At WeightAwareUK we are strongly in support of the Change4Life movement. In order to maintain a healthy weight we need to both eat better and move more. Many families are making changes that will help them live healthier and longer lives. Visit www.nhs.uk/change4life or call 0300 123 4567 for more information.

Taking on board the Change4Life principles will bring lasting health benefits to our families — and can be really fun, too! As well as planning more healthy meals, the programme reminds us how great we feel when we make time for activity within our day — and it doesn’t have to be organised sport; cutting the grass or walking the dog is absolutely fine!

Up and about - activities for healthy kids

Modern life can be pretty comfy — sofas, TVs, computer games — there’s just so much to keep kids sat down. But bodies weren’t designed to sit down all the time — they need to walk, jump, run and move to be healthy, grow properly and use up the right amount of energy.

Of course it’s important to relax, but there’s a difference between chilling out and vegging out. The fact is that kids who are inactive don’t burn off enough energy and store up fat in their body - yuk.

'Up and about' is all about activities for kids, and trying to get them moving whenever they can during the day. Simply being up, about and moving burns calories and helps fend off diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

Just getting kids up off the sofa will help. So if they’ve been sitting for a while, get them up to jump around for a bit. You could try limiting the time they spend in front of the TV or computer too!

And if you can walk to school, or anywhere else you need to go, then do that instead of the car — it’s better for the environment and you and the kids. If it’s too far to walk the whole way, try getting the bus but get off one or two stops earlier and walk the last bit. It’s about making small changes to your life to help your kids be more active and stay healthy.

5 A DAY

We all know that eating 5 portions of fruit and veg a day is important for our health, but you might be surprised how easy it can be. The great thing is, you don’t need to radically change your diet or do without the things you love. Just add a portion of veg here, sprinkle a portion of fruit there — and you’ll hit your 5 A DAY before you know it!

Add fruit and veg to breakfast, lunch and dinner

Breakfast one

Add fruit to cereal, porridge or lower fat yoghurt — a handful of berries or a chopped banana is lovely.

Lunch one

Add some crunch to your sandwiches with cucumber, grated carrot or tomato, and have a piece of fruit.

Defrost one

Frozen fruit and veg count, it only takes a couple of minutes to microwave some frozen peas for your omelette.

Open one

Canned fruit and veg count too. Choose canned fruit in juice and vegetables in water.

Sprinkle one

Try sprinkling pepper, onion, mushroom, sweetcorn or pineapple chunks on top of a thin-based pizza.

Pulse one

Add beans, lentils and pulses to stews, bakes and salads — remember, only 1 of your 5 A DAY can come from pulses.

Side-dish one

Have a salad or veg with your main meal. If it’s roast dinner make sure you’ve got some carrots or broccoli on your plate.

Me-size meals - healthy portion sizes for kids

Kids seem to grow up so quickly these days. They often like to be treated like grown ups, before they’ve really grown up.

This can also be true when it comes to mealtimes, when kids often end up with the same amount of food on their plates as grownups.

But when they eat more than their bodies need, it converts to stored fat in their bodies. So many families are making a conscious effort to serve kids kid-sized portions. It’s common sense really.

That way you might even begin to see clean plates coming back, and if they really are still hungry, it’s OK to give them some seconds.

Snack check - your guide to healthy snacking

We all probably snack more than we realise. It’s so easy to grab a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps if we’re hungry, instead of preparing a healthier meal or snack, that we don’t notice how often we do it. It’s just the same for the kids too - if the naughty snacks are there, they’ll eat them. And the snacks kids like best are usually the ones that are full of fat, sugar and salt.

'Two snacks Max'

There are no hard and fast rules for how many snacks a day your kids should have, but some families find it useful to set a limit of two a day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. And of course, it’s all the better if these snacks are the healthier kind instead of crisps or chocolate!

Sugar Swap Ideas

Here are some easy swaps that mean that kids can enjoy their food without taking in too much sugar.

Drink swap

Switch from sugary drinks to no added sugar drinks such as water, milk (ideally semi-skimmed - but remember children under 2 need full-fat milk), unsweetened fruit juice or even sugar free fizzy drinks.

Snack swap

Choose snacks without added sugar such as fruit, unsalted nuts, breadsticks, rice cakes or toast, instead of sweets, biscuits, chocolate, cakes and pastries.

Food label swap

When shopping compare food labels and switch to the one that’s marked lower in sugar or sugar free. Some packaging uses a traffic light system, which makes it even easier to choose food that is lower in sugar. Go for more “greens” and “ambers” and fewer “reds” in your shopping basket.

Breakfast swap

Switch to lower sugar cereals or other breakfast options like fruit or toast (but if you spread on jam or honey, make sure it’s a thin layer!)

Dessert swap

Switch from sugary desserts like chocolate, biscuits and cake to less sugary desserts, like yoghurt or fruit. Or compare the labels on two desserts and choose the one with the lower level of sugars.

See how many sugar swaps you can make in a week.

Mealtimes - healthy eating ideas

We’re all busy these days, so here are some ways to help you make time for mealtime.

Mealtimes

Try to organise the day around three regular mealtimes. It’s easier to keep kids from pestering for snacks if they know when their next meal is coming.

Start at breakfast

A healthy breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it’s certainly a great way to give kids the energy they need. Don’t let them skip breakfast! Try low sugar cereals or toast, and if you add chopped fruit or a glass of unsweetened fruit juice then that counts towards their 5 a day too!

Eat together when you can

Children like to copy their parents, brothers, sisters and friends. So if you can get them to eat together, or you can eat with them, they can see and copy others eating a variety of foods - plus kids enjoy it and it can save a bit of time too.

Make meals fun!

Get the kids involved and make a real occasion out of your meals so they look forward to sitting down together and eating. Let them lay the table with proper placemats, napkins and maybe even hats or balloons! You could go a step further and get them making menus and choose music to listen to as you eat too like a proper restaurant!

Make a date

If you don’t have time to eat as a family all the time, try setting aside a particular day that suits everybody and make it a time you all keep free. So whether it’s Sunday lunch, a relaxed Saturday morning breakfast or teatime on a Friday, get everyone involved and start having a special meal every week with family or friends.

Turn off the telly!

Try and use family meal times to get everyone talking. If the TV is on, you can guarantee they’ll watch it instead of having a conversation so try and get them into the habit of TV-free dinners. If that seems like a step too far, you could put the radio on instead and let them choose the station.