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Healthy Eating Habits For Kids

In this day and time Healthy Eating Habits for Kids should be on every parent's priority list. In fact, keeping kids healthy in an unhealthy world should really come to the top of the list. Overweight kids use to be a rarity but not anymore. Our children are no longer getting the exercise that they should get. Instead of playing outside during the summer months, they are now in their rooms playing video games. And instead of eating a home cooked meal, now convenience foods are becoming the staple of their diets. It has now become nearly impossible to instill any type of healthy eating habits for kids.


As parents, we should strive to do our best to keep our kids healthy. These days, children have a lot more unhealthy options than ever before. Our job is to make sure that they get the proper exercise needed as well as eat healthy. The following are some tips on how to keep your children in good health.

* Chose healthier snack options ... Instead of offering chips and candies, offer them healthier snacks such as fruits and veggies. If you don't have these unhealthy options available then they will have no other choice but to eat the healthier snacks.

* Start cooking healthier meals at home ... When both parents work outside of the home, it is so time consuming to cook a health meal every night. It is OK to have pizza every now and then but don't make convince foods the staple of your child's diet. When you are having something like pizza for your evening meal, add a salad and maybe fruit for dessert. Try to limit eating fast food as much as possible. Fast food is known to be salty and greasy so there is little nutritional value source for your kids. When eating out, choose restaurants that offer a healthier menu.

* Limit how much time your child uses the video games and computers and is watching TV ... Encourage your children to get some physical exercise by encouraging participation in sport activities. For Christmas and birthdays, give your children the types of gifts that will encourage them to exercise such as skateboards and sports equipment instead of video games and such that encourage less activity. These types of gifts will encourage more physical activity.

Keeping your children physically healthy in an unhealthy world sometimes seems impossible. But by instilling healthy eating habits for kids and encouraging more physical activity, you are giving your child the best gift they could ever get from you. By instilling these habits while they are children, you are directing them down a path to a lifetime of healthy living. What better gift could you ever give them!

 

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Some of my clients have literally shed weight away with regular use of an elliptical trainer, Yoga classes, and a moderate diet. That leads into the next aspect of physical health: your diet.

Diet has to be moderate and something you can live with. If your diet causes you to be depressed, you can’t stick with it, due to your mental health. However, that doesn’t justify a “junk food” diet.

So where do you start? Look at your diet now and make moderate adjustments. Don’t get pulled into a “fad diet” that insults your intelligence and causes rapid weight loss. Most clients gain all that weight back, and then some, after they get off the quick fix diet. Hence the nickname, “yo-yo diets”, is a suitable label.

Yoga does have diet plans, and eating in moderation is a key factor. Eating affects mental, physical, and spiritual health. Sometimes the motivation for excessive eating is not due to hunger at all. Food is used to replace an empty feeling, and eating becomes an emotional response, resulting in health problems, due to over consumption of food.

Therefore, eating should be restricted to balanced, nutritionally dense, and moderate meals. You should consider your immune system, daily nutritional requirements, and sustaining strength while consuming meals and drinks throughout the day.

Personal hygiene is another area to consider. Yoga has cleansing practices (Kriyas or Shatkarmas), that would not be entirely accepted in the West. However, suffice to say, that you should keep your orifices clean, brush your teeth and tongue, floss, drink a lot of pure water, monitor your skin, and listen to your body. A little prevention goes a long way in regard to your health.

Yoga also teaches you how to breathe fully from the bottom of the lungs. There are many Yoga breathing techniques called, “pranayama.” The best result from this practice is to get more oxygen into your blood, and proper breathing can make you feel more energetic.

The last point to bring up about your physical health is that you should be taking a daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. Choose one of good quality and research your choice. Choose an appropriate supplement for your age and gender.



Paul Jerard, is a co-owner/director of Yoga teacher training at Aura Wellness Center. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher.

http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org