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Health and Fitness Tips for Your Family

To be happy, you’ve to be healthy. Here are some health and fitness tips for you and your family. Basically, exercise daily, remain active, drink water, and eat healthy food.
Parents teaching health and fitness tips to children
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In this fast world, living a fast life, what gets left behind is your health. If you wish to live a happy life, you’ve to remain fit and healthy. Here are the basic health and fitness tips that you should know to bring happiness into your life and family. ~ Ed.

a beach photo conveying importance of health and fitness in family

Have you ever wondered how healthy and fit is your family? Are you eating the right kind of food, exercising daily, and living a healthy lifestyle? Not everyone likes to maintain a health routine for themselves, let alone keeping one for the family!

Did you know in a given year, nearly 1.5 million people suffer from heart attack? That 13.5 million people have coronary heart disease, more than 60 million people are overweight, and 50 million people have high blood pressure.

With these alarming figures, you need to set aside your excuses for not getting into shape and start noting these health and fitness tips for your family, which would ensure an overall healthy and fit family.

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4 Basic Health and Fitness Tips for You and Your Family

You do not have to do much to keep yourself and your family healthy and safe from all the lifestyle diseases. Just focus on these four aspects to remain fit and healthy.

Exercise Daily

Make it a habit to exercise daily, which you can enjoy doing with your family. Start with small brisk walks for 30-40 minutes, or you can take up cycling, swimming or playing other kind of active sports.

Children and young people need to exercise 60 minutes per day, while adults can keep 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, which should be done at least five days in a week. You can break up the 30 minutes into three 10 minute bursts of activity, all through the day, if you get tired doing it at one stretch.

As per the chief medical officer at the Department of Health’s, Professor Liam Donaldson, “Being active is no longer just an option. Exercise is essential if we are to live healthy and fulfilling lives into old age.”

Remain Active

As a healthy and fit family, you need to remain active, which can be achieved by doing anything you like, as long as it keeps you moving!

It can be done by taking the dog out for walks, walking to the shops, walking to your school if it’s nearby, helping in the household chores, taking the stairs instead of the lift, or cycling to nearby areas instead of taking the car. You can even pursue hobbies with your family like dancing, gardening, joining a gym, cooking-cleaning-washing at home, or playing any kind of sport.

Remember, even a little bit of activity can reduce the risk of developing major chronic diseases, like stroke, various cancers, type two diabetes, and coronary heart disease, by nearly 50%, and reduce the risk of untimely death by 20%-30%.

Drink Water

Ensure that everyone in your family drinks about six to eight glasses of water to prevent dehydration.

Read this post to know more about why we should drink water and its many benefits.

Eat Healthy Food

An average man needs 2,500 calories a day, while the average woman around 2,000 calories, so you need to maintain a balance between the energy you consume with the energy you use. For the perfect health of your family, ensure you are getting a balanced diet enriched with all the nutrients. You need to take note of the following-

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, where at least five portions of various kinds of fruits and vegetables a day are recommended.

Include starchy food like cereals, potatoes, rice, pasta, and bread, which should make up one third of the foods you eat, though choose wholegrain varieties whenever possible, as they contain more fiber that makes you feel full for a longer time.

Eat more fish as it contains many minerals, vitamins, proteins, and is high in omega-3 fats, which prevent heart diseases. Include lean meat, eggs, beans, and pulses in your diet as well.

Include milk and dairy products like yoghurt and cheese in your diet as they contain proteins and calcium, which keeps your bones strong and healthy.

Reduce your sugar intake in food and drinks, which are high in calories and lead to weight gain. Eat foods with natural sugar like fruits and milk, rather than cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks that contain added sugar.

Lessen the amount of saturated fats found in sausages, butter, cream, hard cheese, lard, pies, as they increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, thus increasing the risk of developing heart disease. Instead choose options like baking, boiling, steaming, and poaching as a medium of cooking healthy food.

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Eat less salt, as three-quarters of the salt we eat is present in the food we buy like soups, breads, sauces, breakfast cereals. Eating salt in excess raises blood pressure, and can lead to heart disease or a stroke.

Wrapping Up

In today’s fast-paced modern world, your lifestyle does not allow much room for health and fitness. But you need to take the above mentioned health and fitness tips for your family to ensure that you live a much healthier, longer, and happier life.

If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”  

~ Hippocrates

Over to you

What do you do to make sure you and your family remain fit and healthy? Share your health and fitness tips in the comments.

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Disclaimer: We're not offering any medical advice here. These ideas are for educational and entertainment purposes only. Always seek a professional medical opinion from a physician of your choosing before making any medical decision. The information provided here is not intended to be a substitute to the advice given by your physician or another healthcare professional.

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  1. Hi Harleena,

    Once again really nice article. Covered almost everything one can/should do to lead a happy and healthy life.

  2. Your article was laid out well and covers everything a person would need to know to follow a healthy path in life ……
    Often it just needs the information to be laid out in a clean and concise manner to motivate change. Well done

    1. Welcome to the blog Angie!

      Glad you liked the post about these health and fitness tips for your family 🙂

      I agree with you there, sometimes small reminders like these can inspire and motivate you to change you and your thoughts.

      Thanks for stopping by, and for your words of appreciation. 🙂

  3. Yoga is one of the best way to keep your family healthy and fit every time. Avoid to eat oily food and fast food which is dangerous to your health.

    1. Hi David,

      I agree with you there, yoga is one of the best ways to remain healthy and fit, and is something your whole family can do as well. Yes indeed, you need to limit your oily food, though not avoid it completely because everything in moderation is the key.

      Thanks for stopping by 🙂

  4. Hi Harleena,

    Thank you for sharing this very informative post. Yes, we need to make it a habit to exercise daily. We can enjoy doing with your family. I believe that we should always take good care of our body by exercising.

    Regards,
    Abby

    1. Welcome to the blog Abby!

      Glad you liked this post on the health and fitness tips for your family. Absolutely! You can exercise with your family, which is all the more fun to do, and that ways you don’t even get to know that you are really working out.

      Thanks for stopping by 🙂

  5. Hi Harleena,

    Great tips to keep health and fitness for our family. All the food that you’ve listed here are very needful for make a good health. Everybody should take care for their health.

    “To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” -Buddha

    1. Hi Srimanta,

      Glad you liked these health and fitness tips for the family 🙂

      Health IS wealth and if we take care of it, we’d be much happier for years to come. Nice quote indeed.

      Thanks for stopping by 🙂

  6. Fitness is not something which can be gained forever. You need to put effort to maintain a fit body. Without continuous exercises and recreation one cannot even think about fitness.

    1. Welcome the blog Sam!

      Yes, you’re right that one has to make efforts to gain fitness, and then keep making the efforts on a regular basis. However, I hope interested readers and aspirants do not get dissuaded by this revelation – by thinking of the efforts needed. As by the time they reach the optimum fitness level, they would be so involved and gripped into the fitness practice regime that they wouldn’t want to leave that and continue practicing exercises.

      Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

  7. Naturally I enjoyed this post! 🙂

    I’d like to add: for everyone above 40 years, an annual master health check is a must. Preventive care will save a lot of grief from those silent killers like type 2 diabetes, abnormal cholesterol and other lifestyle diseases that even younger people are at risk for, these days. Timely diagnosis can help reduce the risk or at least ensure early treatment to lead a better quality life.

    I also write my own health blog at Your Medical Guide

    Thanks for sharing these wonderful points, Harleena. I’ll be glad to share them!

    1. Glad you could resonate with the post Vidya!

      Yes, you are right about the health check up being a must for everyone above the age of 40, something that most of us tend to overlook. I know this for sure, as I was also rather late in getting my health check-ups done, which did show me the true picture of my health. Everything may appear good, healthy, and normal from the outside- needn’t be well enough within, for which these annual health checkups are a must.

      Nice to learn about your health blog, would surely look it up.

      Thanks so much for the reminder of the health checkups, a good point. And thanks for stopping-by. 🙂

  8. Couldn’t have been said better!

    Though I am not the health freak and sometimes I do go off limits, I try my best to stay away from sugar given that I come from a family with a diabetic history. Very tough, because I have an extreme sweet tooth!

    Bookmarking this for a constant reminder!

    1. Glad you resonated with the post Hajra!

      We all do go off limits sometime or the other, no matter how careful we are or want to become. I guess it is just human nature and nothing that we can do about.

      It does get tough to stay away from things you love, though I feel if you are clear health-wise, eating everything in moderation would be alright also. The hunger pangs increase often if we restrict or try limiting ourselves from our craving of food.

      Thanks for stopping-by 🙂

      1. LOL! Hunger pangs are like the biggest enemy of it all! And I love how you mention family here too! My mom and I go tot the gym together everyday! 🙂 Though our workouts are totally different; we enjoy doing it together!

        1. Family is everywhere Hajra!

          Hunger pangs will always remain, guess you need to learn to control them- isn’t it?

          That’s indeed wonderful that you and your mom go to the gym daily- nothing could be better! My husband and myself go for our daily walks, though nowadays with kids having their exams things are all going haywire.

          Guess all that matters is that you learn to take care of your health, and if you manage to get hold of a few friends well and good, or else good old family is always there. But yes, even if no ones around, you could go alone- I used to do that, though my hubby was sweet enough to join me later. 🙂

          Thanks for stopping by 🙂

          1. That is one challenge for me. Controlling hunger pangs. I think coming from a typical Indian family, I am used to the rich fulfilling food and somehow I don’t have trouble controlling portions; I can’t seem to let go off spicy food! If you know what I mean! 🙂

            1. Oh yes- the rich spicy food is a problem, though again the controls are all within us. Once in a while am sure it’s alright to indulge, though making it a daily habit can be harmful. But you really don’t have to worry, as you are working it out. 🙂

              Thanks for adding to the conversation. 🙂

  9. Having a consistent exercise program along with proper nutrition are the foundation to good health. Another important factor is getting enough sleep in order to recover from everyday stress.

    1. Yes indeed, those are very valid points you mentioned Mike!

      I guess if we fix a proper routine to follow where our exercise schedule is concerned, along with a balanced nutritious diet, most of our health problems are solved. And yes, adequate sleep is another important factor to overcome stress as well as many other ailments.

      Thanks for stopping-by. 🙂

  10. So very very cool! I am glad I came across your site! Some points I completely agree with and knew about, but some stuff I had not thought about! Thanks!

    1. Glad you could related to the post and liked it. Do visit the blog again for more stuff 🙂

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