Welcome to the category of my blog simply called ‘Healthy Tips.’ Many times, when I write articles for various publications, I need to find sources for the story as seen in Yahoo Shine (click here) or PBS (click here) about staying healthy. I was looking for experts and non-experts to chime in and give their favorite ‘tips’ to help kids and adults lead a healthy lifestyle.

The feedback for various stories was amazing. The sources had some fantastic points of view that could not be ignored, and I thought their opinions should be viewed on the Your Health Journal web site.

So, enjoy my new series, with some ‘great’ insight from some ‘great’ people giving exceptional and educational points of view.

I am one of only a couple hundred board certified pediatric nutrition specialists in the US, as well as a registered dietitian. I have been working with families and kids to get them healthy for over 13 years.

Parents have the power to impact their children’s attitude about fitness. Kids look to their parents for how to approach exercise. If parents show their children exercising is important and a normal part of their life (and that it can be enjoyable too), children will adopt those same attitudes and carry it into adulthood.

Getting active together doesn’t have to be a formal jog in the park or being a part of an organized sports team. Some other creative ways for families to be active is:

– have a jump rope competition (e.g. who can jump 100 times?)

– have a dance-off (put on their favorite music, get score cards and take
turns judging while 2+ dance)

– freeze-tag

– relay races in the backyard or park

– go up and down the steps on a jungle gym or the staircase in the house

– go to an indoor trampoline facility

– take a Zumba class together

– pretend your legs are stuck in peanut butter or bubble gum and try to walk
across the room or park staying in character

– pick your favorite animal and try to walk across the room or park
imitating them

– use an electronic physical game, e.g. Wii baseball or Wii fit games.

Some of the reasons families aren’t exercising together as much is that parents and children both have very long days at work and at school. Evenings are very busy and getting everyone fed, their homework done and in bed is a challenge. If families choose a *fun* physical activity to do, they may be more likely toconsistently do it. And if evening is too busy, consider getting in the family’s fitness in the morning if that’s easier.

– Louise Goldberg RD, CSP, LD, CNSC, An Apple A Day Nutrition Consulting