Bovine colostrum is a natural, whole-food supplement that offers enormous health benefits to baby cows and humans of all ages. It is a perfect food source that is high in carbohydrates, proteins and antibodies, yet low in fat and very easy to digest.

Because it is the only form of colostrum not specific to the species producing it, bovine colostrum contains all the beneficial immune factors and growth factors found in all other colostrum sources, and these factors are biologically transferable to humans. This is not only a very interesting cow-fact, but also the secret behind many of the most important colostrum benefits.

Supplementation with bovine colostrum can strengthen the immune system’s ability to fight infection and disease, strengthen the body to increase energy and improve athletic performance, and maintain overall health by balancing the processes in the digestive tract. For these reasons, everyone can benefit from colostrum supplementation, and everyone should take advantage of these many colostrum benefits.

Fighting Infection and Disease

Colostrum benefits people fighting infection and disease by offering a concentrated source of immune factors and growth factors that address both the physical symptoms and underlying causes of several illnesses. The immunoglobulins and accessory immune factors in colostrum make it a completely natural and very powerful antibiotic.

Together, these immune factors can boost an underactive immune system to increase resistance to infection, or regulate an underactive immune system to temper the severity of allergies and autoimmune responses. Both immune factors and growth factors actively restore function to the gastrointestinal tract, preventing the passage of disease-causing pathogens through the intestinal lining, and slowing or stopping the progression of many gastrointestinal disorders and autoimmune diseases.

Staying Fit and Active

Colostrum benefits people who wish to stay fit and active by offering a balanced source of nutrition that helps keep the body running smoothly. The growth factors in bovine colostrum stimulate lean muscle growth and promote the burning of excess body fat for energy, while its many immune factors work together to reduce the frequency and severity of infections caused by physical, environmental, and emotional stress.

Because growth factors are active in tissue repair, they can also serve to regenerate skin, nerve, bone, and cartilage in the body, making these particular colostrum benefits effective in reversing many of the signs and physical symptoms of aging.

Maintaining Overall Health

Colostrum benefits anyone who wishes to maintain their body’s overall health, or increase its resistance to infection and disease. In addition to immune factors and growth factors, bovine colostrum contains a variety of vitamins, minerals, and essential amino acids, making it a perfect first food for infants, and a perfect dietary supplement for people of all ages.

Through colostrum supplementation, a regular replenishment of immune factors serves to support the immune system by providing immunoglobulins (antibodies) that aid in the everyday removal of harmful invaders like viruses and bacteria, and promote gastrointestinal health.

Because of this ability to maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract, colostrum may well be the best practical protection available against autoimmune disease, cancer, and other chronic conditions associated with gastrointestinal disorders. Further, it is completely natural and has no known side effects or harmful interactions with other supplements or medications.

Click Here to Find Out More About Bovine Colostrum At :

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Farrell Seah
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/what-if-you-could-improve-fitness-and-stimulate-lean-muscle-growth-60083.html

Helping athletes achieve their best performances and helping clients achieve their fitness goals such as fat loss and weight loss is my duty as a sports performance coach and personal trainer.

It is pretty obvious that what you eat is critical to your health and your performance.

In fact there was a study done on a group of people who were put on an excellent exercise program which consisted of 3 days per week of strength training, and 2 days a week of cardiovascular training. This went on for 12 weeks. This is certainly a long period of time, and that is a large amount of exercise, and certainly more than most other people do!).

The results: A total amount of fat loss of… 0.5-1kg!!

Pathetic!

What should be expected, for those who do all the right stuff, they should regularly lose 8-10kg of fat in 3 months. And perhaps even more if their starting weight is very far from their target.

The reason that the university study shows such disappointing results?… These people were told that they could eat whatever they pleased.

Conclusion: Nutrition is critical to achieve your fitness goals.

However there is another side to the story.

There are diets that exist which give the promise of huge and impressive weight loss or fat loss in a short period of time.

I myself have tried all kinds of diets including very low calorie liquid diets. It was a liquid only diet but the liquids were high quality protein powders. It also includes healthy fats like fish oils and flax seeds, as well as some supplements to prevent muscle loss.

These diets WORK. You will lose fat, you will look lean, and you will defeat psychological cravings for bad food (this is probably the best effect)

BUT….

Don’t forget, these are DIETS. They are not NUTRITION. There are some “side effects” that make diets short term projects, rather than life long plans.

Here are some of the problems…

Metabolic slowdown – Reduced calorie diets cannot be done long term because then your body thinks it is in a starvation state.

Stress hormones will go up – low calories is a condition that is stressful to your body!

Fat storage will go up – to stay alive

Non essential systems will slow down (reproductive, immune system, digestive system etc)

Digestive system will weaken (no need to work hard if we are eating all liquids/too little food)<

Muscle Loss – this is bad! Makes you look and feel weak

The body is designed to have whole, natural foods as it’s nutrition. Different people do best on different ratios of fat, carbohydrates, and protein. However the items of food consumed should be the same. Eggs, Meats, Veggies, Fruits, Nuts as well as drinks that contain no calories such as tea and water should be the basis of good nutrition no matter who you are and what your goals are.

So unless you have a specific weight class, competition or special event to “diet” for, forget about diets the majority of the time and focus on good nutrition.

Jonathan Wong
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/personal-trainer-singapore-warns-focus-on-nutrition-not-diets-745065.html

1. Reflect on the accuracy and reliability of the information provided. For each advertisement, describe why you feel the information was or was not accurate and reliable.

2. Was evidence presented to support its claim of developing health, nutrition, or fitness? Why or Why not?

Commercial Health & Exercise http://www.commercialhealth.com/ —Commercial Health & Exercise Video http://www.google.com/search?q=health+commercial&hl=en&sa=G&source=univ&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=5wzeS464K4W0lQfm6u38Cg&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQqwQwAA ———— nutrition commercial Video http://www.google.com/search?q=nutrition+commercial&hl=en&sa=G&source=univ&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=Xw3eS-fSAoSKlweHmeT8Cg&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQqwQwAA ————–The Wellness Company
Products and services for achieving
Wellness through physical activity.
http://www.technogym.com/gb/viewdoc.asp?co_id=597 Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer, Black and Chrome this masticating juice extractor thoroughly chews up plant fibers to fully extract vitamins, enzymes http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001L7OIVI?tag=dvdmaailm

Physical fitness is a set of features a person has in regard to his ability to perform physical activities that require endurance, strength or flexibility and is determined by a combination of regular activity or exercise and genetically inherited ability. It also measures the ability to carry out daily tasks with vigor and without undue fatigue and with sufficient energy to engage in leisure-time pursuits and the vitality to perform at one’s fullest capacity.

Physical fitness is achieved by regular physical activity, proper diet and nutrition and proper rest for physical recovery within the parameters allowed by the genome.

Physical fitness is often divided into following types:

Flexibility: Joint rotation, Static stretching and Dynamic Stretching are all the various forms of flexibility exercises used in warm up.

Cardiovascular endurance: Aerobic capacity describes the functional status of the cardio-respiratory system which includes the heart, lungs or blood vessels. It is defined as the maximum volume of oxygen which can be consumed by ones muscles during exercise. The higher a cardio-respiratory endurance level, the more oxygen is transported to exercising muscles and longer exercise can be maintained without exhaustion which means a higher the level of aerobic fitness.

Muscular strength & endurance: Weight training is a form of exercise for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles which can provide significant functional benefits and improvement in overall health and well-being.

Body Composition: In physical fitness, body composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone and muscle in human bodies. The percentage of fat is of most interest because it can be very helpful in judging health in addition to body weight.
An average healthy male’s body should have 12~18 percent fat while in females it is 14~ 20 percent fat. Body fat percentage can be measured in several ways. The most common method is by using measurement calipers to measure the thickness of subcutaneous fat in multiple places on the body. Another method is Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA), which uses the resistance of electrical flow through the body to estimate body fat.

Agility: Agility is the ability to change the body’s direction efficiently, and this requires a combination of balance, coordination, speed, and strength.

Balance: Equilibrioception or sense of balance is one of the physiological senses which allow humans to walk without falling. When the sense of balance is disrupted, it causes dizziness, disorientation and nausea.

Speed: Some biological factors that can determine a sprinter’s potential are muscular strength, adrenaline use and anaerobic respiration capacity

Task-oriented fitness: A person is said to be physically fit for a particular task with a reasonable efficiency, for example, fit for military service.

Namsing Then
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/the-fundamentals-of-fitness-77380.html

When it comes to our kids’ health, we want to inspire them. We see everything they could become and we want them to see it for themselves. We try to inspire kids so they want to live a healthy and active lifestyle, so they can reach the potential we see in them. But where does that inspiration come from? How can kids see the creation of a healthy lifestyle as a fun thing? How do we make learning about health and fitness something they can actively participate in? And most importantly how can we inspire the kids in a way where they take responsibility for the development of their fit and active lifestyle?

It seems like a tall order. But the key here is inspiration. It might seem like a hard won commodity, but all my experiences as a trainer have proven that inspiring health starts with one simple step:

Believing in their potential, showing them you believe, and engaging them to find and create their own healthy lifestyle.

Another way to think about this simple step comes from the relationship between a trainer and a client. A good trainer always acts a coach for their client; while the client strives in competition with themselves, challenging themselves to reach their goals and meet their potential.

When it comes to our kids, our job as educators is the same: Help the kids see their potential, instill the skills and knowledge they can use to create their own healthy lifestyle, and let them have some fun doing it.

An incredibly fun example of an activity that we can do with our kids to inspire the creation of a healthy lifestyle is the “Healthy and Fit Olympics”. In this activity the entire class is one team competing against themselves, with the teacher playing the coach. This way the entire class acts a team trying to beat their own personal bests from the beginning of the competition. At the end of the year, the champions (everyone who beats their own personal bests) get medals that the class can design for themselves. And if the entire class as a team reaches all their goals: the entire class gets a trophy.

The activity starts at the beginning of the year: the kids make a movie, comprised of interviews with each kid and footage of each kid participating in a physical activity. Then all year long the class trains to become “healthy and fit champions”.

A big component of the “Healthy and Fit Olympics” is the activities to get ready for the competition. Some prime examples of multi-faceted “training” activities come from adapting the old stand-by: the relay race into a fun hybrid of a race with strong emphasis on nutrition.

Relay Race One: Racing Towards Health
Have the kids trace an outline of a healthy body and post in on a wall as a goal. Then have each group of racers cut out seven pictures of healthy foods/activities. Have the kids use the healthy pictures as the hand-off racing the healthy pictures towards the goal. Whatever team’s Body is full of the healthy pictures first wins. (UPGYM will even provide your class trophies for the winning teams).

Relay Race Two: Connecting the Fitness
Have the class decide on a picture of health, then make an outline of the picture—in dots. Each kid then picks a dot and races towards a spot on the floor corresponding to their dot’s location on the picture. When all the kids are in their places, you get involved by running around “connecting their dots” thus finishing the picture.

Some Other Training Activities
• Agility: Eraser drills
• Speed: Sprinting drills
• Coordination: Playing catch, throwing medicine balls
• Flexibility: Lunges and squats
• Balance: Single leg hops
For examples of these and other activities visit: www.survivalseattle.com]

At the end of the year videotape the competition and the award ceremony and watch it with the kids. They will have worked hard all year to learn about what makes a healthy lifestyle. Letting them watch their performance will solidify the fact that they reached their goals and lived up to their potential. Their experiences over the year training to become a “Healthy and Fit Champion” will carry on, providing them with self-confidence and skills to live a healthy and fit life.

It all starts with inspiration. If we believe in our kids, and challenge them to set their own goals and reach their potential—if they know you believe they can do it and their whole class (as their team) is rooting for them—They will become the champions of their own fitness.

Cody Moss, N.a.s.m. Cpt
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/connect-the-fitness-fun-fit-tips-for-educators-looking-to-inspire-healthy-lifestyles-for-grade-school-age-kids-53106.html

LifeMojo, a venture with an aim to help people achieve a Healthy Lifestyle, has launched www.lifemojo.com, which is its customer facing initiative. LifeMojo offers tools for Weight Loss and Fitness. It guides you to eat right, stay fit, track your progress and stay motivated. You can subscribe to an RSS feed for weight loss tips.

The product has been successfully serving as a platform to professional nutritionists/dietitians, as part of the B2B initiative from LifeMojo. You can check out various articles on Dr Shikha Sharma’s weight loss diet. She is a renowned weight loss expert based in New Delhi, India.

Story Behind LifeMojo – Personal itch:

Namit, Co-Founder and CEO of LifeMojo got a chance to meet Dr. Shikha Sharma (a renowned weight management and health expert) as a Technology Advisor. Dr Sharma wanted a solution for a few problems that existed in her business. After that meeting and after seeing Adnan Sami lose 75 Kg, Namit tried losing weight and was able to lose 11 Kg in 45 days (which he soon regained). On analysis of this successful weight loss, the LifeMojo team realized that the key was constant monitoring of what he ate, his fitness regimen, and an eye on his weight. But the problem was that he soon regained weight. The team looked around and found a lot of similar people and a solution to this problem. The solution is right diet consultation, as per one’s body composition and meal preferences. But this right advice is (1) expensive, (2) inconvenient due to the traveling involved (3) inaccessible, since good nutrition experts who understand one’s meal preferences are not easy to find. And thus as a solution to all these problems, LifeMojo was born!

LifeMojo:

On LifeMojo users can start by analyzing their body and lifestyle. They can learn more about their body, daily calorie intake, etc. LifeMojo has advance tools that allow for the user to track their diet and exercise schedule. Users can also check the calorie content of the various food items and the calories burnt in various daily activities. LifeMojo also has tips and articles about healthy eating, exercise, wellness and motivation.

As per the August 2008 issue of the “American Journal of Preventive Medicine”, the key to Weight loss and Fitness is to keep a food/activity diary. Tracking is vital for self-assessment and motivation. LifeMojo is trying to make it easier than ever with tools such as LifeMojo’s Diet and Activity Tracker – A few clicks, and your results are known immediately!

LifeMojo provides its platform to Dr. Shikha Sharma, using which she efficiently provides her consultations to her remote clients.

In the pipeline:

Mobile: LifeMojo has a mobile application ready that is being used by Dr. Shikha Sharma’s clients, which will be soon launched for other users too. This way, anyone on LifeMojo can track their diet and activities from anywhere – via the mobile application.
Community: LifeMojo will also add a few “buddy features” specially targeted at users focusing on weight reduction, where they can share their data and stories making it motivational for the others. For the fitness conscious users, lifemojo would soon add features to compete against each other and challenge people around the world.
Nutritionist Consultation Service: Eating right, exercising enough and staying healthy the right way is important. A qualified nutritionist/dietitian can help achieve this. LifeMojo will have a one-time consultation service and a personalized meal and exercise planning service that will add value to users seeking a healthy lifestyle, weight reduction or looking for a fitness plan.

LifeMojo was started in May 2008, with an aim to make your lifestyle healthier by making you eat right, stay fit, track your progress and stay motivated.

Check out LifeMojo!

hkhurana
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/lifemojo-launched-offers-weight-loss-and-fitness-684674.html

It is commonly known that nutrition is a critical part of everyday life. However, during pregnancy nutrition becomes even more critical for the health of you and your baby. Not only is nutrition critical during pregnancy, the nutritional needs of your body are different during this period of your life. Different nutritional needs develop because of changes in your body as well as the needs of a developing fetus. Your body is under a lot of physical stress during pregnancy which increases the need for special nutrition and added vitamins.

As soon as you find out that you are pregnant you need to consult your physician. The two of you should develop a pregnancy nutrition and fitness plan, that should be implemented as soon as possible. The first three months of your pregnancy are the most important because this is when most of your baby’s organs and brain are being developed. Proper nutrition during pregnancy can minimize the risk of birth defects, malformations and miscarriage. The first three months are when most miscarriages occur.

You should immediately begin taking special prenatal vitamins to ensure the health of you and your baby. This will help to ensure that your developing baby receives all the right vitamins that are needed. Folic acid is one of the most needed vitamins during pregnancy and women rarely obtain a sufficient amount through their diet. Prenatal vitamins need to replace the vitamins that you are currently taking. Your regular vitamins although sufficient when you are not pregnant, may be detrimental to your developing baby during pregnancy. A pregnancy specific nutrition and fitness plan will help ensure a happy and healthy baby and will also make you feel better during your nine month journey.

Turn on the Water Works

Although drinking 6-8 glasses of water is highly recommended for everyone, water becomes more important when you are pregnant. In fact, during pregnancy many experts recommend that you drink 10-12 glasses of water daily. Water does not include juice, soda, coffee of other types of beverages, it only includes water. You need to keep in mind that everything that you consume during pregnancy passes through to your unborn baby. Not only is water extremely important for a multitude of reasons, you should probably avoid or severely limit your intake of soda and coffee. These beverages, provide numerous chemicals that may not be healthy for your developing baby.

Drinking a lot of water may be difficult and many women find it easier to keep a water bottle with them at all times so they can continuously sip water throughout the day. If you do not like the taste of plain water, you can always add a small amount of juice or a twist of lemon to add some flavor. Extra water is needed to aide in your baby’s development, to remove waste from your system and to help ensure adequate flow of nutrients to your baby.

Drinking alot of water may also minimize or prevent some of the ailments you commonly experience during pregnancy, such as nausea, constipation, and swelling. Severe constipation is a common symptom during pregnancy because your developing baby depletes the water in your system.

Pregnancy Nutrition – Foods to Avoid

Your body and developing baby are much more vulnerable to bacteria and other contaminants during pregnancy. As a result, there are certain foods that you will be advised to either avoid completely or limit during your pregnancy. Here is a partial list of items that you need to avoid or limit:

1) raw eggs, this may include certain dressings or sauces;
2) unpasteurized milk and cheese, this may include certain soft cheeses;
3) raw or rare fish and meats;
4) fish that tend to have high mercury levels;
5) caffeine and alcohol;
6) unwashed vegetables; etc.

Unwashed vegetables are very bad because of the pesticides and bacteria that they may carry. Caffeine in moderation may be acceptable but make sure you obtain specific details regarding the quantity that is advised. Your doctor and a pregnancy nutritional guide should be consulted to develop a complete list for you to follow.

Summary and Additional Resources

Pregnancy nutrition and fitness are extremely important for the health of you and your developing baby. Your baby has special nutritional requirements that begin at the moment of conception. The first three months of pregnancy are the most important because that is when your baby’s organs and brain are being developed. It is also the time that most miscarriages occur.

Proper specialized nutrition can also make you feel better and provide additional energy during pregnancy which is critical because of the added stress that is being placed on your body. You will need to make sacrifices but it will pay off in the long run for you and your baby. When you see your healthy beautiful baby for the first time, you will know that it was all worth it!

There is a lot of information that you need to know about pregnancy and pregnancy nutrition. Although your doctor and loved ones can help, there is too much to learn for this method to be sufficient. We provide comprehensive pregnancy information and recommended pregnancy guides. We review the most popular guides to find the ones that are best for your needs.

Donna Deerkoski
http://www.articlesbase.com/women’s-issues-articles/special-pregnancy-nutrition-needs-123676.html

Lifetime-Natural Bodybuilder, Personal Trainer, Nutritionist and Success Coach From New Jersey Teaches You How to Turbo-Charge Your Metabolism, Gain Muscle, Burn Off Body Fat and Develop Unstoppable Motivation … Guaranteed! Discover How He’s Taught Thousands of People to Get Leaner Faster Than They Ever Thought Possible!

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There are thousands of diet programs and dozens of people claiming to be experts. However, very few of these so-called “Fat loss experts” practice what they preach or have the credentials and track record to back up their claims. Since you’re probably wondering how this program is different, here’s the whole story:

Tom Venuto has been bodybuilding for 24 years and competing for 18 years. He’s been involved in the fitness industry as a personal trainer, health club manager, nutritionist, motivation coach and freelance writer for nearly 20 years. Bodybuilding and fitness is his life – it’s all he’s ever done.You may have seen his photos or articles in some of the magazines or on the Internet: He’s been in IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Olympian’s News (in Italian), Muscular Development, Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise. He has written over 190 articles on bodybuilding, fat loss and fitness and you can find his articles featured on dozens of websites worldwide including Bodybuilding.com, About.com, Lee Labrada’s Lean Body Coaching Club, Will Brink’s Muscle Building Nutrition.com, Global Health & Fitness.com, A to Z Fitness.com, and too many others to mention.He has a BSc. degree in exercise science, He’s a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer. He is a member of the International Society for Sports Nutrition (ISSN), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the National Strength And Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is a competitive bodybuilder and has won three state and three regional championships. He’s even gone as far as 2nd place in the Mr. Natural USA and 2nd in the Mr. Natural North America contests.

One more thing – and this is important – he is a “lifetime natural” bodybuilder. “Natural” means he has never used steroids or any other banned or illegal physique enhancing drugs – ever! You can achieve AMAZING results on this program without ever taking drugs – and he’s living proof!Here is some great news for you! Since there are no printing costs for e-books, you can get this e-book for much less than it would cost if it were a hard copy manual – AND you get it instantly (no waiting for the snail mail!) Your investment in this life-changing e-book is now.                                                                                        
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Novyar
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/burn-the-fat-feed-the-muscle-673541.html

By Tom Gilliam, Ph.D.

The holidays are here in full (fattening) force. And unfortunately for the health conscious, along with the tinsel and the tree comes the onslaught of temptation: the rich turkey gravy, the dressing, the sugar cookies, the eggnog, the pie—all those comfort foods that taste especially comforting during a recession-marred holiday. But as we mentally prepare ourselves to push away from the festively set table, it’s easy to forget we aren’t the only ones facing tempting treats—our kids are too.

That’s right. Between parties at school and stockings stuffed with sugary surprises, our kids are just as susceptible to the guilty pleasures we allow ourselves during the holiday season. The bad news is that the “special occasion” indulgences we allow during the holidays can quickly morph into harmful bad habits for our children—habits that will last long after the gifts have been unwrapped.

A lifetime of fitness always begins at home, and that’s also true when the home is covered in tinsel and lights. Research shows over and over that the only way to combat childhood obesity is to make nutrition and exercise family priorities. And while it’s okay for them to indulge a little bit during the holidays, you should gently steer your kids away from the third buttery dinner roll and the double handful of chocolate candy.”

It’s no surprise that childhood obesity is a growing problem in the U.S. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that one in three kids is now overweight or obese. This reality has encouraged more and more companies to teach the “family fitness” principle to their employees, helping the “get kids and families healthy together” trend gather momentum.

Kids live what they learn, and parents are their number one source of information. If they see you making unhealthy choices, they will naturally assume it’s okay for them too.

With busy holiday schedules and tightened budgets, it may seem impossible to come up with new and creative ways to help get your family on the fitness bandwagon. Not so. Making just a few simple changes to your family’s daily routine can have a huge impact on everyone’s overall fitness.

Here are some tried and true tips for getting your family in shape—not only during the holidays but at any time of the year:

Find “hidden” exercise in your holiday housekeeping routine. It may seem like a no-brainer, but good old fashioned chores can be one of the best ways to keep in shape. And, luckily, there are many reasons to do chores this time of year. Be sure to involve your kids in any pre-holiday festivities clean-up or just the general tidying up of the house. Vacuuming, dusting, mopping, sweeping, and taking out the trash are all ways your kids can do their part for the family while helping to get in the physical activity they need each day. Crank up the volume on some good music during chore time to get everyone moving and the house will be clean in no time!

Brave the frosty air and enjoy winter workouts. On snowy days, get bundled up and get moving. Go sledding, build snow angels, and have a snowball fight with your kids. If you’re near a city, hit the sidewalks and enjoy the holiday window displays. Or if it’s too cold or rainy, visit an indoor sports facility like a batting cage or an indoor rock climbing center. It certainly beats sitting inside being a couch potato!

Alleviate winter break boredom with a spirited game of Duck, Duck, (Christmas) Goose. Know how restless your kids get when they’re out of school for a few weeks? Add instant entertainment—and sneak in some exercise—by showing them the games you used to love to play when you were a kid. Teach them all about Red Rover; Mother, May I?; Duck, Duck, Goose; and Red Light, Green Light—then spend an hour after dinner playing one of them. It’s a great way to stay active and create some special childhood memories for your own children. Check out www.gameskidsplay.net for a complete listing of instructions plus other suggestions for new games to learn and try together!

Model good “snacking” habits. As mentioned before, your kids learn their eating and exercising habits from you. If they see you make a healthy snack choice like an orange instead of reaching for yet another handful of holiday party mix, they’ll go for the good stuff too. But don’t rely on pure willpower. Try to keep the house low on junk food. Help kids avoid temptation by keeping the house stocked with healthful and delicious snack foods like yogurt, fresh fruit, raisins, and natural peanut butter. Just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean it’s okay to gorge on sugary and fat-filled foods.

On the other hand, don’t ban all holiday treats. When trying to get the family eating more healthfully, many parents make the mistake of throwing out all of the candy, cookies, juice drinks, and other foods that kids tend to love. That is the wrong approach. Don’t make any food totally off limits. As long as food is consumed in moderate amounts, it’s okay! Making something off limits can cause your child to binge on treats when they are available at school or at Grandma’s. Besides, the holidays just wouldn’t be the holidays without the occasional Christmas cookie or Hanukkah doughnut.

Make exercise a daily habit. Whether it’s a 30-minute stroll after dinner each night or a weekly trip to the local walking trail, make exercising with your family a consistent routine in your day-to-day lives. Besides being good for you, it can help you alleviate some holiday stress and help your kids burn off some of their excited energy. When it’s a part of your regular schedule, like going to Grandma’s on Sundays or having spaghetti for dinner on Thursday nights, your kids will expect it. And who knows? If you keep up the fitness routine, your kids might even look forward to the additional family time.

Set up a holiday fitness competition. Kids are naturally competitive. Use that quality to their advantage. Buy everyone a pedometer and tell the kids that whoever logs the most miles gets to open the first Christmas or Hanukkah present. Alternately, create a goal that the whole family can work on together. Set a number of miles for the week and chart each family member’s progress at the end of the day. At the end of the week, if the family has achieved their collective goal, then celebrate with a movie night or a special (low-fat!) frozen yogurt treat.

Encourage kids’ culinary curiosity. You should never stand in the way of your child trying something new, even if you suspect she won’t like it. Always encourage their interest in trying new foods and you will be rewarded when they discover they do like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. You might also be surprised by what you can sneak by your kids. The holiday season is a great time for them to try out foods they don’t eat every day that are nutrition powerhouses—pumpkins, cranberries, and spicy teas, for example.

Let them help make the figgy pudding. Kids love to help in the kitchen, and by allowing them to be a part of the food prep process, you can seize a great learning opportunity. And they’ll especially enjoy having a hand in preparing your Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa feast. Explain to them why you use certain foods and techniques to be healthier. Allowing your kids to help in the kitchen gives them a sense of ownership over the meal, and they will be more eager to gobble up a healthy dinner that they had a hand in cooking!

Sneak “fitness” gifts into their stockings. There are lots of great (and inexpensive) resources out there that can help you keep maintaining a healthy lifestyle on your kids’ minds. For older kids a subscription to a fitness magazine might make a good stocking stuffer. You might also throw in a fitness DVD—beginner’s martial arts and beginner’s yoga or pilates are great options. For younger kids, my own series of brightly illustrated children’s books, featuring cartoon characters Heart “E” Heart and friends, is a huge hit and a great way to get them thinking about healthy living. And jump ropes, stretch bands, and dumbbells are appropriate gifts for kids of all ages and can be bought for under $10. While the recession has caused many families to cancel fitness club memberships, the good news is that many, many fitness items are reasonably priced. You don’t have to bust your budget to give your kids the best gift of all—the keys to a healthy life.

Remember, getting fit and healthy is not about going to extremes. It’s about making small, gradual, incremental changes in your day-to-day life. And that’s why the holidays are a good time to help your kids start the process—there’s something valuable about practicing the art of moderation in a season known for the exact opposite.

You know the cliché about New York—if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere? Well, the same is true of the holidays. If you show your kids they can exercise when it’s 20 degrees outside and they can stop with two sugar cookies instead of wolfing down six, think how much easier it will be to make healthful choices when it’s warm outside and there’s no endless supply of treats to tempt them. Get them in the habit now and maintain it all year long; eventually they’ll grow up to be what you want them to be: healthy and happy adults.

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About the Authors:

Thomas B. Gilliam, Ph.D., is the founder and president of T. Gilliam & Associates, coauthor of the book Move It. Lose It. Live Healthy.: The Simple Truth About Achieving & Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight, creator of the Move It. Lose It. Live Healthy.® wellness program, designed to teach workers how to achieve a healthy body weight, creator of www.moveitloseitlivehealthy.com, and founder and owner of Industrial Physical Capability Services, Inc. (IPCS).

Since 1982, Dr. Gilliam has designed and managed many corporate fitness centers ranging from 500 square feet to 34,000 square feet. He has established a variety of wellness programs to deal with such health issues as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, physical inactivity, stress, osteoporosis, low back pain, and many more.

In addition, Dr. Gilliam is a pioneer and acknowledged expert in the field of dynamic strength testing for industry based on the sports medicine model. Since 1982, he has provided isokinetic physical capability assessments for Fortune 1000 companies through his company Industrial Physical Capability Services, Inc. (IPCS) (www.ipcs-inc.com). Dr. Gilliam’s programs have dramatically reduced workers’ compensation costs and decreased injury incidence and severity rates for major industrial clients. In addition, Dr. Gilliam has been instrumental in identifying and presenting to industry the higher risk for injury and disease caused by obesity in the workplace.

Dr. Gilliam is the creator of the Heart “E” Heart program, which is a healthy lifestyle program for children and their families. He was the principal investigator in a National Institutes of Health research study investigating the impact of physical activity and nutritional habits on heart disease risk in young children. Conducted in the late 1970s, this research resulted in numerous scholarly publications and television and radio interviews throughout the world, including NBC’s Today Show and NBC’s Nightly News with its science editor, Robert Basel.

In 1973, Dr. Gilliam earned a doctorate degree in exercise physiology with a minor in graduate statistics and research design from Michigan State University. From 1974 to 1982, Dr. Gilliam was a tenured faculty member at the University of Michigan. Before resigning from his tenured faculty position, he was involved with numerous funded research projects (i.e., N.I.H., Kellogg Foundation, State of Michigan, and others) that resulted in twenty-nine refereed scholarly publications.

Jane C. Neill, R.D., L.D., is the 2004 recipient of the Nutritionist of the Year Award for the State of Alabama Public Health. She is an active member of the American Dietetic Association and currently employed by the Alabama Department of Public Health, where she works with the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program as a WIC coordinator and a licensed dietitian. She has worked in the WIC program for over ten years, providing daily nutrition counseling for women, infants, and children.

While on the staff as a registered dietitian at the University of Michigan Health System in the late 1970s, Jane was instrumental in working with Dr. Gilliam as an investigator on the National Institutes of Health research study to investigate the impact of physical activity and nutritional habits on heart disease risk in children ages six to eight years.

Ms. Neill is a member of the team that developed and wrote the Heart “E” Heart program for children and their families.

She received her bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Alabama in 1977 in food, nutrition, and institutional management. Ms. Neill has been working as a registered dietitian for over twenty-seven years.

About the Book:

Move It. Lose It. Live Healthy.: The Simple Truth About Achieving & Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight (Move It. Lose It. Live Healthy., LLC, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-0-9762703-5-5, ISBN-10: 0-9762703-5-8, $19.95) is available in bookstores nationwide and through all major online booksellers.

For more information, visit www.moveitloseitlivehealthy.com.

C. Hand
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