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It’s important for families to have healthy habits. From eating healthy, to being active, healthy habits are formed best when practiced together.

12 Healthy Habits For Families

How do you build healthy habits? How do you teach your children the importance of eating healthy? How do you and your family get more active? Well, let me help! I know that life can get busy, and the things that never get crossed off the To-Do list are the ones that allow you to have a little fun! These healthy habits for families are focused on getting the whole family moving, eating better and having fun. Together.

Here are Tips For Healthy Children and Families

1. Laugh

A good laugh never hurts anyone. You have heard the saying, “Laughter is the best medicine”, well, there is actually research behind that statement. Laughter triggers healthy emotional and physical changes in the body. Laughing also strengthens your immune system, makes you feel happy, helps diminish the feelings brought on by pain, and relieves stress and anxiety. Nothing works faster than making you feel better than a good laugh. Laughing is contagious, if you laugh, chances are the people around you will laugh too.

Find something to laugh about with your family regularly, laughing supports both physical and emotional health. Best of all, laughing is free, fun, and easy to do!

2. Reduce Stress

Stress can cause various issues and it’s important for you and your family to find ways to relieve stress. Kids experience stress and anxiety just like us parents do. Search online for free videos for families that incorporate yoga or deep breathing exercises. For more information on what exactly stress is, how it affects you and how to relieve it, read this article on Ways To Relieve Stress.

3. Be Proactive With Healthcare

Be sure to keep your regularly scheduled well visits, for you and your child(ren). Well visits for children track your child’s growth, behavior, eating and social development. If you or your child isn’t feeling well, be sure to contact a doctor.

4. Get Outside And Play

To get into shape, you have to get moving. And what better way to get moving then to go outside and get moving as a family. Family fitness is not only good for everyone, but it helps create long-term healthy habits. Ideally, kids should have some kind of physical activity every day, and us adults should be exercising four days a week. I’m not saying that you have to go out and do a 5-mile run, but how about a nice walk around the subdivision. Play basketball as a family, get out the scooters, go for a family hike, go for a family bike ride, there are lots of options! When you opt to exercise together as a family, you not only get in more exercise time (which is good for everyone’s health) but you are also getting in more family bonding time.

Having a hard time getting everyone outside? Too hot? Too cold? Short on time? Try a friendly competition of jumping-jacks, push-ups, or planks during commercial breaks or between your favorite streamed episodes. Everyone will have a little fun together and it’s great exercise.

5. Set Technology Limits

Yes, parents, that means for you too. That means no phones. You can make this a daily habit by selecting specific times during the day where everyone takes a phone break, maybe at dinner time or for an hour right before bed. When it’s family fitness time, I would also recommend leaving technology behind.

6. Meal Prep As A Family

Have the kids sit down with you while you meal plan the family menu for the week. Ask them what they would like and suggest they try to make it. Yes! Kids love to learn new things and with a little guidance they can probably make their favorite meal. Just think of how proud they will be of themselves! Not only are you teaching your child important life skills (cooking!), but you are also promoting healthy eating habits. Take them to the grocery store and the farmer’s market with you, the more involved they are, the more interested they will be about learning about cooking and making healthy food choices.

Make sure you are offering fruits and vegetables at every meal, don’t force anyone to eat them, but have them available. And remember to eat your fruits and vegetables, be a role model for healthy eating. The kids are watching and learning from you.

7. Have Healthy Snacks Readily Available

Look for ways to make healthy choices easier and within reach. Have fresh vegetables cut up and have them next to the hummus in the refrigerator, have almonds visible before the cookies, and make sure fruit is ready to eat and easy to grab. A nice bowl of fruit in the kitchen is always a good idea.

8. Communicate

Talk, talk, talk. I know life gets busy, I know that when you are done with work for the day, the last thing you want to do it talk more. But talk. Communicate together as a family about your day, dinner, what shows are your favorite on Netflix, anything! A great time to do this is at meal time, when everyone is sitting down together (without their phones). This is not only important communication, but it is also family bonding. Communication affects everyone’s overall well-being.

9. Forgive

This one goes along with communication, we are all bound to make mistakes when parenting. Kids make mistakes too. It’s important to admit those mistakes and ask for forgiveness, this creates an open door for communication. Asking for forgiveness will not only help your well-being, but you are also modeling positive behavior to your kids. Holding grudges and being upset never helps anything.

10. Be Thankful

Communicate with each other why you are thankful. We do this in our family every night before bed. It’s important to show your kids what you are thankful for and teach them to appreciate the things they are thankful for.

11. Wind Down Together

For a good night’s sleep, it’s important to wind down before bed. Take a break from your phone, the TV, and just relax a little. That means us adults too! You can read together or alone, play a board game, or work on a puzzle.

12. Get Quality Sleep

Sleep is an essential for adults and children. Children especially. Quality sleep helps in growth, development and just makes for happier kids! Aim for an early bedtime with that wind down time.

If you find yourself having a hard time getting your family involved in these healthy habits, remember that modeling these healthy habits is a good place to start. You can’t force your family to do certain things, but if they see you doing them and being happy and healthy, I would guess that they will want to join in on the healthy fun.

What is one of your favorite healthy habits for families?

While you are at it, make sure to check out Food Wine Sunshine on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram for more healthy living tips, healthy recipes, fun things to do and more.

We all get stressed. Now let’s figure out what exactly stress is, what stress can do to us and ways to relieve stress.

10 Ways To Relieve Stress

Stress… that ugly 6 letter word that creeps up on too many of us so quickly. Who hasn’t had stress at some point during their day or week? We too often get caught up in the hustle and bustle of trying to make a living, pay the bills, chauffeur the kids, get that project done … that we too often forget to give ourselves the attention that we need. That is when we find ourselves exhausted, irritable, and even sick.  I wanted to discuss stress more in-depth and share some ways to relieve stress. No one really enjoys being stressed, so let’s learn about stress, why it we get stressed, and discover some stress relievers.

What causes stress?

Maybe it’s not having enough money to pay your bills or you just don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done. Maybe your schedule is way overloaded, and you feel like you can’t deal with it.

In many situations, we bring the stress on ourselves without even knowing it. Stress can be created just because of our own perceptions. Did you ever get up one day and have a certain issue on something that you have been dealing with, and then the next day after a good night’s sleep, you suddenly resolve your problem or no longer even view it as a problem?

Attitude can play an extremely important role in anything that you are trying to tackle. You will always feel better and make more progress with what you’re working on with a positive attitude than a negative one. Having a negative attitude can actually cause you stress.

Everybody will have some form of stress in their lives at one time or another. You ought to know yourself pretty well by now, and when you think about it, you even know what sets off your stress level to a new high. Learn from it and deal with it directly. Don’t just ignore it and hope it will go away because it usually doesn’t. If something is bothering you, your mind will still keep stewing on it, and that’s not good for you mentally or physically.

So what exactly is stress?

Stress is defined as any physical, chemical, or emotional trigger that causes a bodily or mental response that can cause disease. The “fight or flight” response associated with stress occurs because of the sudden increase in adrenaline and cortisol in the bloodstream.

The “fight or flight” stress response is the body’s way of giving a warning that something (possibly dangerous) is going to happen.

Stress’ immediate response is to our body is:

• An increase in heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Release of fat into the bloodstream
• Redirection of blood flow to the muscles
• Muscle tension
• An increase in the clotting ability of blood

Stress isn’t completely harmful, but it can be if it’s chronic. Chronic stress can cause illness and diseases such as:

Heart disease

Stress causes a risk of increased plaque buildup in the arteries. This buildup of plaque can lead to coronary artery disease. The increase in heart rate caused by the ” fight or flight” response can cause irregular heart rate. The increased fat in the bloodstream can build up in the abdomen and cause an increased risk of heart disease.

Depression

Some researchers believe in a theory called “learned helplessness.” This theory relates to repeated stress-causing helplessness. Repeated helplessness causes depression. Each episode of helplessness causes the stressed person to become even more helpless. Eventually, they only “know” how to be helpless,(re: “learned helplessness”).

Immune system

Studies have shown that repeated stress can have a negative effect on the immune system, decreasing the immune system’s ability to fight illness and disease. Colds, infections, and viruses can be caused by repeated stress on the mind and body.

Obesity

Repeated stress generally causes overeating. This kind of eating is caused by “stress eating.” Stress eating occurs when trying to “feed” emotional overload with food. Comfort food is usually food with fat and sugar — the kinds of foods that cause obesity. I know I am definitely guilty of stress eating.

Stress can have many negative effects on the body. Besides the above disorders, stress can also cause:

• Insomnia
• Increased risk of heart attack
• Menstrual problems
• Acne
• Chest pain
• Skin conditions such as, eczema
• Pain, or an increase in pain

The effects that stress can have on health are many. Too much stress can cause an array of illnesses and diseases. If you are experiencing any of these illnesses or diseases it’s important to see a healthcare professional.

What can you do about stress?

First off, figure out what’s causing the stress. Is your day packed with too many things to do? Make a list of all that you feel needs to be done for that day. Now the key is to go back over the list and see what can be moved to the next day and what can really be scratched off the list entirely. Now that you have eliminated items from your to-do list, you can easily go about completing the remaining items quickly and efficiently. I think that stress can build up quicker than we realize. Everybody is so busy, and people, in general, are just not taking the time or making the time to do something they really enjoy on a daily basis. You set your schedule; it’s up to you to allow yourself some relaxing moments every single day.

So, what’s a good stress reliever? From personal experience, I have compiled my own list of 10 wonderful ways to relieve stress that work for me in my time of need! Of course, the list will be altered according to your individual likes and needs, but the idea is you will be taking care of yourself.

Ways to Relieve Stress

Laugh

I chose to put this one first because I feel it could be the most important. Laughter can do so many things for you and your body…and it just feels good! Laughing actually slows down your stress response and increases your heart rate. They don’t say “Laughter is the best medicine” for nothing!

Activity

Whether it’s walking, reading, cooking….whatever the activity that you choose, “doing something” is always better than doing nothing. Keeping your mind and your body busy is important.

Be Social

I know when we are stressed, sometimes the last thing we want to do is be around people, but actually, being around people is better for us. When socializing, a conversation is started, and it allows us to change our mental state of mind, focusing more on the present conversation than our issues. Call a friend and schedule a time to enjoy a cup of coffee together. Sometimes it’s hard to do, but even a walk through a grocery store can work. The point is, get yourself out and interact.

Get Some Sleep

Our need for sleep differs from one person to the next. Some people need to sleep 8-10 hours. Others can function for 5-6 hours. I even enjoy a power naps every now and then. Keep in mind that there are different levels of sleep. As long as the sleep that you are having is a good quality sleep, that’s the important part. But, when you wake, be sure to get up! Too much sleep can make you feel even more tired and irritable.

Listen to Music

This is one of my favorites! Let’s be honest. How many of us have turned the stereo up in the car when our favorite song comes on; or blasted the music at home when we are cooking or cleaning the house. Music is a great trigger! It seems that there are always lyrics that match what we are going through at that specific moment. Music allows us to say what we can’t. Music is a healer. So next time everyone is out of the house (or not), blast that stereo; it’s okay!

Write

I obviously write, a lot, here on the blog. And you could too! Start an online journal, a paper journal, whatever you think would help. Writing is a good way to express what is bothering you or causing you stress. Don’t worry about the punctuation or spelling or even grammar; just write until you feel you have gotten it all out of your system. Then you can go back and revise…if you want. When we think “too” much, it is when the words that we want to get out get stuck inside.

Have Limits

Sometimes we have people who expect us to do this or that, make appointments, get together for lunch or drinks, and sometimes we can find ourselves taking on too much. Saying YES too often. Don’t overload yourself! You want to keep yourself busy, yes, but to the point that it’s causing stress. So, know your limits and be willing to say no or take a rain check for next time. They will understand. We’ve all been there.

Communicate

This is a tough one sometimes. I know for me it was, but I’m getting much better at it. If you are in a relationship, communicating is very important. We all want that “perfect” relationship, but in understanding that, you have to know that no one is perfect, and you have to voice your concerns, frustrations, wants, and needs. Assuming that anyone knows how you feel or what you want or don’t want is merely impossible. Being direct about your feelings helps you to release that stress and at the same time helps others to understand. So, don’t be afraid to talk it out. And this doesn’t just pertain to communicating with your significant other, communication is important amongst friends, at work, with family, the list goes on and on.

Exercise

Kick in those amazing endorphins! You all know that I love to exercise. Walking, running, going to the gym and I also love Jazzercise! It’s a fun way to exercise without seeming like it’s exercise. There are all kinds different types of exercise out there for beginners, so just find the one you enjoy and do it. Yoga and Tai Chi are good for meditation and a slow-paced exercise. Jazzercise is more physical, fast-paced, dance-like. Whatever your choice, make sure you are doing something that can get the blood flowing and keep the heart rate good. Take care of that body!

Relax

Last but certainly not least: Relax! Take a hot bubble bath, pop a movie in, snuggle, or grab your favorite book and sit back in that lazy boy. You can even turn off the phone. You want your relaxation time to be just that…nothing more.

What this article is really about is you managing your own stress. Nobody else can really do it for you. It’s up to you to deal with all life’s little curve balls that will come your way, and they will. Be prepared for it all by eating healthy, sleeping well, getting enough exercise, and taking care of YOU.

If stress is constant in your life, there is help available. See your doctor.

Make sure to check out Food Wine Sunshine on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram for more healthy living tips, healthy recipes, fun things to do and more.