When it comes to health, we generally grow up to adopt the habits and behaviours of our parents. There is something in us humans that makes us regress to the middle when it comes to most habits. Hang out with people that drink, and you will drink more, hang out with a group of smokers and the likelihood that you become a smoker goes through the roof. It's little wonder that when children grow up in a household with one overweight parent are much more likely to grow up overweight. In a 2017 study in the Journal of Clinical Research in Paediatric Endocrinology boys were 2.79x and girls 3.46x more likely to be overweight. It's hard being healthy these days; we don't need any more of a handicap.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not concerned if you are in shape or not; I am only concerned about people's health. The health implications of being overweight are grave and they affect not only life longevity but also health longevity, emotional wellbeing and the effects of being obese affect generations. For your own sake and that of your children and their children, you MUST step up and lead by example!
How does leading by example look?
We all have many things going on in our lives. Work, relationships, stress, commitments and often your health and that of your family take a back seat. It is much easier to eat poorly and neglect exercise in the short term. Until you make it a priority in your life change will be hard to come by and at best temporary. If you have been making poor food choices for you and your family, turning it around is definitely much harder, but it is possible. For starters you need to lead by example for a few months! Don't expect to force change on kids straight away; they will resist! If they have a taste for crappy food, they will want it and try every weapon in their arsenal to get it! Tantrums, screaming, food strike, everything! So, the first step is for you to change; they will get curious and start to ask questions. Then you can educate them on why you are doing what you are doing and eventually they will begin to make better decisions. So, what leads to good outcomes?
Let's have a look at the habits:
Food planning and preparation.
Every weekend, take some time to plan out what you are going to eat each meal for the week. Plan to get a good serve of protein in each meal cut down on low nutrient carbs and make dinner a colourful salad or veggies with a big serve of protein each night. My favourite thing to do is cook up the protein, put it on a plate in the middle with a big salad and let everyone pick at what they want.
Make exercise a daily habit.
Even just taking a walk of an evening with the whole family rather than watching TV will have a significant impact. Maybe it doesn't burn a ton of calories, but it sends the message the exercise matters. We all know that if you don't have enough energy doing some exercise is the best way to increase that! Every weekend find something to do that force you to get active. The kids might complain at first, but they will go on to value the time together.
Get interested in health.
Go out of your way to watch and read things about health. There is so much valuable info available on health and fitness. I know some of it can be contradictory and confusing but if you keep learning and discussing rather than taking everyone at their word you will start to learn more. Load your social media with some interesting and informative people, watch some documentaries on health and before you believe it all look up online what people think of the info presented. Taking the time to learn more puts it at the forefront of your mind and will make you and your family a healthier and happier bunch! You will be so glad you did.
Step 1: jump on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and find us! Vision Personal Training Bundall, if you message me directly, I will point you in the direction of some great resources and tips to get you started.
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
