How are you doing with raising active, balanced and healthy children? Are you a healthy role model for them? What if your life IS the model for their lives? What if how you choose to live your life is the central learning that your children have come to earth to discover? What if the lessons you design, the tips you impart, the learning experiences you arrange, the lectures you deliver, the advice you share and the words of wisdom you speak to your children do not have as much impact on them as the way you live? Are you modeling the message you want your sons and daughters to learn?

During 1971–74 about 5 percent of children aged two to nineteen years were obese. But by 1988–94 obesity nearly doubled and it has been increasing steadily since then. Although the rates of obesity were higher for older children in every survey, all age groups showed an increase in obesity. Rates for boys and girls were nearly identical. Adult obesity also steadily increased, with the share of adults defined as obese larger than that of children in any given time period.

What does that mean? It means that as adult obesity (i.e. your obesity) increases, the obesity rates of your children increase. If you are committed to raising children who are not obese and therefore not prone to early death and disease, then you must be committed to being the role model for health in their lives.

How To Be A Healthy Role Model

• Eliminate soda from your diet. Studies indicate that for every soft drink or sugar-sweetened beverage a child drinks every day, their obesity risk appears to jump 60%.
• Eliminate fast and pre-packaged food from your diet. People who eat fast food twice or more a week have a 50 percent greater risk of obesity than do those who eat this way once or less.
• Turn off the television. People who spend at least 2 ½ hours a day watching television have triple the risk of both obesity and abnormal glucose control.
• Learn to cook and enjoy healthy family meals. Remember the “Leave It To Beaver” generation? They had desert every night and were thin and healthy!
• There are 1440 minutes in every day... schedule 30 of them for physical activity. Regular physical activity substantially reduces the risk of dying of coronary heart disease, the nation's leading cause of death, and decreases the risk for stroke, colon cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure. It also helps to control weight; contributes to healthy bones, muscles, and joints; reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression; and is associated with fewer hospitalizations, physician visits, and medications.

In case you need some help defining effective exercise, remember exercise need not be a trip to the gym. As long as you get your heart rate up or do something that is strenuous to your muscles, your body is getting good benefit from it. We’ve all become so “gym” focused that we’ve forgotten that gyms are relatively new occurrences. In the “Leave It To Beaver” days, we had labor-intensive jobs, walked to work, pushed manual lawn mowers, joined local bowling and baseball leagues, played in parks, took family walks and more. Gyms were basically unheard of and yet we were much more physically fit!

How To Get More Exercise

• Walk, cycle, jog, skate, etc., to wherever you need to go.
• Park the car or get off the bus farther away from your destination.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
• Play with your children and pets.
• Take fitness breaks-walking or doing desk exercises-instead of taking cigarette or coffee breaks.
• Perform gardening, cleaning and home repair activities.
• Avoid labor-saving devices-turn off the self-propel option on your lawn mower or vacuum cleaner.
• Commit to exercise in front of the TV if you turn it on (for example, use hand weights, stationary bicycle/treadmill/stairclimber, or stretch).
• Dance to music.
• Make a Saturday morning walk a family habit.
• Walk to an area restaurant for dinner.
• Go “out to walk” vs “out to dinner.”
• Schedule active social activities instead of barbecues. For example, invite people over for horse shoes or lawn bowling.

If you want something a bit more structured, we are here to help. “The Body Sculptress” is especially good at encouraging and teaching women how to be healthy and effective role models.

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