Eat Right
1. Make half your grains whole. Choose whole-grain foods, such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice, and low-fat popcorn, more often.
2. Vary your veggies. Go dark green and orange with your vegetables- eat spinach, broccoli, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
3. Focus on fruits. Eat them at meals, and at snack time, too. Choose fresh, frozen, canned, or dried, and go easy of the fruit juice.
4. Get your calcium-rich foods. To build strong bones serve low-fat and fat-free milk and other milk products several times a day.
5. Go lean with protein. Eat lean beef and pork, skinless chicken and turkey, and fish. Also, change your tune with more dry beans and peas. Add chick peas, nuts or seeds to a salad; pinto bean to a burrito; or kidney beans to soup.
6. Change your oil. We all need oil. Get yours from fish, nuts, and liquid oils such as corn, soybean, canola and olive oil.
7. Don’t sugarcoat it. Choose foods and beverages that do not have sugar and caloric sweeteners as one of the first ingredients. Added sugars contribute calories with few, if any, nutrients.
Exercise
1. Set a good example. Be active and get your family to join you. Have fun together. Play with the kids or pets. Go for a walk, tumble in the leaves, or play catch. Join the KOB Bikes for Schools Ride on September 25 and enjoy riding your bike together as a family! Click here for more information.
2. Establish a routine. Set aside a time each day as activity time- walk, jog, skate, cycle, or swim. Adults need at least 30 minutes of physical activity most days or the week; children 60 minutes every day or most days.
3. Have an activity party. Make the next birthday party centered on physical activity. Try backyard Olympics, or relay races. Have a bowling or skating party.
4. Set up a home gym. Use household items, such as canned foods, as wights. Stairs can substitute for stair machines.
5. Move it! Instead of sitting through TV commercials, get up and move. When you talk on the phone, life weights or walk around. Remember to limit TV watching and computer time.
6. Give activity gifts. Give fits that encourage physical activity- active games or sports equipment.
A BIG thank you to StarFit Kids for the great tips!
