WeCan! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition), is a science-based national education program from the American National Institutes of Health (NIH), which aims to help children ages 8-13 stay at a healthy weight. Most western countries face very similar issues – it appears to me that lack of food skills knows no international barriers!!?

WeCan! have some great tips which are all along the Eat Well and Move More concept – they have a tip sheet that I think is pretty cool – alternatively scan through these ideas and share with your kids – (and yourself?? – we all benefit from this!!)…

• Drink water before a meal.
• Avoid food portions larger than your fist.
• Eat off smaller plates.
• Eat before grocery shopping.
• Choose a checkout line without a candy display.

Moving More Tips:
• Go for a half-hour walk instead of watching TV.
• Take the stairs instead of the escalator.
• Acknowledge your efforts with non-food related rewards, such as a family day at the park, lake, or zoo.

For the full tip sheet from WeCan!

Claire, my teenage daughter who hosts www.itsmyturntocooktonight.com, has put her comments next to these tips in her blog – the succinct nature of these tips really appealed to her and she felt they were things she could do without much effort – she did however have to put the qualifying comment regarding the TV watching – as long as it wasn’t her fave program she would buy into it! See Claires blog.

Tags: Glenda Gourley, Nutrition messages for teens

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 1:57 am and is filed under Parenting tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.