How Your Kids Can Keep You Healthy

July 9th, 2010 | Posted in Fitness tips | No Comments » | Share this article

Are you the next Angelina Jolie with a pack of children that seemingly grows by the month, and unlike her you struggle to keep up every day? Just one child can be a handful and many think that our healthy lifestyles should often be substituted for motherhood, which is a myth that I am here to firmly abolish!

Does Angelina look worn out? Tired? Stressed out? Over weight? Wrinkled and puffy eyed? Ok, so she has all the money in the world to help out with some of these issues and a husband to share the burden with — but I think it would be safe to assume that she is a naturally great mother who refuses to let the fact that she has children mean that she has to look bad!

You can improve your health by focusing on activities to do with your kids and here are a few ideas how:

Tip 1 — Play with them!

If your child is whining or irritable it is likely that they are bored, so get some toys out for them and play with them, or take them out in the fresh air and run around with them. Walk the dog together and play energy-exhausting games such as tag or hide and seek to drain their energy and allow you to burn calories at the same time! How often do you open your magazine and see pictures of Ange out with her brood, soaking up the city sights or doing mundane tasks such as shopping?

Hint — You can even use the smaller ones as light weights to tone your upper arms!

Tip 2 — Eat what they eat!

Let me guess, you make sure your kids get breakfast every day and snack on healthy vegetables and fruit while you grab a cup of coffee and snack on a doughnut from work… A common problem for many is that we focus only on our children, and not on ourselves enough so next time you make a healthy breakfast for them make sure that you eat some too, and when you pack their lunch also pack your own.

Tip 3 — Exercise with your children

Kids have an endless amount of energy so why not burn some off with a fun workout? You can put on a fitness video and work out in your living room while the kids dance around next to you. They burn energy, you burn calories, and everyone’s a winner!

Just having kids is a great way to lose weight and get healthy — it’s just about knowing how to use the daily situations to your advanatge. All the running around they make you do, and endless chores they create for you are the perfect base to foster more exercise! So, the next time you feel a little worn out and run down by your children, think about what you can do with them to make your life a little less chaotic…