Kids And Obesity

Obesity in our children is going to define my generation as parents if we don’t get a hold of ourselves. This topic really steams me up but I don’t want this blog to be about chastising mothers who choose to feed their kid’s junk food or plop them in front of the TV rather than playing with them. No one today can honestly plead ingnorance about how to raise a healthy child. Crap, if you are reading this blog you can certainly Google “raising healthy kids.”

What I want to focus on today is what can we all do to change things. My efforts are focused around teaching Mommies how to live healthy so that they can be a postivie role model for their kids (and be smoking hot as a side effect). Afterall, we’re raising the first generation of kids in over 100’s of years predicted to have a shorter lifespan than our own! We’re regressing in a day and age that gives us more information and ways to take care of ourselves than ever.

What can we do?
We all need to start demanding more from our schools in terms of nutrition and exercise for our kids. Our children spend too much of their time in school for fitness and proper nutrition not to be an important part of their day.

I did not see this on the Today Show, but my client Jamie sent me this link http://teamrichardsimmons.com/wyc/writeyourcongressman.php. Please follow this link and do what is necessary to get PE back in our schools! It’s a good step in voicing our concerns for the lack of movement our kids get daily.

Next, all of us need to set the healthy example for our kids to follow. Yesterday I talked about “you are who you hang with.” Did you know if your best-friend is obese your own obesity chances are increased by 57%? Basically, you hang out with people who don’t take care of themselves you are less likely to do the same.

The same applies for your children. If you are not conscious of how to eat and exercise for your health, your children will not be either. That impacts their long term health and that means they will not have a long life.

We bring our kids into this world to nuture them, raise them, and send them out to enjoy happy lives. By setting the example now of how to treat their bodies with healthy respect, you will be giving them the gift of good joints, functioning organs, decreased chances of cancer, and a whole host of other things that plague our kids these days.

Take care of yourself and then you will be able to take care of your family.

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Daily Workout Log: Today is an off day from strength training. I used today as my long run day and did five miles on the treadmill. My run intervals were 4 run/1 walk. It was honestly shocking that I was able to do this since I haven’t been running much in the last few months. I felt good but tired when done and did stretch my legs well.

Daily Food Log:

B – Cantaloupe, Fage, and 1 pc of WW Organic Toast
S – Banana and Fiber One with skim post run (banana in car)
L – Tuna with homemade slaw over spinach leaves
S – Pbutter with Apple
D – Beef Marinara over squash and green salad
S – Fruit and Fage