Fit Family Carnival - 5 Tips for NOT Eating Halloween Candy

Welcome to Fit Family Carnival!

This is my weekly look at how I can help my family stay fit. I'm doing it along with my friend Linda and if she wasn't so lazy she'd have a linky for me BUT, since she does not, I ask that you link any and all fitness posts or tips (maybe you tweeted a fit family tip?) in a comment so that we all (all 2 of us) may benefit.

 

Here are my 5 Best tips for NOT eating all the Halloween candy lying around your house.

1. Throw it out

Let your kids keep their age in pieces and then toss the rest. OR let them eat their fill one night and then toss the rest.

2. Hide it

Stick it in a Halloween bag and hide it with all the decorations until next year and regift to next year's trick-or-treaters

3. Bake with it

Find a recipe that calls for Snickers, M&Ms or pieces of lollipops and start baking away! Freeze until you have guests over and let them eat all that goodness.

4. Bring it to work

OK, not original but it gets it out of your house. The trick is to get it into an area of your office or building that YOU don't frequent. Give it to your favorite boss, the mail room folks, or leave a big bowl with the developers.

5. Mail it to Santa

I hear somehow letters find their way. Surely the big guy(s) answering his letters are in need of a little sugar high. Right?

 What are your tips for not eating all that tempting candy?

Janine

52 Weeks to Fabulous - Week 1 What a Girl Wants

So, a good friend of mine has started something fun this year and I'm participating!

The 52 Weeks to Fabulous kicks off this week for a year full of fun!

Here are the monthly topics we'll be covering and a few things I already know I WANT to improve this year:

January – Fabulous Beginnings (I want to get to sleep earlier so that I can START each day feeling better!)

February – Fabulous Organization

March – Fabulous Fitness (please - let's just shoot for 3 times a week)

April – Fabulous Food (I want to finally start a small garden)

May – Fabulous Style (I'm starting a new weekly series called Fashionista Friday)

June – Fabulous Fun (schedule a few weekend getaways for the end of Summer)

July – Fabulous Hobbies (make time for reading on a regular basis)

August – Fabulous Finances

September – Fabulous Food (Will I have enough from my garden to try canning?)

October – Fabulous Health

November – Fabulous Home

December – Fabulous Blogging (my goal is 2-3 times a week)

What do you want to work on this year?

Want to get the newsletter? Sign up HERE. Then leave me a comment so we can do this together!

Janine

WE CAN! Help our kids avoid childhood obesity with Subway and Scholastic (Part 2)

While interviewing Laila Ali and Jared Fogle was exciting, the WE CAN! program and what it is doing for kids and communities across the country is too!

Like the Escambia County Health Department giving inner-city Pensacola kids the opportunity to get in shape.

And the way the Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery in Kentucky encourages families to spend more time in nature.

The WE CAN program has tools that make it fun to learn about eating healthy and getting exercise.

For example, I have a sample kit for teachers that includes everything to get started:
parent/guardian letter
move of the day calendar
poster
certificates and stickers
AND - special hologram stickers that turn the certificates into a coupon for a FREE Subway Fresh Fit for Kids meal!

WE CAN Makes it simple to be healthy

If you are a parent you'll want to check out the Learn It and Live It sections.

If you are a teacher or community organizer you'll want to see just how EASY it is to run the WE CAN program for your group. (Think boys/girl scouts, recreation departments, educator, after-school program coordinator, neighborhood coach, etc.)

If you are a health professional there are materials you can distribute to your families.

Some of the materials available I have pinned to the side of my fridge already including the Go Slow Whoa sheet, and the Family Activity chart so we keep these in mind when we start our days.

Make it Happen! Contest

In addition to all the cool learning materials, WE CAN! and the program partners have created an exciting opportunity for your child to share a personal story about staying healthy and be entered to win Scholastic and Subway prizes!

How to enter:
Have your child write a story (or write it together) that tells how he or she eats healthy, stays active or limits recreational screen time (TV or Computer). Has she learned a new sport or motivated the family to start eating better?

Try starting with...
"My family and I stay healthy by eating..."
"Instead of watching TV or playing video games I like to..."

Then head over to www.scholastic.com/wecan and submit your child's story before June 30, 2009 (Mail in entries must be received by June 30, 2009. Visit www.scholastic.com/wecan for official rules and eligibility.)

1 Grand Prize Winner receives: $5,000 worth of athletic equipment for his/her school, Scholastic gift basket ($500 value), Subway gift cards ($100 value), and his/her story published online at www.scholastic.com/wecan and in Scholastic Parent & Child magazine!

6 Runners Up receive: Scholastic Gift Basket ($100 value) and Subway gift cards ($100 value)

I'll leave you with a tip from the Move of the Day calendar...
"Super-size? No way! If you buy snacks in big bags, put the amount you need for small healthy portions in individual bags. That way, it's easier not to over eat."

Good advice,
Janine

WE CAN! Series Part 1

Playground Games I Forgot How Much I Enjoyed

Now that my twins are in kindergarten I get to hear about all kinds of games they cram into just 30 minutes of recess. Mostly these consist of games with teams: the girls vs. boys teams, the good vs. bad teams, and jump rope.

One day last week they came home with a piece of yarn leftover from a measuring project and asked me to tie the ends together. Then M wrapped the ends around her two hands and waited for L to do something...except that L had no idea what to do and so the two of them sat there staring at the yard around M's hands.

I have no idea how long this would have gone on without my finally saying, "Are you trying to play Cat's Cradle?"

And that's when I realized that my little babies are soon going to be playing the games I used to LOVE to play with my friends outside at recess. These games are different than your classic board games like Chutes and Ladders and card games like Old Maid and Go Fish, which we often played with our parents.

There are 3 classic "kids-only" games we played simply because most adults at that time could not follow them. It also seems that every child of the 80s grew up learning at least one of these, if not all. And apparently, they are still around. I can't wait to share them with my girls...for as long as they'll let me.

Miss Mary Mack

The earliest of these games in pat-a-cake. But recently I came across a Miss Mary Mack book that had more verses than I had ever heard. Plus, there were intricate hand movements that went like this:
Cross arms, slap thighs, clap together, clap right hands, clap left hands, clap right hands.

And here's how the song (if you call it that) went:
Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back.

She asked her mother, mother, mother
For 50 cents, cents, cents
To see the elephants, elephants, elephants
Jump over the fence, fence, fence.

They jumped so high, high, high
They reached the sky, sky, sky
And they didn't come back, back, back
'Til the 4th of July, ly, ly!

Cat's Cradle

This simple little string makes the most complicated toy.
I remember playing by myself on those long car rides to Vermont. I also remember making my older brother play with me when I wanted to do the 2-person version...which later lead to me being forced to play the football 'hand-held' game that was actually more the size of a laptop but that's another post.

The only ones I can remember are Cat's Cradle, Witches Broom and Jacob's Ladder but if you gave me a string I'd be hard pressed to know how to do any of them. And that's where I give a BIG Twofer Thumbs Up to, what else? YouTube! YouTube will keep all of these games alive for generations to come.

Chinese Jump Rope

Remember the chant, "In-out-side-side-on-in-out" as 2 people stretch the rope around their legs while you try to jump to the chant without messing up the order?
We used to spend the entire recess taking turns jumping and judging, and I have the distinct honor of being the one to have Dr. Scholl'sbanned from school after my sandals went flying off my feet nearly clocking a teacher on the head. The jump rope started out low around the ankles and moved up higher as long as you didn't miss.

(Babysitter version was to put the jump rope around your neck and see who could 'jump' it without a) breaking an arm or b) taking out one of the rope holders.)

Do you remember these and can you add to my memory of them? I know I'm missing some of those Cat's Cradle moves especially.

Janine

Play games with your kids and lose weight?

All over Twitter I read about people playing video games like Wii Fit, My Fitness Coach or Dance, Dance Revolution for exercise. It's hard to ignore the groups popping up like this Wii Fit Moms Group. It's also hard to ignore the fact that a lot of these people are getting in shape while they are playing games with their family.

Now GameStop is giving those of us who haven't joined this craze the chance to find the games that that are right for us and our families. While games like Brain Age or Crosswords DS give your brain a workout, the new fitness games really do give you a workout. GameStop stores are now offering a "Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body" initiative so you can stop by a local store and demo a range of titles that match your interests and skill level.

As a special incentive, all GameStop shoppers who spend $35 or more on designated products will receive a free 12-month trial subscription to their choice of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Redbook, Good Housekeeping or Esquire.

Plus, the freezing temperatures make the idea of working out in the comfort of my own, cozy living room very appealing.

Janine
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