Building Good Habits For Life
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Eat well, move more, get into life.
It’s a busy time at HerCanberra. Between running a website and a Magazine and a new bridal event (whose idea was that anyway? Oh…right.) there frequently doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. It’s at times like this that it’s easy to put eating well and moving more into the ‘too hard’ basket. But the ACT Government’s Good Habits for Life, is aiming to show that it doesn’t have to be this way.
In the ACT, over 63% of adults and around one-quarter of children are overweight or obese, increasing the risk of chronic disease such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. It’s never too late to do something about it though, and if we address this high rate amongst children, we’ll be setting in place real change.
We all know kids copy the behaviour of the adults around them – after all, it’s how they learn. So, Good Habits for Life is all about taking some simple steps to healthier eating, being active and being connected to the people around us…and, as a result, as it ‘says on the label’, you’ll be encouraging good habits that will stay with them for life.
Practising what I preach
I’m goal-oriented. If I have specific tasks to complete each week—rather than having a general intention to ‘eat well, move more and get into life’—I’m far more likely to get them done. So I decided to take the Good Habits for Life Quiz and give myself and my family some Challenges to achieve.
It’s really simple to do: just pop onto the website, register for an account (so you can track progress), then answer some simple questions about your family’s overall habits (food, exercise, socialisation). It then creates a program with easy challenges, tips and interesting information that you and your family can follow.
For example, one of my ‘challenges’ was to “make one recipe from the Good Habits Recipe collection for dinner this week” – we made Chicken and Bean Fajitas and they went down a treat (with all of us!), particularly the suggestion to place all the toppings on the table and allow family members to prepare their own.
Chicken and Bean Fajitas – now one of our family faves!
Taking this advice one step further, we tested the ‘buffet theory’ recently where the girls had a great time choosing from lamb, fish, pork, and a whole range of salads and vegetables. As the program notes, “It gives them independence and helps them to choose foods that match their food preferences and appetite.”
When it came to sitting less and moving more, we found it was a great excuse to spend time together as a family. We took the challenge to do a 30-minute walk – and doubled it! I’ve also just bought myself a bicycle and now that the girls are old enough to ride capably, we regularly go on family bike rides. I’d actually forgotten how much I enjoyed it! And for the strength component? Our house is right next to a playground, so a few times a week we sneak over for some play that incorporates some monkey bar action to work those biceps and shoulder muscles!
Bike-riding has become a regular weekend activity for the whole family…and friends!
The last part of the Good Habits equation is ‘getting into life’…this will be a familiar sentiment for those of us old enough to remember Norm and the ‘Life….Be in it’ campaign. There’s a reason why the messaging has been consistent for decades.
This pillar says, “when you make time to play together as a family, visit friends or make new ones, or just get out there and be part of the community, you and your kids will get a lot more out of life.” It’s not only about health and wellbeing but about building valuable social skills.
A picnic by the lake on a clear Autumn day is a great way to get into life.
So we’ve been making a real effort to get out of the house and into activities like the Old Bus Depot Markets, packing up a hamper and enjoying a simple picnic on the weekend, and just catching up with friends that we haven’t seen in a while. There’s lots more inspiration on the Good Habits for Life website, including 30 ways to get into life and move more in Canberra.
As we head into the cooler months—and the urge to hibernate builds—there’s never been a better time to start building Good Habits for Life. Visit goodhabitsforlife.act.gov.au to get started.
This is a sponsored editorial. For more information on sponsored editorials, click here.
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