![\"Family](\"http:\/\/www.nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/familydinner-outside.jpg\")
<\/a>Does our family eat together? <\/i><\/b>Families that eat together tend to eat healthier, more nutritious foods. Family meals don\u2019t have to be fancy or gourmet\u2014or every night for that matter. Get everyone involved in making dinner happen \u2013 this includes shopping, planning, preparing, clean up, etc. Everyone can have a role and this will help skeptics buy-in to the idea if eating together is new to your family. If hectic schedules make it tough to share an evening meal, try eating together in the morning instead. Sharing meals together is an important part of creating a healthy relationship with food, so try to keep the conversations positive and save tough topics or discipline for another time.<\/p>\nDo we eat while watching TV? <\/i><\/b>Watching TV while you eat is a distraction. It makes you less aware of how much you are eating and you will be more likely to overeat. It also takes away the opportunity to check-in and have a conversation with your family. It is recommended that screen time be limited to 2 hours or less per day as excessive screen time is associated with increased weight in youth.<\/p>\n
Does my child eat fruits and vegetables at meals or snacks? <\/i><\/b>We all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us, but really take a look at how well your family is doing in this area. Fruits are often easier for kids to eat because they taste sweet. Try to include vegetables at lunch and dinner plus at least one snack. Dip vegetables into hummus or low-fat ranch dressing to mix up the flavor. Try preparing veggies in a different way. For example, you can roast commonly eaten vegetables like carrots, broccoli and cauliflower in the oven to bring out a different texture and flavor. An overall goal: aim to make half of your plate full of fruits and vegetables<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Does my child drink nonfat\/low-fat milk at meals or snacks? <\/i><\/b>If you child often skips milk and opts for sugary beverages like pop, he or she is missing out on essential nutrients for growth. Young children ages 2-3 need 2 cups of skim or 1% milk per day, 3-8 year olds need 2 \u00bd cups and 9 years and older need 3 cups per day. In addition to drinking milk, calcium-rich foods include yogurt, cheese, soy milk or fortified orange juice.<\/p>\n
Encourage your kids to be active by being active yourself. Show your kids that physical activity is a family value. Start new traditions by walking together after dinner, crank up the music and have a dance party or do a contest to see who can do the most push-ups. Ask your kids for their ideas. Have them create new games that will get your family moving. Ask them what they enjoy doing the most in PE class and learn how to do it as a family. Don\u2019t be afraid to be silly! This will make it more fun for everyone and it won\u2019t feel like \u201cworking out,\u201d but just playing. When was the last time you tried hula hooping? Have a blast with your kids trying to teach them how. What’s next? <\/em><\/strong>There are many factors that influence weight beyond what is discussed here, but this is a good start. Remember that balance is essential when it comes to maintaining or achieving a healthy weight. Try to make the most of your food choices by opting for nutritious foods and drinks most of the time.<\/p>\n Decide to start doing something for your family\u2019s health today. It doesn\u2019t have to be all of these areas, maybe one or two at the most, but start today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe you\u2019re concerned about your child\u2019s weight. Maybe your child\u2019s pediatrician has expressed concern or perhaps you have been trying to make healthy changes for a while now. What do you do? Instead of trying to conquer the whole mountain all at once, let\u2019s just think about a few simple changes that could really make a strong influence on your Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,780,45],"tags":[1090,860,60,858,857,856,859],"class_list":["post-9791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e","category-nutrition-2","category-g","tag-breakfast","tag-family-activities","tag-family-meals","tag-healthy-family","tag-overweight-kids","tag-promote-healthy-weight","tag-weight-loss-in-kids","cat-42-id","cat-780-id","cat-45-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/family-sledding.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9791"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9808,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9791\/revisions\/9808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Does your family provide opportunities for physical activity? <\/i><\/b>Kids are naturally active, but they will follow your lead on this one. Youth that regularly participate in physical activity are at a reduced risk for becoming overweight. You may need to remind your kids to be active throughout the day. This can be a combination of free play or structured activities to move more.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n