options.
15. Stop eating when you are full.
16. Snack on fruits and vegetables.
17. Top your favorite cereal with apples or bananas.
18. Include several servings of whole-grain foods daily.
19. Don’t take seconds.
20. Eat sweet foods in small amounts.
21. Try a new fruit or vegetable (ever had jicama, plantain, bok choy, star fruit, or papaya?)
22. Eat half your dessert, or choose fruit as dessert.
23. Don’t encourage late-night eating, or snacking.
24. Substitute the following :
    • olive oil for dipping instead of butter or margarine
    • fat-free or low-fat milk rather than whole milk or cream in coffee or in other drinks
    • food without butter, gravy, or sauces
    • salad dressing “on the side” and request light or fat-free dressing
    • steamed vegetables or a fruit cup as a substitute for french fries
    • “hold the cheese” or “cheese on the side” when ordering sandwiches or salads so you can decide how much cheese you want to eat.
    • unsweetened beverages, such as water, unsweetened iced-tea, or sugar-free or diet iced-tea and lemonade.
25. Drink water before a meal.
26. Drink diet soda instead of regular soda.
27. Drink water or low-fat milk over soda and other sugary drinks.
28. Instead of giving your child or yourself an entire bottle of fruit juice or soda, pour a small amount (1/2 cup) into a cup. Better yet, choose water or small amounts of 100% fruit juice over soda.
29. Use tall, narrow glasses instead of short, wide glasses. You will drink less.
30. If main dishes are too big, choose an appetizer or a side dish instead.
31. Order foods that are steamed, broiled, baked, roasted, poached, or lightly sautéed or stir-fried. Select an appetizer that is low in fat and includes a fruit or vegetable instead of an entrée at a restaurant.
32. Put a smaller portion on a smaller plate; it won’t look so skimpy.
33. Share a portion with a family member or friend.
34. Avoid food portions larger than your fist.
35. Order a medium pizza instead of a large. Everyone gets the same number of slices as before; they’re just smaller.
36. Before you eat your meal ask the wait staff to put half of the meal in a take home bag for leftovers to eat the next day.
37. Skip buffets.
38. Don’t bring hungry kids with you to grocery shopping.
39. Choose a checkout line without a candy display.

HELP KIDS MAKE HEALTHY CHOICES:

1. Help your children with time-management skills.
2. Consider limiting the number of activities they do, such as setting the number of hours or types of after-school work.
3. Make the bedroom dark at night and bright in the morning. It will encourage better sleep.
4. Make sure your child gets enough solid sleep each night. 7-8 hours is ideal for children to teens.
5. Set a house rule that your children may spend no more than two hours a day of screen time. More importantly, enforce the rule once it’s made.
6. Do not put a TV or computer in your child’s bedroom.  It encourages junk sleep.
7. Turn off the TV during family meal time. Better yet, remove the TV from the eating area if you have one there.
8. You need to be a good role model and also limit your screen time to no more than two hours per day. If your kids see you following your own rules, then they will be more likely to follow.
9. Don’t use TV to reward or punish a child. Practices like this make TV seem even more important to children.
10. Refrain from watching violent TV, especially for boys under 9.
11. Be a savvy media consumer. Don’t expect your child to ignore the influences of television advertising of snack foods, candy, soda, and fast food. Help your child develop healthy eating habits and become media savvy by teaching them to recognize a sales pitch.
12. Build a positive self-image in your child.
13. Spend time – in quality and quantity – with each child.