{"id":4571,"date":"2023-08-01T06:29:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T20:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/?p=4571"},"modified":"2023-09-06T14:36:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T04:36:31","slug":"redefining-healthy-living-for-kids-exercise-specialist-central-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/redefining-healthy-living-for-kids-exercise-specialist-central-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Redefining Healthy Living for Kids: It’s Not Just Carrots and Gym Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Surprisingly, it\u2019s not eating carrot sticks and going to the gym By Louise Hurley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll agree, children pick up on EVERYTHING we do or say. And when I say everything, I mean everything we don\u2019t really want them to pick up on, like the occasional outburst of bad language in the car, certain mannerisms we have or beating us in an argument with our own reasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they also pick up on is our attitude towards how we look after our bodies with movement and nutrition. As parents we can be pretty hard on ourselves and the guilt can, at times, feel heavy. We often think that we\u2019re not doing a good enough job, we can feel like we don\u2019t spend enough time with our children, like we\u2019re not making them eat enough nutritious food, we\u2019re not reading with them enough, we\u2019re not active enough with them, and so on, and so on. Like I said, the guilt can feel heavy. So when we think that on top of all of this, we should also be a living, breathing example of what a healthy person looks like, that can just add to the feeling of not doing a good enough parenting job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article I want to share with you some really easy ways that you can set a great example for your children of what a healthy lifestyle looks like. The best part is, you\u2019re probably doing a lot of it already \u2013 we\u2019ve just been conditioned to think that healthy and fit looks only one way and if you\u2019re not doing those things then you\u2019re not healthy or fit. I\u2019m going to drop a few truth bombs, hopefully relieve you of some of that parenting guilt and who knows, maybe inspire you to make a few changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language matters
<\/strong>As a parent to an eight and five year old, I want to teach them that exercise is a way of looking after their body and a celebration of what their body can do, regardless of how they look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I teach them this by being careful of the language I use in front of them when talking about exercise or talking about my body or their body. When I talk about my own training and my own fitness, I never link it to the way that I look or to my weight. For example, I\u2019ll tell them that I exercise because it keeps my muscles strong so that I can lift them up in my arms for a cuddle and because it\u2019s good for my mental health. I tell them that I\u2019m proud of what my body can do and I ask them what their body can do that they\u2019re proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way you talk about your own body and your own fitness in front of your children has a big impact on the way that they will think about their own bodies and their own fitness. If you use language such as \u201cI need to lose weight, my tummy is so squidgy\u201d, your children will listen and use this to make their own stories about their own body. Trying to talk about your body without making reference to the way it looks is a great example to set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health does not have a look, size or weight
<\/strong>We\u2019ve all been brought up to think of a healthy body as slim, thin, lean, muscular and does not weigh much, because this is often what we see on social media and advertisements in the fitness industry. But this simply is not accurate. A person\u2019s weight, size, shape or body fat percentage does not fully tell you about their cardiovascular health, muscle mass, bone density, blood pressure, visceral fat (fat around internal organs), immune health, cholesterol, gut health, etc. Your genetics also play a huge role in the build of your body. There\u2019s so much more to health than just the weight, shape or size, which is why it\u2019s so important to disassociate how your body looks from your health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I often remind my children that a body can have tummy rolls, cellulite and body fat and still be healthy, strong and capable of doing amazing things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exercise does not need to be in a gym or be a sport
<\/strong>If you think that you don\u2019t do enough exercise to be a good example to your children, maybe rethink it. Exercise doesn\u2019t have to be in a gym or be a sport. It can be playing chase with your children, it can be walking the dog together, spending a morning doing some gardening, kicking a ball around, going swimming together, walking to school \u2013 exercise is so much more than sweating it out in a gym or on the netball court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating healthily does not mean you have to cut out \u201cjunk\u201d food
<\/strong>Firstly, I\u2019m not keen on the term junk food. It implies that there\u2019s something bad about it, like it\u2019s junk. Food does not have a moral value, it\u2019s not good or bad and eating it does not make you good or bad (I\u2019ve said so many times when I was younger, \u201cI\u2019ll be naughty and eat another chocolate\u201d or \u201cno thanks [to the offer of a biscuit] I\u2019m trying to be good\u201d\u2026 can you relate?). I think of food as being on a spectrum of \u201cnutritious\u201d to \u201cless nutritious\u201d. All food lies somewhere on this spectrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, all food is fuel for our body, but we need more of some foods than others in order to thrive. No food is off limits when it comes to a healthy diet, we just need everything in the right amounts. Showing your children that you enjoy a range of food in the right amounts and that you\u2019re game for trying new foods with them is an example of a healthy relationship with food and a healthy diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next time you think about setting a healthy example for your children, not only focus on how you\u2019re moving and fueling your body, but how you talk about it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Louise Hurley <\/strong>As a MumSafe\u2122 trainer and Pregnancy and Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist, Louise\u2019s mission is to help mums at every stage of motherhood safely start or return to exercise. Louise is the owner of Strong Mums and runs small group training and 1:1 PT. Find out more at www.strongmums.com<\/a> or on social media @strongmumsgosford<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surprisingly, it\u2019s not eating carrot sticks and going to the gym By Louise Hurley I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll agree, children pick up on EVERYTHING we do or say. And when I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sync_status":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[116,125],"series":[170],"class_list":["post-4571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellbeing","tag-article","tag-louise-hurley","series-on-the-coast-families"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/healthy-example_v3.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/feed\/podcast\/on-the-coast-families","embedCode":"

Redefining Healthy Living for Kids: It’s Not Just Carrots and Gym Sessions<\/a><\/blockquote>