You are what you eat, and your kids are watching you eat it...

Our culture is filled with immediate gratification- fast food, microwave meals, TV, video games, fast forward buttons and more. Long gone are the nights when families would eat together at the table and then get together for a board game. Or even (heaven forbid) read a book. Now it is scarf down some food in front of the TV and then some more TV. It is awful... No wonder childhood obesity is nearing epidemic proportions.

Eating healthy has always been one of my struggles. My husband and I have been blessed with fast metabolism, something I am assuming our children will also have. This means that self discipline is a skill I am still working on. But I am working on it... I have removed all the microwave meals from our freezer, cut our High Fructose Corn Syrup intake (studies show HFCS may contain mercury), increased the amount of fresh veggies and fruits we eat and we no longer have soda in the house. All good first steps...

I was recently reading on Kids Health a post about childhood obesity and it really opened my eyes as to how we are responsible as parents for passing on both good and bad eating habits to our children. We cannot just talk about what is healthy, we have to "practice what we preach" and make healthy eating and exercise a family affair.

As a Stroller Strides instructor I try to be a good role model to my moms and their children. Not perfect, but trying my best to make healthy choices about nutrition and exercise. It is wonderful in class seeing the children imitate our workout and I hope they continue to view exercise as something fun. But I also have to remember when I hang up the exercise bands and put the stroller away, I am still a role model to my own kids. So no more computer today! It's time to go on a bike ride with the kids and do something active together!