How To Build A Healthy Family This Year
As a large family household, it can be really hard to reach healthy living goals when everyone else is not on board. Watching everyone else eat junk food and sit around when you are working to be more active and eat healthier can really suck.
The good news is that there are some things you can do to help get your howl family on board with healthier living so you can reach your healthy living goals this year.
Start out small
Sometimes the key to making better health choices is to take some of the pressure off. Instead of trying to dive right into a massive lifestyle change start small with your family.
Choose one thing to work on at a time such as being more active, drinking more water, or eating more vegetables. Over time these baby steps add up to big changes that don’t feel too stressful on your family.
When choosing the goals you want to make sure they are small enough to be obtainable and realistic. This is particularly important if your family is reluctant to participate.
Encourage drinking water
Sadly one of the biggest things we do to our health is not drinking enough water. The good news is that you can encourage your family to drink more water for a simple and effective way to improve your family’s health.
Stock things like water flavoring, try your hand at infusing fruit in water, and even have some fun with rewarding water drinking in your home. After a while drinking more water will easily become a healthy habit.
Eat more vegetables
One simple way you can improve the health of your family is to encourage eating more healthy fruits and vegetables. Encouraging kids to eat vegetables can be a challenge but it is well worth the effort.
Adding vegetables to your meals and making vegetables the base of your snacks throughout the day is a great way to eat healthier. I love to set assigned containers of fruits and vegetables pre-washed and cut ready for the kids to munch on and these tend to be my snacks too:
:: Apple slices soaked in lemon water
:: Baby carrots
:: Celery sticks
:: Broccoli caps
:: Spring salad mix
Find ways to be more active
One of the biggest differences people see when they start a healthier lifestyle journey is to become more active. When it comes to getting everyone together and more active you need to look for activities that everyone will like. This may take some time and some creativity to make happen. Things as simple as going for a walk can make a big difference on your health.
There are a few ideas for places to go walking:
:: Visit a museum
:: Go to the zoo
:: Walk in the park
:: Visit a street fair
Reward your family for their hard work
I am not above bribery when it comes to getting my husband and kids to do things. This may not be the most popular method but is your job not bribing you with money to work?
To help make it easier to get your family on board with your healthy living goals you can look for ways to reward them for playing along. Avoid unhealthy rewards like junk food that are often a go to.
For kids small trinkets can make a great warward to encourage them to stick with your healthy living goals. For my husband it is a bit trickier and I often use things he wants to buy as an incentive. Cutting deals like go do this activity with he family and we can go grab whatever item he is currently wanting.
Another great option for kids is to use things like coins or beads to reward them then have them turn those in to choose a prize though I find this works well with older kids.