Supporting Health & Fitness as a Family

September 30 is Family Health & Fitness Day. This day promotes the whole family getting together to support one another in their individual and collective health and fitness goals. This can be done by incorporating exercise and a healthy diet into your family’s lifestyle. Below are some suggestions to help inspire your family to celebrate this day. Share your own ideas on social media with #CelebrateEveryDay and #FamilyHealthAndFitnessDayUSA.

1. Discover Your Family’s Flavor
Cook together to learn what members of your family like, and discover new flavors you may not have tried before. Spend one day cooking a meal together. Start by looking at different recipes, choosing one that meets your MyPlate Food Guide or Canada’s Food Guide. Take a trip to the grocery store and pick out the ingredients you’ll need. You can sneak in a short lesson on budgeting during this step. Finally, cook your meal and plate your food nicely at the dinner table to eat as a family.

2. Encouraging Routines
Learn a new exercise routine as a family. Always wanted to try yoga? Now’s your chance. Or maybe take a dance class? Get moving! Learning a new exercise routine that will fit into your family’s lifestyle is a great form of encouragement. Take things up a notch by creating your very own Fitness Plan and perform it the week leading up to Family Health & Fitness Day.

3. Activity Challenge
Challenge each member of your family to take part in 1 activity for health or fitness each day until September 30. For instance, maybe you want to challenge each member of your family to track what they eat for a week with a Weekly Meal Plan. See what foods are high in calories, and which are a healthy option. Or, replace one unhealthy snack a week with a healthy one. As the weeks progress, increase this amount by 1.

4. Running Increment Miles
Run or walk an extra mile each week, working your way up each day. Start with a goal of walking or running 1 mile at the end of week 1. Halfway through the second week, increase this distance by half a mile. Keep this up for the year and see how far you can go and how much less tired you get.