How to Get Your Family Fit and Eating Right
How to Get Your Family Fit and Eating Right
By Michael Sokol
Scheduling family events is a great way to unite a family and create closeness and unity. Wouldn’t it be even better if you could get the family fit at the same time? The tips below can help accomplish this.
With obesity reaching epidemic proportions, we can help reverse the trend starting right in our own homes with our families. Daily exercise and proper nutrition are the cornerstones to a healthy, more productive country. Along with teaching family values, parents can keep their families fit by scheduling active family events and teaching their families how to eat right.
Make a rule that your kids can only watch 1 hour of television daily. Then replace TV shows with hikes. Have weekly family tennis, basketball and/or softball games, making each into an entire season with play-offs and finals like the pros do. Take the family on a ski trip. Go for family bike rides and jogs. Have family swim contests. Buy a horseshoe set and play horseshoes. Buy a ping-pong table and have tournaments. Join a gym and encourage your kids to learn how to strength train. You can even hire a personal trainer to teach the entire family how to get fit with weights. The more active and fun you make your family life, the better shape everyone will be in.
In order to get your family in tip-top shape, make the following a part of their daily lives:
(1) Strength Train: intensely with weights 3 times every week for 45 minutes each time. Spread your strength training over the course of the week. Strength training increases lean muscle, which in turn speeds up your metabolism, keeping you lean, toned and full of energy.
(2) Do Cardio: intensely 3 times every week, OTHER than the days you strength train, for only 20 minutes each time. If you do more than 20 minutes, you will likely burn muscle and slow your metabolism. Cardio keeps your heart healthy and burns some fat during the first 20 minutes.
(3) Eat for energy and lean muscle growth: this entails eating 6 smaller meals or snacks every day. All 6 meals should contain a serving of protein. 5 of your 6 meals should contain a serving of carbohydrates. You should refrain from consuming carbohydrates after your 5th meal of the day or 7pm, whichever is sooner; that way your body will be less likely to store carbohydrates as fat during rest. However, please note that it is very dangerous to your health to completely eliminate carbohydrates from your diet. Make sure to add a serving of vegetables to at least 2 of your meals. Note that a “serving” is what fits in your hand. By consuming small balanced meals every few hours, you will further increase your metabolism.
(4) Drink lots of water: Don’t forget to also drink a gallon (128 ounces) of water every day. Remember, your body is made up mostly of water.
(5) Plan Ahead: Know what your day will be like and plan accordingly. If you are not sure, assume it will be hectic. Bring food to work and school that is easy-to-carry and prepare like protein bars and shakes, nuts, cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs, etc. Keep a case of protein bars and shakes in your school locker, car, cupboard and desk. Prepare a week’s worth of chicken breasts, hard-boiled eggs, turkey burgers, or other meals and freeze them on Sunday night. Then, each night before work or school, defrost your meals for the next day.
(6) Substitute healthy for unhealthy: Keep protein shakes in the house instead of sodas. Have a protein bar jar instead of a cookie jar. Buy low-sodium blue corn chips instead of potato chips. Buy whole-wheat bagels instead of regular bagels.
..or preferably whole-wheat bread instead of bagels
The following lists are my recommendations for high-quality foods, followed by some example meals. You should select a serving of 1 protein from the list below for all 6 of your meals and a serving of 1 carbohydrate from the list below for 5 of your 6 meals, unless you consume a protein bar or shake with carbohydrates, which counts as both. Add a serving of vegetables from the list below to at least 2 of your meals each day. A serving is a handful.
Proteins: Protein bars (note that these contain carbohydrates too), protein powder, pre-made shakes, chicken breast, turkey breast, lean ground turkey burger, tuna, orange roughy, whitefish, salmon, beef jerky, lean ground beef, lean pork chop, buffalo, egg whites, low-fat cottage cheese, lean steak, unsalted dry roasted nuts or honey nuts. (Note that nuts contain
