Today’s Guest – Laura Klein
1. Your name, title, and age? What do you do (or did you do) for a living?
Laura Klein, Founder & President of www.beten.com, 47 years old. I blog about health and run a Wellness & Weight Management Website.
2. Who was the person that inspired you as a child to eat healthy and stay fit? What was their relationship to you?
Both my mother and father inspired me as a child to eat healthy and stay fit.
3. What did they do to inspire you?
The family dinner was very important. My parents, sister and brother and I sat together each night at 5pm, to a well-balance, home-cooked meal. My mother did most of the cooking and always had at least one vegetable or a side-salad included with the meal. If we didn’t eat our entire meal, there was no “dessert”. If there was something I didn’t like, I would try hiding it in my napkin or under the table, but my parents caught on pretty quickly…
The dinner drink was a glass of milk.
Snacking was also not something we did much. If we were hungry, we could go into the bottom drawer of the refrigerator and take a piece of fruit. The bottom drawer always had apples or oranges, and in the summer, we had grapes and cherries to choose from.
We also had to “go outside and play” whenever we weren’t eating, studying, reading or sleeping! My brother, sister & I knew the answer to our plea of “I’m bored!”
My father was an athlete in high school and college and encouraged us to participate in a sport. My older sister joined the Cross-Country running team, and I followed. My younger brother joined the Soccer team. My dad never missed a meet or game in four years of high school! My friends relied on his being there to cheer the team on (especially if their parents couldn’t make it).
During the winter, when I wasn’t running, I would go to the indoor pool with my dad and swim laps. My dad would wait for me to finished my homework, and then ask if I wanted to go to the pool with him. It was a 20 minute drive each way and I savoured our time together. My dad was really tall and had a long big stroke during the crawl. His kick was heavy on one side and the whole pool reverberated when he took his breath on his right-side. There was a rythym to his stroke and I liked to listen to him swim.
My parents were educators and knew that sleep was very important. During the school year we had strict bed-times between 8pm – 9pm. Even weekends, 10pm was the limit.
4. How did their lesson change your life?
Growing up, I thought my parents were too strict. But now, I am so thankful that my parents set limitations and led by example.
Their healthy lifestyle was instilled in me. I loved running and met some of my best friends through the sport. Running and swimming expanded into other things like cycling, mountain biking and triathlons. What fun training and racing has been!!
Also, I was so interested in health & wellness, that I got my Master of Science degree in Food & Nutrition from the UGA. The coursework was wonderful and I was able to do research in the field of Pregnancy & Exercise.
Now, wanting to share and encourage others, I built a Wellness & Weight Management Program based on eating healthy food groups and doing healthy behaviors.
Having the healthy behaviors instilled at an early age has been a blessing, because I see people struggle with bad lifestyle habits which affect their health.
I believe that habits are ingrained at the neurological level. Changing habits involves work. Though not impossible, re-wiring the brain takes a lot of mindful determination.
5. Do you convey their message to kids in your life presently?
Our family habits stuck with me and now are incorporated into my family lifestyle while raising two small children with my husband.
My two girls, ages 6 & 7 years go biking, running or swimming with my husband and I every chance we get. My girls can finish my sentence, “Let’s go outside and –get some fresh air! –get some exercise! –go for a bike ride!”
We also eat a healthy breakfast which includes at least one fruit and a sit-down dinner which includes at least one vegetable each day!
6. What would be your main message to children today to lead healthy lifestyles?
I would encourage children to drink water, not soda, juice or sports drinks. Eating fruits and vegetables each day is really important.
I would also encourage them to go PLAY and get some activity. I realize not all children can freely “go outside”, but there are healthy activities they can do indoors besides watching TV.
I would also encourage children to try new things – whether trying a new activity or new food. They won’t know if they like it until they actually try it!
7. Do you have a web site you would like to promote….web address only?