10 Family Resolutions For Health | Parenting, Pregnancy, Health ...

It is an open secret that many parents and their children are overweight. These family resolutions suggested by the nutritionists can help you change your family?s lifestyle so that you can adopt a healthier life style.

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1) Get Motivated

Getting educated about the specifics of a healthy diet, getting the whole family involved, and setting goals, can help your family stay healthy and fit. Most people know what they need to do to be healthier. Eating healthy and exercising often are not easy things to do though.

2) Switch to Whole Grain Foods

A big part of the problem with the food pyramid is that it likely encouraged more people to eat foods made with processed and refined grains, such as white rice, white bread, pasta, cereals, and other foods made with white flour. These foods have a high glycolic index with low amounts of fiber, and are not as healthy as foods made with?whole grains. Making the switch to whole grain foods, including whole grain pasta, brown rice, whole wheat bread, and cereals made with whole grains are an easy and healthy way to make your family?s diet healthier.

?3) Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Most of the people especially children, don?t eat enough?fruits?and?vegetables?as they dislike them. And that usually means that they are eating other less nutritious foods to fill that gap. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet with a high fiber content, low glycemic load, and lots of vitamins and minerals. They have lots of water in them, eating fruits and vegetables can help you to feel full and satisfied so that you don?t eat more than you need.

4) Soda and Fruit Drinks Limitation

Although most of the parents think it is alright for younger children (1 to 6 years old) to drink 4-6 ounces of fruit flavored drinks every day and for older children (over age 7 years) to drink 8-12 ounces, all children should avoid fruit drinks and specially soda. In addition to not having any real nutritional value, they have a lot of calories. At about 150 calories per 12 ounce serving, your child is likely to gain an extra pound about every 3 weeks if they drink just one can of soda each day.

Reducing or not having soda, fruit drinks, and even fruit juice, can be a good way to get rid of a lot of extra calories and leave room for your family to get the fiber and vitamins from eating fruits

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5) Take More Foods With Calcium

A common mistake people make when trying to lose weight is that they stop drinking milk or taking yogurt.?Calcium?is important though, both to build healthy bones and surprisingly, to help you lose weight. So continue to encourage your children to drink milk, but just make the change to low fat milk once they are at least few years old.

6) Become More Active

A part of the cause of the prevailing obesity epidemic is that people are much less active then they used to be. Getting children involved in organized activities or games, which can be either team or individual?sports?or exercises, and cutting back on the amount of time in front of the computer, television and playing video games, can help your children to be more active.

Family activities are also a good way to be more?physically active. Even simple things, like walking across a parking lot by parking your car a little far, using stairs instead of elevators , and going for short family walks or bike rides can make a huge difference.

7) Understand Where Your Calories Come From

It is not necessary that you need to count every calorie that you take. But you can keep a diary of what your family eats for a few days. It can help you see where?extra calories?are coming from. Are your children overweight because of the?calories?they get from a bedtime snack or those two glasses of soda he drinks? Or maybe because their portion sizes are too large?

If you know where your kids? calories are coming from, you will know where to make changes and how you can cut back, especially on?high calorie foods?and foods that have a lot of empty calories.

Learn What Carbs Are

Instead of avoiding all carbs and going to a?low-carb diet, just learn about how to choose foods with good carbohydrates, which can include many fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grain foods. Not all carbs are made equal though. While it is a good idea to avoid foods that have carbs with a high glycemic index, such as white bread and pastries, foods made with white flour, and foods and beverages sweetened with sugar.? Other carbs can be a healthy part of a balanced diet.

9) Learn What Fats Are

Instead of making the mistake of trying to stick to a?low-fat diet, and simply substituting other foods that are just as high in calories, you should learn to eat foods that have good fat in them. Like carbs, there are good and bad fats. This includes foods with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. On the other hand, you should avoid saturated fats and trans fats.

10) Choose Healthy Meals When Dining Out

If you are going to dining out frequently, review the nutritional facts of the restaurant?s menu and watch your portion sizes. Calories and fat can quickly add up when dining out. Even if your family eats healthy at home, if they eat supersized?fast food meals?a few times a week, they are probably still at risk of becoming overweight.?

Source: http://givinglifeonline.com/health-2/10-family-resolutions-for-health/

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