Are You Healthy?Rob Tagher, MD
December 2009
I spend much of my day in the office seeing kids who are well, asking questions and giving counseling about things that can make them healthier. I wonder how many of these healthy things that the parents are participating in. Here are some questions that you may want to ask yourself as you think about some resolutions going into the New Year. Hint: the answers to these questions should be yes!
Are you drinking about 24 ounces of skim or 1% milk each day?
Are you getting enough water to drink throughout the day?
Are you taking in less than one serving or cup of “sweet drink” (soda, juice, sweet tea, flavored waters, etc…) each day?
Are you getting strenuous exercise most days of the week? Are you breaking a good sweat on these days?
Are you getting an adequate amount of sleep so that you don’t feel tired through the day?
Is about half of the food on your plate at mealtime fruits and vegetables? Are you getting about 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables each day?
Are you getting less than 2 hours of screen time per day (this is the amount of time spent looking at the TV, computer, video games and mobile phones)?
If you answered yes to all of these - congratulations! You are awesome! If you answered no to one or some of the questions, think about some goals for the upcoming year. These are things that are important for your kids to grow up healthy. Incorporating these things into the life of your whole family is the best ways to have your kids get into the habit of doing this on their own. This a lofty goal, but you can feel good about just trying to reach it even if you don’t get there.