Hey, Turkey! Get Fit!
When there’s an opportunity to encourage our kids to eat right and stay active, we embrace it. They realized how much they enjoyed swimming and running so we got them involved in teams or races and purchased the tools and equipment to help them succeed. Miss M qualified for the state meet last year. We also run as a family during the warmer months and the girls have participated in some kids’ road races!
We also encourage them to eat right. Yes, we eat pizza and fast food but we also offset it with a lot of vegetables, lean proteins and limited fats. We consistently have them try new foods and they have discovered that vegetables are not bad when prepared the right way.
Last year, I attended a conference where Chris Powell, trainer and host of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition” was speaking. He was fantastic to listen to and his presentation was full of heart. After his presentation, I had an opportunity to meet him and boast about how active and healthy my kids are. His response was genuine and encouraging and I could understand how he has such an impact on the guests on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. When I recently heard he was using FREE BIRDS, a pop-culture kids’ movie as reference to drive home the idea (to kids) of being being fit, I was very excited and wanted to help spread his message.
You see, FREE BIRDS’ main character, Reggie, had been granted a life of leisure filled with fluffy slippers, marathon TV viewing and more pizza than any turkey should be able to eat. Reggie crossed paths with his polar opposite, a very fit and healthy turkey, Jake. Using these characters as reference, Chris provided some great tips to being less sedentary like Reggie and more fit and healthy like Jake.
Tip #1: Eat Breakfast. Mom is right, it really IS the most important meal of the day! Eat something hearty that’s going to give you a lot of energy, like eggs and toast, or yogurt and granola. Start the day strong!
Tip#2: Get to school at least 15 minutes early for recess. Run, jump, climb, and play your favorite sports. You’ll get some extra time with your friends, you’ll get stronger and faster, and you’ll supercharge your body and mind for learning!
Tip #3: Eat fruit every chance you get! Fruit is nature’s dessert, and comes in all kinds of fun flavors. You can never go wrong with classics like apples, oranges, bananas, pears, grapes and pineapple. But also try exploring new and crazy fruits, like starfruit or kiwi, grapples or mangoes!
Tip#4: Cut the soda. Any way you look at it, it’s just not good for you! If you crave sweet beverages, try naturally sweetened waters! There are all kinds of new flavorings for water coming out with natural sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit – find one that you love, and hydrate!
Tip #5: Be a lean and mean gamer. When you’re done with your homework, instead of vegging out on the couch with your PS4 or Xbox 1, get up and try playing one of their MANY active games. Get off the couch and LIVE the game! Run, jump, balance, shoot…get involved in your video games and get fit in the process.
Getting kids off the couch and active is only half the battle. You need to get them to eat well also. In addition to Chris’ tips, I encourage you to try kid-friendly vegetable recipes like Sauteed Parmesan and Garlic Cauliflower.
If you haven’t seen FREE BIRDS yet, it is available on Blu-Ray and DVD for under $20 from Amazon! You can follow the inspirational words of Chris on Twitter; connect with FREE BIRDS on Facebook or Twitter or follow Fox Home Entertainment on Twitter.
Now… which turkey are you and your kids going to be?
What a great way to encourage kids to get healthy.
Great tips! What a fabulous way to encourage children to be healthier. I’ll have to look for this movie on my next shopping trip.
Great tips. For some reason we’ve escaped the whole video game thing. Our girls are simply not interested. One less thing to worry about. 🙂
These are all fantastic tips! My daughter and I don’t drink soda, but my husband still does. I wish he would cut it out, it’s so unnecessary!
Really great tips, and that is a really great movie, too!
We already follow them all (not 100% on the recess one since my son is only 5 and goes to Kinder). We only have fast food when we have to (as in when on a long road trip) but try to avoid it at all cost. Same thing comes with sodas/pops, we only have it on special occasions (i.e., Christmas).
Thanks for all great tips!
Those are great tips to help encourage kids to be healthy. My kids would just sit and be couch potatoes if I let them. This is one they fight me on, but I know how important it is that they get healthy food and exercise. What a fun way to encourage it all.
I met Chris last year also. He is such an inspiring guy and I love how he is getting creative to help kids get fit.
These are all great tips and I love that he used Free Birds to get his point across to kids!
Great tips and totally agree with you.. my favorite is eat fruits every chance you get!!!!!!!!!! Love fruits and you don’t have to tell me twice… thanks for sharing
I’m working on the soda habit right now, and I love the idea of living the game instead of playing it!
You listed some great tips! And what a fun way to have an open discussion on this important topic with the kids.
We have yet to see the movie but we can’t wait to… I love that there is something to teach from the movie… healthy living is so important and is especially important to teach to little ones so that they can grow up making the right choices…
Love those tips. Glad they teach this in the movie, too. Such a super cute movie!!
Love your tips especially about playing active video games. My kids love xbox.
I love Tip#2. I never thought of that before!
Teaching kids while they are young about healthy eating is SO important! I haven’t seen the movie yet, neither have my little ones, so I don’t know which turkey we are yet, but we will have to go check it out!
Yum! That looks so good! I love the Turkey comparisons!
You had me at garlic and Parmesan. What a kid friendly way to eat veggies! Love.
cute, we love this movie, it’s hilarious!
Awesome tips! A great way to make staying healthy relevant to kids. My teen loves to sit and play his games, so we’re trying to get more active as a family with Wii games that help you get up and move.
I’m always looking for ways to stay healthy…for me and my family. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
First of all, we really enjoyed the movie Free Birds. I recommend it as a family movie. Second, I have to try your cauliflower recipe. That is one veggie that is difficult to get the kids to eat (although my youngest at times will eat it with ranch dressing, but it’s rare). Lastly, I especially loved the tip about getting to school early. Movement, is so important and children really aren’t getting as much natural exercise as they used to.
Those veggies look great! Way to stay healthy!
I think breakfast is the favorite meal here in my house! We love pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, toast, bagels, biscuits and gravy, you name it! Breakfast is wonderful!
These are some great tips on helping children keep up with a healthy lifestyle. Thank you for sharing!