Daily Fit Tip: Family fitness a required sport

Today is your lucky day. You not only get one Daily Fit Tip -- Make family fitness a required sport -- but you get a bunch of mini-tips to help you carry out this task. Shape Up America, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping folks achieve a healthy weight for life, gets the credit for these tips. There are 99 tips in all. Here are just a few of them.

Tips for Home

• Designate indoor and outdoor play areas where rolling, climbing, jumping, and tumbling are allowed.

• Buy toys or equipment that promote physical activity.

• Limit time spent watching television programs, videotapes, and playing computer games.

• Use physical activity rather than food as a reward (e.g. family goes in-line skating).

• Emphasize the importance of having fun and learning; avoid a push "to win."

• Get off the couch and change the channel manually -- or better yet, turn it off!

Tips for the Kitchen

• Pack your own nutritious snacks and meals for family outings.

• Keep fresh fruit and vegetables washed, cut-up, chilled and readily available for post-exercise snacking.

• Take the family grocery shopping so everyone can learn to read the nutrition labels (find the cereal that offers the most fiber per serving; find the tastiest non-fat cheese).

Tips for School

• Talk to the physical education teacher about your child's physical education program and how you can provide support.
  
• Encourage your school board to make physical education a priority.

• Volunteer to help with physical activity events at your child's school.

• Encourage your school physical education teacher to coordinate family evening and weekend activities in the gymnasium or in the school yard.

Tips for Work

• Stop every hour or two to walk and stretch.

• Devote a portion of your lunch break to physical activity (e.g., walking).

• Encourage your employer to install facilities and provide incentives to support physical activity.

• Walk to a co-worker's desk rather than calling or e-mailing.
  

Tips for Anywhere

• Pack a lunch for work if it's hard to find restaurants that offer whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

• Always use the stairs.

• Walk, jog, or skip instead of driving (to and from school, grocery store, library, park, etc.).

• Get off the bus a few stops early and walk.

• Park the car AS FAR AWAY from the entrance as possible.