Welcome to final week of the ten-week New Year Health Challenge, courtesy of Christine Kling of Body Basics LLC in Boise ID.
What To Eat for Dinner
When making a healthy dinner choice, it is always great to keep two things in mind: portion size and color. These two things will promote health in the best possibly way!
Follows is a quick and easy reference for determining how much is a single serving:
- Baked/Sweet Potato=Size of Computer Mouse
- Vegetables=Size of Baseball
- Hard Cheese=Three Dice
- Yogurt=Baseball
- Brown Rice or Quinoa=Lightbulb
- ¼ c. almonds=Golf Ball (23 almonds)
- Lean Chicken or Beef=Deck of Cards
- Salmon=Checkbook
- Fruit=Lightbulb
- Dried Fruit=Golf Ball
Below is a chart that describes the value in foods with a variety of colors (click to expand):
Eat Dinner With Your Children
Research shows that children who share family meals three or more times a week are more likely to be in a healthy weight range and have healthier eating patterns. They’re less likely to eat unhealthy foods, more likely to eat healthy foods and less likely to have an eating disorder.
But that’s far from all. Teens who eat with their families at least five times a week are 40% more likely to get A’s and B’s in school than their peers who don’t share family meals. They’re also 42% less likely to drink alcohol, 59% less likely to smoke cigarettes, and 66% less likely to try marijuana. They were also less depressed.
The benefits are truly profound. Separate research showed, for instance, that with each additional family dinner, adolescents had:
- Fewer emotional and behavioral problems
- Greater emotional well-being
- More trusting and helpful behaviors toward others
- Higher life satisfaction
Keep It Colorful
A few colorful suggestions are:
- Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas
- Spaghetti Squash with Bacon, Spinach and Goat Cheese
- Smoked Sausage Bean Soup
- Crock Pot Lentil Soup
Challenge guidelines
You’ll receive one point per day each time y
You’ll receive one point per day each time your dinner plate has at least 4 different colors on it! ! You also get points each day if you eat a healthy lunch, drink enough water, sleep enough and cut out the sugar, exercise, eat a balanced breakfast, skip the alcohol, meditate and eat healthy snacks.
Total amount of points possible at end of week is 70.
Click here for Challenge Log.
About Christine:
Christine Kling is co-owner of Body Basics and privileged to share the business with her husband, James. Her passion for health and fitness began as a teen playing sports (basketball and tennis) and dancing, which led her to become a personal trainer and group exercise instructor at the age of 17. Struggling with a thyroid disorder and adrenal fatigue from Hashimoto’s auto-immune disorder also increased her love for helping people in the area of nutrition. She has experienced first-hand how diet and exercise can beat the odds! Youth Fitness, Pre-natal/Post-natal Fitness, Senior Fitness, Mat Sciences, and Indoor Cycling have been her areas of continued study and experience. A favorite quote of hers is “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you!”
Rainbow chart credit.
