Recently we have taken a new direction as a family. We are on an adventure, learning together how to make better nutritional choices.  Since we are a homeschooling family I am always looking for things to work into our learning time and this seemed like a great topic.

But this is about more than Health Class—it’s about learning to take care of our bodies so that we stay healthy. We will be putting everything we learn into real life practice and we have some very good reasons to motivate us. Most families are aware of the national statistics on childhood obesity and diabetes. If you want to know more there is some excellent information at the CDC and also here.

My husband has Type 2 Diabetes and we have tried to watch our sugar and carbohydrate intake but recently we have gotten more serious. As we grow older we are beginning to deal with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and general aches and pains. I have struggled with weight issues most of my parenting years and giving birth to 7 children did nothing to help me keep my girlish figure. Now I am facing the need to take off a significant amount of weight or be forced to look at medication for high cholesterol as well as blood pressure.  With both of us wanting to be more healthy and to live life with enough energy to keep up with the grandkids we decided we had to do something.

So we have started getting serious about our eating habits and our exercise habits and I am happy to report that we are making progress. The best part is that we have made this a family adventure and our boys are starting to read nutrition labels and ask questions about whether something is good for them or not.  It’s not going to be an overnight success but we are working together to break old habits and form new healthier ones.  One resource that has been a tremendous help to me is SparkPeople.com. If good nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle is something you desire this website will be worth checking out.  There you will find an amazing amount of information and support for making the kind of changes that stick.

Healthy eating,

–Sheryl