empowerme

Stay active during TV time. Use commercial breaks as a time to do jumping jacks, push-ups, or crunches. If you love your TV, you'll have a six-pack in no time.

Lunch or dinner at home? Whether people know it or not fruits AND vegetables are naturally sweet. Roasting vegetables brings out their sweetness - even peppers! Great desert idea: roasted apples with cinnamon. Yum!

 Look at newspapers and flyers for activities that your whole family can do together, like a community fun run, walk or a car wash.    

Dance...Dance. Put on your favorite song and dance to it from the start of the song until it ends.

When watching TV, try and do as many jumping jacks, sit-ups, or push-ups as you can during commercial breaks.

When its cold outside, visit an indoor pool, ice-skating rink or basketball court at a local gym, school, or community center for some fun.

Sometimes packaging can be misleading! Just because a product has a fruit image on the package does not mean it is healthy! Make sure to read the label and see what is really in the foods you are buying.

When ordering in, watch your portion sizes! Rather than eating straight from the container, separate out what you will eat and put the rest away. That way you will be aware of how much you consume.

Get your friends together and work to get healthier food at school. Download empowerME@school to find out how.

Share with others what you learn about healthy living, and you can make a difference in making an impact on childhood obesity!

Thanksgiving dinner is a great time to enjoy the foods you love! Fill up with lean turkey and veggies first and take smaller amounts of casseroles and desserts (high calorie foods).

Whole grain pita or crackers dipped in hummus make a great snack.

Kangaroo Jump. Tape a shoelace to the floor in a straight vertical line. Stand on one side of the line with both feet together. Count to 3 and on 3 start jumping over the string from one side to the other 10 times. Take a brief break and do it again.

Drink water before eating: If you drink a big glass of water before you sit down to eat, you'll feel fuller and won't be tempted to eat as much.

Different foods provide different nutrients so remember to explore all the types of food out there!

To gain the maximum benefits from play time, engage in moderate to vigorous activity at least half the time.

Try to limit Screen Time to less than 2 hours a day. Turning off the TV, computer and video games is a great way to motivate you to get up and get moving.

Create a cookbook with all of your favorite healthy recipes and make copies for your family and friends. Then make a potluck dinner and have everyone bring the recipe they gave for the cookbook.

Use heavier household items - cans of food and books as weights to create your own in-home workout.

Try Smoothies. Smoothies are a great way to increase the amount of fruit you eat and are really easy to make. A basic smoothie is just frozen fruit, some low-fat or fat-free milk and/or yogurt, and 100% fruit juice all processed together in a blender until smooth. Experiment with different fruits to find out what you really like.