Exercise and Eat Together as a Family! (Giveaway)

Contest Closed Giveaway winner: Catherine of Evolving Mommy! 

My  four year old son Mekhi has watched my transformation from a couch potato to an athlete. I started working out on a consistent basis when he was just 2 years old and from the beginning he has been an active participant in my workouts. If I am at home using my Wii or XBoX Kinect to exercise he is right beside me doing Zumba, the Michael Jackson Dance experience and even EA SPORTS Active. Although we don’t use it very often, he also enjoys playing with the Wii Fit Plus – exercise is disguised as games so he really has a ball.

My weight loss journey has enabled him to gain the understanding that exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle. He models my behavior and even when I’m not working out he will take the initiative play his exercise DVD. I encourage active movement with him by reading books that highlight the importance of exercising. As a family, we are committed to exercising together. He knows that when I run a race I am likely to receive a medal and he is always on the lookout for my race “bling”. On Thanksgiving I ran a Turkey Trot 10k and he ran his first “baby” trot and won a medal! He still talks about the day that we ran “together”!

In addition to exercise, I am working on developing healthy eating habits with my son. I admit that it is challenging, my son is an extremely picky eater and there are very few things that we can eat in common as a sit down meal. However, I can get him to eat breakfast (usually waffles or cereal) and we sit down together and talk about how good our food is!

He is a grazer so during the day when he enjoys a snack I usually join him. Carrots, grapes and watermelon are fruits he really enjoys. Sometimes he will eat a banana and on special occasions he will drink the shakes that I make. It is my hope that as he gets older his palate will develop and we can have more frequent sit down meals together. Studies have shown that families that eat together are overall healthier and more active than families that eat in silos.

I know that I have laid the foundation for my son and I to be healthy together as a family.  As he gets older I intend to reinforce the messages about diet and exercise that I am giving him now. I predict that in a few years we will actually be running races together and it will all be because we made healthy choices at an early age.

The Together Counts campaign is designed to encourage families to eat right and exercise together.  Families across the country are taking to the PLEDGE to balance eating together with physical activity. This is a simple process, to take the pledge click HERE. 

GIVEAWAY

The good people at Together Counts want to help put one lucky reader on this path (or continue) by providing a $100 giftcard to Sports Authority. I’m going to make this giveaway really simple – just tell me what you are doing to ensure that your family is getting “healthy together”. This contest will be open until June 5, 2011 at 11:00PM EST Good luck!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post but as usual all opinions are 100% my own