HEALTH MATTERS: New Year's Resolutions

HEALTH MATTERS

"To keep the body in good health is a duty...otherwise we will not be able to keep our mind strong and clear."

                                                   ---Buddha

A new year is often filled with new resolutions for better health.   If we don�t have our health, everything else becomes less important; this is why my new year�s resolution for the Growing Healthy Kids� blog is to write about HEALTH MATTERS for adults.  We will expand our investigative journalism to bring you information that might otherwise be buried. 

Growing Healthy Kids is a movement dedicated to halting, reversing, and preventing childhood obesity.  We educate parents and children by raising awareness about facts, research, recipes, tips, and resources that help us make better choices about food, physical fitness, and ultimately, our health.  For our children to know how to get to, and stay at, a healthy weight will take a nation of educated adults.

 

On a recent tour of a new hydroponic farm in Vero Beach, Florida
with older adults as part of the Growing Healthy Kids' initiative.
That's me on the right.

Our goal is to reach adults in all 50 states this year and expand our programs and services to parts of the country where there is an unmet need to improve health literacy and health outcomes.   There is so much joy in sharing good foods, great recipes, and powerful tips that you can use every day and we are well positioned to travel where needed to educate adults and kids.  We have seen life and health miracles occur when people learn that when you know what to do, it�s easy to eat right, stay active, and get a good night�s sleep every night. 

Start this year by taking 15 minutes right now with your family to write down 3 health goals you want to achieve, either individually or as a family.  Use the SMART goal formula:  Specific-Measurable-Achievable-Realistic-Time-Specific.  Here is an example of a SMART goal:  My children and I will walk together after dinner at least 15 minutes two evenings a week. Post your health goals someplace where everyone can see them. 

Be well, dear friends!

In gratitude,

Nancy L. Heinrich, MPH

Founder of the Growing Healthy Kids movement

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

The Launch of Wellness Wednesdays

2013 IS STARTING with new energy on the planet, new momentum in personal growth, and new resolutions for better health.   Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. is an organization and movement providing global leadership to improve the health and lives of children by raising awareness about the consequences of childhood obesity and pathways to knowledge.  As a parent, I know about the responsibility, energy, and work needed to raise a healthy child.  I also know that it is up to us, the parents, to take the responsibility to reverse, halt, and prevent childhood obesity in America.  No one is going to do it for us.  Not our politicians.  Not our school board members.  Not America�s CEOs.  Not our children�s pediatricians.  Not the McDonalds manager.   Not the staff at your kids' day care facility.  

WE CAN reverse the childhood obesity epidemic.  We will do it one child and one parent at a time.  

PARENTS HAVE THE POWER in this fight.  This fight is about our children�s health and their lives.  This fight is about consciously making changes that can prevent kids from facing diseases usually reserved for older adults like diabetes, sleep apnea, and joint disorders such as arthritis, and from the psychological damage that can last a lifetime if adults stand by silently.  As a parent, you are the one who needs to get the skin in the game because in this game, failure is not an option. 

AS PROMISED LAST WEEK, the theme of this week�s Growing Healthy Kids blog is to launch a year of weekly information, facts, resources, recipes, and fun stuff that you can use with your family to make a difference.  

IN LAUNCHING THE 2013 WELLNESS WEDNESDAY SERIES, I am asking you to make a commitment to your children�s health.

• Will you DARE TO CARE about your kids� health by setting them up for a lifetime of success and teaching them how to maintain a healthy weight? 
• Will you DARE TO CARE about how often you eat dinner together as a family? 
• Will you DARE TO COMMIT to changes that can and will result in a lifetime of real health for your kids and you?   
• Will you DARE TO COMMIT to cut back on the added sugars and fats your family eats in the boxed and processed foods you buy?
• Will you DARE TO COMMIT to finding out if your child drinks the flavored milk for lunch at school that contains 7 teaspoons of added sugar or the milk without added sugars?
• Will you DARE TO COMMIT to making better choices about food and exercise?
• Will you DARE TO CARE to be a better role model?

KEEPING New Year�s Resolutions health goals starts with making the decision to commit.  Once you are committed and engaged to the process of GROWING HEALTHY KIDS, then we can learn together.  You�ve heard the expression, �It takes a village to raise a child.�  Well, it is going to take the whole village to raise HEALTHY children, as each child who is not at a healthy weight struggles, often silently, knowing they are different from other kids.   They may suffer from the emotional pain and embarrassment from being the victim of bullying and name-calling.  It is highly likely they will have psychological scars that come from the taunting, the whispers, and the looks from other kids passing them in the hallway at school.     

I COMMIT TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP by bringing you a year of weekly educational blogs and talking with you about the questions you should be asking your school principal, cafeteria manager, and pediatrician. 

DARE TO CARE.  DARE TO COMMIT.  Join me each week on www.GrowingHealthyKids.blogspot.com for the 2013 Wellness Wednesdays series.  

BECAUSE FAILURE TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN�S HEALTH IS NOT AN OPTION. Because this is our village and these are our children.

In gratitude,

Nancy L. Heinrich, MPH

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.