The FIRST Healthy & Fit Family Carnival!

Ta Da! Here is the first ever Healthy & Fit Family Carnival.
Since announcing the carnival, I’ve been hit with a ton of contributions about ways all of our families can lead healthier, more active lives.

I said that there would only be ten places in the carnival and there were easily twice as many entries, but keeping the number of links to a reasonable number was and is important to me.

To make decisions about who was in and who was out, I used a mixture of first come, first serve and my evil editorial power for deciding what was and wasn’t relevant to the topic. As a freelance writer, I did not especially enjoy wielding evil editorial power (at least not very much). Remember, my life is all about energy management and even blog carnivals have to be held on a scale I can manage.

Under the cut, you’ll find a select, elite, helpful and interesting mixed salad of posts on fitness, nutrition and general health. There’s something practical for everyone.

Fitness

Yoga is my activity of choice and I know I am not alone. Mother-baby yoga, toddler yoga, yoga for kids with ADD or ADHD, and family yoga are just a few of the courses available for families. That’s why I was intrigued by the Radical Hop post that asks Is Yoga a Myth?

Thankfully, the answer is no to the yoga myth because My Blog on Beauty has this very informative post on the anuloma viloma pranayama breathing asana, which is not at all as difficult as pronouncing its name.

Jogging is how many other parents to reduce stress, lose weight and keep healthy. I am pleased to report that My Name is Mommy who inspired this carnival got herself out pounding pavement too.

There are a lot of jogging success stories. In this one, Solo Mother explains how a combination of running and separation have helped her drop ten pounds.

One of the things I miss is the gym, but the time to go there and the money for membership fees just don’t exist for me right now. Luckily, the folks at Thrifty Mommy are there to remind us of Ten Ways to Excercise for Free.

Nutrition

One of the surprises I’ve had as a parent is that my little boy likes tofu. Really. OK, he likes it in a broccoli and red pepper stir fry and only when made by our local Chinese buffet, but that’s something. All Tricks and Tips says that there are six ways soybean products, like tofu, can improve your family’s health.

Of course, you may want to stick to organic soy once you read Wench Wisdom’s rant on genetically modified, sprayed ingredients in commercial babyfood. I like her reminder that babies with teeth can eat the same food as their parents once it’s gone through a blender. Afterall, I think a lot of parents would prepare their own food with more care if they know their babies were going to eat it too.

General Health

Over at Life in Isreal, we hear about changes to how flu shots have been cancelled after some unusual problems at a clinic.

Strong family ties influence everything about our lives from our levels of happiness to our health. It can also mean the difference between recovering from a loss and not really recovering, says Ann at Widow’s Quest.

For Parenting Tweens & Teens, strengthening family ties means taking the time to do some relaxing activities together.

Your Opinion?

I think there really is something practical for everyone in the First Edition of the Healthy & Fit Family Carnival. What do wou think? Which posts have inspired you to get out there and get active with the kids?

Nothing ring your bell? Why not submit something for next week?

And listen, my evil editorial power could just as easily be yours (It feels a bit like being Darth Vadar, I think)! Just leave a comment and express an interest in hosting the carnival on your blog.

In the meantime, the next edition of the Healthy & Fit Family will run on Monday, November 7th. So submit already!