As you review the past couple of months of your life, how much time have you spent trying to help your child focus on getting their homework done or getting an earful from their teacher at parent-teacher interviews or caring for your sick child?  There are too many families suffering these days. Children who are unable to focus, misbehaving, getting sick frequently or not sleeping properly is rampant. How can any of us fulfill our purpose in life when this is what is going on in our homes? As a Registered Nutritional Consulting Practitioner (R.N.C.P.), I work with families to implement new strategies into their lives to cope with these challenges.  With a new year upon us, consider giving the gift of health!

Cars need gas, generally, to run. If we were to fill the tank with donuts and chips, the car would not move. The human body is far more sophisticated and incredible than a vehicle. If we feed our bodies donuts and chips, it will run!…for a while…and then eventually, the chemicals, sugar, and bad fats will make us sick. If our bodies were not so adaptable, we would not be able to eat donuts and chips; we would know immediately that these foods do not nourish the human body or help it perform.  Just changing your child’s diet will impact your son’s or daughter’s life in unimaginable ways!

We all know someone that is sick or has died from health challenges. The best way to keep our children healthy for life is to implement a healthier lifestyle, with Mom and Dad setting the example. But how do we do that, you ask?  First of all, we need to become conscious of the need to implement change.  Secondly, we need to commit to making one change at a time.  Here is a list of 9 options:

• Make more homemade meals – this does not need to be time-consuming!
• Have at least one fruit or vegetable at each meal, preferably organic
• Try food from a health aisle or health store if you haven’t already – there are tasty, healthy alternatives to every food out there
• Allow your child to eat treats one or two days a week, instead of each day
• Look into the foods to which your child is reacting by consulting a nutritionist, naturopath or holistic allergist – over 500 symptoms and 50 medical conditions are caused or worsened by food
• Switch your usual family drink from pop or juice to filtered water
• Go for a family walk after dinner once a week and gradually increase the number of nights you walk
• Have an electronics – free evening once a week and play a board game
• Light a candle after school one day and sit with your child in silence, listening to your own breath for 5 minutes

I hope you don’t think I am suggesting that you implement these ideas now – in this season of socializing and indulging!  Absolutely not!  Enjoy yourselves and draw comfort from the fact that you now have some ideas up your sleeve for January.  You can work on one of these ideas for a month and then add another to your family repertoire, until you can honestly say that you have a healthy family lifestyle.  Health needs to be earned these days – it doesn’t just happen.  There is still time to help your child and yourself flourish before school ends. Dare to be different!  I hope these ideas contribute to you having a happier and healthier new year.

As always, I love receiving feedback. Here on my blog you will get commentluv. That is a plug in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave a comment.  However, you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from everyone.  Please feel free to add to my list of ideas so that others may receive your gifts of health as well!

Until next time,

Meredith