How to get the whole family on board with eating healthy and being active

Many people take on the fitness and healthy eating journey solo. We set individual goals and exercise to reach them. We also "diet" or change our eating habits as individuals too. Sometimes it is easier to do it as an individual. But when you think about what your goals are, what you why is, and why the change is necessary, usually the whole family will benefit and should be making the changes with you. There may be some opposition at first but with time it is easy to gradually make changes for the whole family. The significant other will be harder than the kids!

Ways to add more activity for the whole family
-go for family bike rides
-walk after dinner
-Play at the park
-Go to the local school track and race each other, run the stairs, do a family relay
- Go on weekly hikes-keep track of where you hike and mark them on a map
-have a water gun.balloon fight
-play tag or hide and seek
-play just dance
-have a dance party
-log activities and keep track- add up points in basketball over the course of a month and have a family champion. Do the same with baseball, soccer, or football
-go on scavenger hunts in the neighborhood
-sign up for a family fun run
-do season specific activities- sled, swim, rake, build a snowman-do it together

Ways to get your family to eat healthier
-include them in the shopping and cooking
-research and compare healthy alternatives
-change slowly-add or take away one thing at a time
-be creative-don't be afraid to play around and tweak recipes
-eat lots of colors
-stop buying the junk-when it's not around, they can't eat it
-bake from scratch instead of mixes- only use half the sugar. nobody will ever tell the difference
-avoid fast food
-eat meals together as a family and keep a consistent meal schedule
-have themes- make your own pizza night, mexican night, breakfast for dinner
-if you won't eat it, don't feed it to your family
-if you are cutting things out, cut it out for your family