Healthy Living Tips
HEALTHY ACTIVITY | Personal Best
1. Do physical activities (i.e. sit-ups, push-ups, stretches) during each
commercial while watching television.
• First commercial: 20 sit-ups • Second commercial: 25 jumping jacks
• Third commercial: Jog in place • Fourth commercial: 15 push-ups
• Fifth commercial: 15 toe-touches (touch toes and reach overhead)
2. Start from your house and walk to Key West! For every 10 minutes of exercise you get 10 miles of travel. You can track this by putting a map in the family room where the whole family can track their miles!
3. Spend quality time with your family while getting active. Have a hop scotch competition in the driveway. Draw a hopscotch diagram on a street or sidewalk. Try to complete five times. For added fun, pull in other kids and families from the neighborhood.
4. A little bit goes a long way. Work a little walking into your daily routine. For instance, park as far from the door as possible when going to the grocery store, the mall or the movie theater. Just a few more steps makes a big difference.
5.Reduce your screen time. Keep track of your “passive” time sitting in front of TVs, computers, smart phones and video games. Try to lessen that screen time to no more than 2 hours a day. Instead, spend quality time playing a board game, going for a walk, taking a bike ride or challenging your kids to a game of tag outside.
HEALTHY EATING | Taste
1. Learn about the new food plate at www.choosemyplate.gov. Print it or draw and color it. Use it as a placemat to compare your own plate to a healthy plate.
2. Begin your day with breakfast and be sure you get some protein in your meal. Look at your food labels does your meal contain at least 20 grams of protein?
3. De-process yourself and your family. Over-processed isn’t the healthiest food to put in your body. To get healthier, try to go three days during the week without eating anything from a box or bag. Only fresh foods allowed.
4. Find out what you’re really eating. Then, learn the effects those ingredients can have on your body. Learn to read food labels. How big is each serving? How many calories are you eating? How many fat grams?
5. Eating out? Search www.tampabay.com/thingstodo for local restaurants and explore their menus online. A lot of local restaurants are incorporating local produce and meats into their menus, which is better for your health, the environment and, oftentimes, your taste buds. But on your big night out, be sure to look for healthy alternatives to high fat foods, too.
GET OUT & ABOUT | Things 2 Do
1. Plant a garden. Use www.ifas.ufl.edu for summer gardening tips. Go outside and till your soil or plant a garden box and put seeds in it to see what grows.
2. Go outside and play “old fashioned games” (i.e. hide and seek, fox across, freeze tag, capture the flag.) Count your minutes of activity and track them for your walk to Key West!
3. We’re all interconnected! Get moving while learning about Florida’s unique environment and what role we play in it. Go to a local park and complete a nature scavenger hunt! Find specific trees, insects, birds, cloud formations, shadow figures, etc.
4. Get hands on! Learn the benefits of local produce, both on your health and on the environment. Visit a nearby farm and “see” how the produce is grown and harvested. Then, learn how you can incorporate these items into your daily life. For instance, learn how you can help your child’s school become a "farm to school" cafeteria. And incorporate more locally grown fruits and vegetables in your family’s menu.
5. Group exercise classes at the Y offer something for every age and skill level. From spin classes and family fitness programming to SilverSneakers and Zumba classes, there’s something for everyone at the Y. Before you go, be sure to print your guest pass at www.ymcatampabay.org. |
