Why Eat Healthy as a Family
This month we’re celebrating National Family Health & Fitness Day, an event dedicated to pursuing physical activity with everyone in your family.
When it comes to being healthy as a family, fitness is just one piece of the puzzle. Many of us are familiar with the phrase “you can’t out-exercise a bad diet,” which is important to remember if you’re trying to maintain a healthy body.
Even though nutrition and exercise are both critical for meeting any type of health goal, it’s the nutritional habits that have the greatest impact on your body composition, energy, sleep and physique.
Our Tips for Eating Healthy as a Family
For lots of families, it can be a real challenge to maintain a nutritious diet while balancing work, school, sports and socializing.
But with good planning, intentional purchases at the grocery store and some friendly accountability, eating healthy as a family is totally possible!
Here are some of our tips for eating good, nutritional meals that every member of the family can get behind:
Reduce your chances of overeating by leaving serving plates off the table
Keep plenty of fruit and veggies around the house - and if you can, make them easy to eat on-the-go
Swap salt for other seasonings like lime juice, pepper, herbs and other spices
Eat a table as a family instead of in front of the TV - plus your family will bond more
Use salad plates instead of traditional dinner-sized plates
Lay off of kids’ food like chicken nuggets or mac-and-cheese and encourage them to eat “adult food” - odds are they’ll try and like it
Everyone loves a good Hostess treat, but don’t purchase snack foods that are high in sugars and low in nutrients
Plan your healthy meals several days in advance and only buy those ingredients at the grocery store
It sounds crazy but don’t grocery shop when you’re hungry - you will end up buying way more than you actually need
Stay away from highly processed foods like frozen pizzas and microwave dinners
Eliminate sugary sodas and juices from your refrigerator - and opt for fruit-infused, carbonated water if you’re really missing the flavor and the fizz
Try and schedule regular meal times so that you can reduce overeating and snacking
Buy frozen fruits and veggies so that they don’t spoil - plus you can get more creative with your meal prep
Get creative and make your desserts healthy by incorporating foods like yogurt, fruit and honey
Allow yourself to indulge every now and again - broccoli is good for the body, but pizza is good for the soul
No matter what your individual or family health goals are, maintaining a nutritional diet is essential, and even more critical than daily exercise.
This September we’re encouraging families to be extra active to celebrate National Family Health & Fitness Day, but why not try incorporating some of these tips into your family’s weekly eating habits!
If you need some inspiration for how to get you and your family outside and being more active, check out last week’s blog post!