Healthy Families

A recent study found that approximately 32% of children in America are overweight and 16% are obese.  Additionally, 64% of adults are overweight and 26% are obese.  Lastly, 80% of children who are overweight are likely to be obese adults at age 25 years.  So, what does all this mean?  For starters, I like numbers.  Numbers are great attention getters that help people gain perspective.  Hopefully, what these numbers do is strike a nerve.  It should make us all aware that as a society, Americans are seemingly losing the weight battle and the implications of failure are huge. Coronary heart disease ,Type 2 diabetes, Cancers(endometrial, breast, and colon), Hypertension, Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides), Stroke, Liver and Gallbladder disease, Sleep apnea and respiratory problems, Osteoarthritis and Gynecological problems.

So now what?  My thoughts are to incorporate health & fitness into our daily lives using small changes to equal big results for the whole family.  Simply, our children learn by example.  If we as parents set good examples for diet and exercise, our kids will not only follow but get involved and want to contribute to the solution.  I have had several clients tell me that when they began their healthy lifestyle journey using exercise, that there children also began to mimic the exercises they could see the parents performing.  The children did not exercise because they wanted health benefits.  The children were exercising because they watched their parents and because it was fun interaction with that parent.  How great is that!  No only are my clients gaining health benefits and promoting health benefits for the rest of the family but additionally getting support from one of the best sources possible, their own kids.  Family fitness is not an easy road.  There are a tremendous amount of temptations and pitfalls ranging from video games and fast food for the whole family, but it is attainable.  This crisis, and by the earlier numbers I think anyone would be hard pressed to say it is not, of weight related health issues, not too mention emotional distress needs to be tackled now. 

The goal of this article is to share ideas, motivation and support to make fitness for the whole family a success.  I truly believe that we can turn the trends around.  I welcome your ideas, emails, stories and suggestions as well.