Do You Know Who Is Watching Your Every Move?

They say you are what you eat and yeah, that’s pretty accurate. You may not like to keep a food journal, but your body is a diary of everything you eat. Your body is 80% what you eat, and 20% how you work out. This is nothing new – we’ve talked about it before.

But what we haven’t talked about is: WHO IS WATCHING YOU? Do you have kids? Young kids, grown adults – doesn’t matter. Your kids watch and learn from you.  As much as we’d like to say to our kids “do as I say, not as I do,” we know that is not always going to be the case.

Because of the not-so-healthy choices we make as adults regarding our eating habits, our children are learning from us and therefore picking up some of the same unfavorable habits. As a result childhood obesity has increased over the past 20 years. Here are some scary facts from the Centers for Disease Control: (http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/obesity/facts.htm)

• Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.^{1, 2}
• The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.^{1, 2}
• In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.¹
• Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.³ Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.⁴
• Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors

So how can we as adults help reverse this epidemic and not only help ourselves, but help our children? A first step is to accept the Project10 Challenge – for every adult who sets a goal, picks a kit and accepts the challenge to lose 10 lbs., Vi (Visalus) will donate meals to a child in need for 90 days! So if you go and lose 10 lbs. and start on a healthier lifestyle for yourself, WE will donate healthy meals to kids. It really is that simple. To learn more and sign up for the challenge go to www.devonmtaylor.project10kids.com

Not up for the Challenge? No worries – you can actually donate just $24 and VI will match it and donate 30 meals to a kid who is fighting childhood obesity or is undernourished.

In addition to these options, you should also be talking with your kids about healthier choices – especially as they get older and will be out with friends or on their own. Try to steer them away from the unhealthier option of fast food and try for more fresh foods. Yes I know many people think it’s more difficult, and sometimes it can be more difficult when a McDonalds on every corner is simple and fast, but it can be done!

Just remember that children are always watching what their parents or older siblings are doing. Be sure that in addition to teaching them good family values, social skills, work ethic and the like, that you are also teaching them about better nutrition and a healthier way of eating. If you are unsure of how to educate them, because you are unaware yourself (don’t worry – most are), then please feel free to ask!

We need to help reverse this problem with our kids and the first step is helping ourselves!