Paradise Greetings,
It's raining now (I live in the tropics). A couple of hours ago, however, was the perfect time for my Sunday Morning Practice What I Preach Lesson: my early morning walk/run!
Even though the air was so thick with humidity you could slice it with a butter knife, I laced up my walking shoes, put on my UAB alumni t-shirt, stretched for a few minutes and took off for my morning exercise.
When I am working with a group of parents who are overweight or who have children at unhealthy weights, I always talk about setting goals. Do you have an exercise goal of your own?? The general rule of thumb for the minimum amount of daily exercise we need is this: 30 minutes most if not every day for adults and 60 minutes or more every day for kids.
To get to a healthier weight, use my proven strategy: "Eat Smarter and Move More". If your goal is to lose 5 pounds over the next 4 weeks, then use the "Move More" component and increase your exercise time. If you usually walk 25-30 minutes 3 days a week, then start walking 30-35 minutes 4 days a week in the next week. That's what I did this morning on my Sunday Morning Practice What I Preach walk. And you know what? I feel great! Adding 5 minutes was painless. The additional 5 minutes of sweating felt great! My heart is happy and yours will be, too, when you set a fitness goal and JUST DO IT! Be a positive role model in the life of a child --teach them my Sunday Morning Practice What I Preach lesson.
My Sunday morning lesson to you ends with this reminder...The epidemic of childhood obesity in America requires that we each act deliberately to be part of the solution.
Growing Healthy Kids - improving the health - and lives - of America's children, one child and one garden at a time.
To your perfect health.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
PS - This is one of my favorite family vacation photos when the younger cousins walked their way through, up, down, and around Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming!
