Win a Set of Bikes For Your Family: Enter by 12/6
November 14, 2011 at 11:39 pm
Christine Mattheis
Every year during the holidays, my family parks in front of the television to watch “Home Alone” for the umpteenth time and eats enough pumpkin pie to keep Libby’s in business for at least the next decade. Not exactly a picture of health. This year, I am going to take what I learned from writing this article and make some subtle changes to the way we celebrate: Baked sweet potatoes instead of our usual sugary casserole; and before we plop in front of the tube, we’ll take a post-dinner walk around the neighborhood to admire all the homes decorated with lights.
Now, it’s your turn: Tell us how you plan to keep your kids healthy during the holidays. If your entry is chosen, your family will spin into the new year with a new set of Schwinn Sidewinder bikes. Enter by 12/6.
This giveaway is now closed to entries.
Schwinn Sidewinder. (Courtesey of Schwinn)
this is something i need to de-stress myself in this troubled times….
limit sweets and do some cardio (mostly games on the wii!)
We too have been too stationary in the years past. This year, we are going to eat healthier and keep moving! I like the idea of having baked sweet potatoes instead of our usual too. In addition we will take after dinner family walks, which is great for physical health and family bonding. I love the idea of beginning new, healthy, and exciting traditions that can be carried on for years to come.
I STILL try and hike as much as I can and start with a light breakfast. The exercise sets the tone for your metabolism and by starting in the morning you put your body on burn mode!
We’ll be putting away the soft drinks and sugary candy for the holidays and enjoying healthy organic and whole foods.
As we all know how easy it is easy to stay sedentary when we get some time off from our busy schedules, we are making a change this holiday. This year we are making more of an effort to go skating as a family. We will also be going sliding and tubing. Now that our youngest is three, it will so much easier to do these activities as a whole family.
My husband is a firefighter and has been struggling with his weight for years. He was recently disgnosed with high blood pressure and finally decided to get serious. As a family we have learned to read nutrition labels and eat a more balanced diet. We do a weekly weigh in on our WII and track our progress. Our 12 year old daughter and 14 year old son have had fun researching and cooking healthy meals themselves. We take more family walks and keep each other accountable. We are hosting our third annual cookies and cocoa for our neighbors this year and plan to show off that low fat treats can be tasty too!
I have spent the last 15 months losing 105 lbs. During this time I have set an example for my family of the difference in a good diet & exercise. My one daughter has lost 20 lbs and is now in a healthy weight range. I plan to continue to set a good example by cooking healthier options, showing portion control and exercising. While the kids are out of school we will go bowling as a family. Also I have set up a Wii competition using Wii Sports & Wii Fit and there will be some prizes for the winners. I am fortunate that my son loves ice skating (hockey) and will spend a majority of his vacation at the rink. My girls will exercise with me as normal at the gym. I just did my first 5K on Thanksgiving, took my first spinning class & first zumba class. I’ve started to show my kids to try new stuff. It’s important they find activities they enjoy so they are more apt to do them. Thanks for this opportunity.
With holidays comes all kinds of good food so to try to keep things healthy for my family I substitute plain yogurt for any recipe that calls for sour cream. It’s great in dips, soups, sauces and because my family is milk intolerant I even use plain yogurt to replace milk in my recipes too. It gives my recipes a rich creaminess too and no one knows what they are missing! My boys depend on their bikes to get around, one has my bike from when I was a child and sorry to say it is just falling apart and the younger one had his bike stolen at the bike rack from school. This has left us in a bad way since my husband and I are both disabled and not in good health ourselves we just can’t afford to replace their bikes so this contest means so much to us, if we did happen to win they both would be so excited to receive a bike of their own and get them back on the road to school, riding with their friends and enjoy our beautiful bike trails that run along the river. Thank you for this chance at such a wonderful gift giveaway!
My husband was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and the doctor recommended that he exercise more to get it to a more acceptable level. As a family, to encourage my husband, we plan on more trips to the park where we can all enjoy some light exercise. We also have an X-box kinect that allows us to get up off the couch during the bad weather. My three-year-old is a little intimidated with our current dancing and sports games so we’re getting some of the games geared towards the younger kids that we can all play. As for diet, we’ve cut out most of the soda and salty food and replaced them with more water and fruits and veggies… Lord knows that we’ll be tempted with all too many sweets from our well-intending friends and family in the next month.