Here are some important practices that lead to the sometimes-elusive goal.
Nutrition: Food is a big one. Don’t go crazy with fad diets, and please refrain from starving yourself. Do
eat the right portion size, and balance proteins, grains, fruits, vegetables, and fat. Best of
all-eat foods as close to their natural state as possible.
Fitness: Be physically active at least 60 minutes a day. If you cannot do it all at once, break it out to
3 or even 6 times daily. 10-minute workouts can be found on iTunes or YouTube and will give you a
burst of energy for hours! Also make sure to get at least 7 hours of sleep each night for adults and
10+ for kids. Cut down on video, TV, and cell activity to free up time for fitness!
Attitude: Manage your stress through a 5-minute a day meditation, 60 minutes of
exercise or other healthy means. Stay away from things like excessive alcohol consumption
and drugs–habits that are not healthy or are high risk. Did you know that just 5 minutes of slow
breathing–really concentrating on your breath–has been shown to increase your happiness by 30%?
Everyone can do that! Also remember the role model concept? Yep, your kids look to you for what you
do—not what you say! So modeling healthy behavior is your best way to get your kids on board!
Environment: Organizing your home for healthy living reduces the time it takes to reach for healthy
options and reduces stress for you and your child. You can save up to 30 minutes a day by not
frantically searching for books, backpacks, shoes etc. when you get into the routine of keeping things
organized. Also make sure your kitchen isn’t set up like a grocery store. Marketers paid $100K + to
study children and found out how to make them crave unhealthy things, and part of the strategy
involves supermarket design. If you lay out your kitchen in the same way as the supermarket,
guess what? Sugary cereals and drinks have a much better chance of winning.
Why should my family live a healthy life?
There are many reasons to care about living healthy—the best is that you love yourself, your spouse
and your kids! Here are some reasons why you should live a healthy lifestyle:
• Energy: Energy is vitality. Feeling great lets us achieve our goals with smiles on our faces and with
an excitement that is contagious. Without energy, we can’t accomplish what we need to get done
during the day, like work, school and activities—let alone play with our kids. Energy contributes to
positive moods. When we lack energy, we tend to gravitate towards depression, which can spiral
into a lot of other health issues.
• Lowers risk of serious disease: Pursuing a healthy life doesn’t just boost energy and happiness—it
also decreases the risk of contracting serious diseases, like cancer (leading cause of death in CO),
heart disease, diabetes and more.
• Finances: Health affects your bottom line. More than half of all bankruptcies are due to health care
costs. A big contributor to health problems is over-consumption of processed foods. Scientists in
labs design most junk food with the goal of creating foods that satisfy for short periods of time. This
compels eaters to keep going back for more—explains why the average family spends 90% of their
food budget on highly processed foods and only 10% on fresh foods like vegetables, fruits and meats.
• Mental health: Depression zaps people of energy, focus, drive and more. Strong, joyous parents
manage juggling after-school activities, making lunches and maintaining their home with much
more skill and patience than depressed ones.
• Connection: A family that pursues healthy lifestyles together builds strong connections. Sure,
kids get absorbed in video games, TV and phones from time to time. That’s life in contemporary
America. But, they also look forward to those game nights, family dinners, summer road trips and
days at the pool.