Family After Dinner Walks
Healthy Meals and Exercise Are an Excellent Weight Loss Program
There are many benefits to family meals together. Continue the benefits with after dinner walks. Start the kids on the exercise habit early and fight childhood obesity.
Family Meals
There are many benefits to families sharing meals together. Children thrive on the stability and family togetherness, and parents can model good eating habits for their children. In addition studies show that children in families that share meals regularly are less likely to adopt negative habits such as tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs.
Why not take a family walk after dinner and continue to reap the same benefits as well as additional benefits?
Family After Dinner Walks
Family after dinner walks can extend the family time that started when the family shared a meal together. The conversations and communication begun during the meal can continue for a longer time. Shared family walks extend all the benefits of shared family meals and offer many additional benefits.
Healthy Exercise
Just as family meals allow parents to model good eating habits for their children, family after dinner walks allow parents to model good healthy exercise habits. All family members will reap the benefits of cardiovascular exercise. Children who start the exercise habit early are more likely to continue to exercise into adulthood and reap lifetime benefits.
Walking is an excellent cardiovascular exercise that will improve overall cardiovascular fitness and reduce the risk of heart disease. It helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels that increase the risk of heart attacks. Many programs advocate walking 10000 steps a day to achieve these benefits. Taking family after dinner walks will help all family members achieve this goal and improve everyone's cardiovascular fitness.
Weight Loss Program
Obesity is a growing health problem in much of the developed world. It leads to increased incidence of many diseases including heart disease and diabetes. Childhood obesity is especially serious and many experts believe its prevalence will lead the current generation of children to have shorter life expectancies than their parents for the first time ever.
Healthy family meals coupled with family after dinner walks provide an excellent weight loss program. Families with an obesity problem can fight obesity with this weight loss program. Families without an obesity problem can help prevent future problems for the children by forming healthy eating and exercise habits early.
Getting Started
The biggest obstacle most families will face is hectic schedules, so parents must make the decision that family time is a priority. Then they must recognize that a family dinner and walk won't be possible every night and try to do it as often as possible.
Summer, when the kids are not in school might be a good time to start. If possible start this custom with your family when the kids are young and less scheduled with activities.
Start slowly. If time is limited start with short walks to establish the custom. Start with shorter walks to allow all family members to build up to longer walks.
Be flexible. Postpone washing the dishes, if it helps make time. If your family schedule makes sharing dinner and after dinner walks impossible, try breakfast or lunch. The family walk does not have to be after dinner. Take it before dinner or at a different time, if that works better.
Make it fun. Walk around the neighborhood and take a little time to visit with neighbors. Walk to or at a nearby park or playground. The younger kids can play while parents and older kids take a more strenuous work out walk. Take a stroller for toddlers, and allow them to either ride or walk.
Regular healthy family dinners followed by family walks provide many health benefits for both children and parents. The combination can form an excellent weight loss program and help children develop healthy lifestyle habits early.
