Family Time

Create mealtime art! You might usually tell your kids not to play with their food, but this activity helps demonstrate the variety and color in your meals. Decorate a plate with prepared food, take a photograph of the plate, enjoy the meal and review the plates later. An alternative is to draw a picture of your plates using crayons or markers. Do this activity a few times in a week, including weekends. Compare the photos /drawings and talk about the differences and similarities between meals. Try to increase the color and variety of the foods in your meals.

Share photos with HFH, email them to healthyfamilyhome@ymca.net

Kids Corner

Create an out of door triathlon for the family. A traditional triathlon includes three activities – running, biking and swimming. You can create your own backyard or park triathlon by putting together a few simple and quick activities. For example, each family member can do jumping jacks for three minutes, followed by holding a plank pose ( push up position) for one minute, and finishing with leaping like a frog in place for two minutes. The only equipment needed is some kind of watch/clock to keep time and a little space to host your event. To beat the heat this summer, you can modify your triathlon to be held indoors or during early morning/evening hours.

Ask the Food Dude – Nutritionist

How can we manage a healthy, quick meal and keep the sodium low?

There are a few options to help reduce the sodium in prepared meals. Pulling together a quick meal by grabbing a few items and mixing them together is a part of many families’ weekday routines. A quick meal does not have to mean loads of sodium. When using seasoning packets, try using only half (taco seasoning, ramen noodles, fajita’s, pilaf and/or rice dishes, etc.). When making a prepared pasta dish such as boxed macaroni and cheese, use half of the content in the seasoning/cheese package and stir in skim milk. When you use canned vegetables, beans, or meats, rinse or soak them with water to remove the excess salt added in the canning process.

Fun with Fruits and Vegetables

What fruit is bright red, fun to eat and can be a sweet or sour treat? Cherries! Cherries are in season this month and should be plentiful and affordable in most grocery stores and farmers’ markets. Like other fruit and vegetables, there are endless ways to incorporate cherries into your daily meals and snacks. Cherries are a great source of Vitamin C and are high in iron, potassium, fiber and antioxidants. Sweet cherries are an excellent source of boron, which combined with adequate intake of calcium and magnesium may increase bone health. All of these nutrients are important components of a healthful diet.

Snack Ideas

Combine fresh cherries (halved) with chunks of melon. Top off with some fresh mint and lemon juice.

Top whole wheat crackers, with a spoonful of low or non-fat cottage cheese and a slice of nectarine (or peach, or pear).

Ask the Play Ground Guru

How can I motivate my family to be more physically active?

Keep physical activity fun and simple – the less it feels like work the more everyone will participate. Here are some ideas to help your family play every day:

Keeping comfy shoes in the car or near the door, so at any time everyone can get moving.
Look for ways to incorporate physical activity into your family routines -- walking to the store, restaurants, or work/school is a great way to increase the family’s daily physical activity.
Plan ahead for family events and incorporate physical activity as part of summer birthday parties, picnics, BBQ’s, etc. For example, bring a ball, Frisbee or a jump rope to encourage active play at the events.
Turn off the television and play together.

Parents should act as role models and teammates by choosing more physically active routes to accomplish every day chores/activities (i.e. walk around while on the phone or brushing teeth, do push-ups or sit-ups during commercials, stand instead of sitting).