Wednesday, August 17, 2016

5 Tips to Get Teens Moving: New York City Certified Personal Trainer Motivates Teens To Get Moving

5 Tips to Get Teens Moving:  New York City Certified Personal Trainer Motivates Teens To Get Moving

If you’re like many parents, you sometimes look at your pre-teen/teen and think, “Who are you?”
When kids are young, they’re unstoppable. Remember the toddler days, falling into the couch after spending the 12 hours chasing a two-year old? Children are balls of energy, wanting to dance, roller blade, bike ride after a long day at school.  They can’t get enough of you!

Then middle school hits, and it’s almost as if children were unplugged or a sci-fi energy sucker came and zapped the life out of them. Take a few minutes this week and watch the way middle schoolers and high schoolers move. Slow.

Before, you were begging to slow down. Now you have to sift through piles of dirty clothes to even find your teen – usually sleeping, or near-coma-sleep-stage, lying in bed, listening to music. The funky smell is either from the laundry, body odor, or plates with crusted-on food tucked under the bed.

Once, not long ago, you were the light of your child’s life. Now you’re an embarrassment and, more often than not, the bane of her existence. You are not alone, and neither is your teen. Teenagers’ brains and bodies are going through surges of change https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/25/secrets-of-the-teenage-brain that wreak havoc on them and, in turn, their families. In Zits http://zitscomics.com/ , Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman nail adolescence in an uncanny reflection of every teen dying of boredom and inertia.

And in all this, you still worry about your teen’s nutrition and health, wanting to keep her active, moving, and in shape for more than just pizza lifting. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201506/physically-active-children-grow-be-healthier-adults discusses a 2014 study of World War II veterans that found “the single strongest predictor of well-being in later life was whether someone played a varsity sport in high school.”

Times have changed. With the rise of competitive sports, traveling teams, and the pressure to win, being part of a varsity team is a lot harder than before. Unfortunately, there seems to be a cut off for teens to get involved in sports “for fun”. This is both frustrating and limiting, as the draw of high school sports is both social (a big deal for teens) and physical. There are positive ways, though, to motivate your teen to get moving!

As a certified personal trainer in New York City, many parents come to me exasperated, wondering how to motivate their teens to move. Here are my 5 tips to keep teens active and exercising:

1. Don’t Dismiss Pokemon GO! Be creative! Physical activity doesn’t have to be “directed” or in a group. As much as people make fun of these new games and apps, they actually get teens moving and active! Also, the Wii or dance video games are ways to marry technology and movement. Geocaching is another creative, get out and go activity. Movement matters, and as long as your teen’s heart rate increases, she is doing physical activity.

2. Make Health a Family Matter: It’s easy to be an armchair coach. The strongest model for behavior in your teen’s life is you. Instead of telling your kid to get moving, make movement part of the family. Walk to the post office or library. Make a bicycle the only available means of transportation for a month (for the entire family). If it’s under a mile, it’s walkable (weather permitting). These little shifts make a big difference in the long run. But it won’t work if you’re not part of the change.

3. Understand the Intimidation Factor: Kids bodies are changing and growing, are disproportionate, and can even hurt and ache during growth spurts. Add crippling self-doubt and being self-conscious, and many teens won’t be willing to try new things. Talk to your teen about why he doesn’t like to exercise and brainstorm solutions together. He simply might be embarrassed about starting an activity with others. Make your teen part of the decision-making process. You might be surprised at what buying comfortable workout clothes or finding the right activity could do.

4. Accentuate the Positive: Right now your teen’s life is filled with negative. It’s just part of the hormone ride. Don’t focus on weight or appearance, instead health. Maybe the “activity” your teen needs is doing volunteer work at the YMCA or local Boy’s and Girl’s Club, or working with animals at the local shelter. Though it’s not an exercise regime, it’s getting your teen moving and helping her sift through all those negative feelings.

5. Don’t despair! If you’re active, have healthy food choices at home, and find small ways for your family to be active – whether it be by walking the dog, weeding the garden, walking to the store, going to a craft show, walking in a museum, or riding a bike – your kids will be okay! Teenagers are going through oodles of changes, and their bodies and hormones are raging. Sometimes they just need space to find themselves … under the piles of filthy clothes on the bed in the bedroom.


These 5 tips to get teens active and exercising won’t necessarily show results in a day; however, over time, small changes make big differences. I can’t promise you’ll enjoy the teen years, but with a little perspective and increased activity, you’ll both survive each other!


Wednesday, August 10, 2016

8 Tips From New York City Nutritionist to Make Quick, Healthy, Economical School Lunches: A Little Imagination and Planning Goes a Long Way

Many things have changed over the years, from generation-to-generation. But the what-to-pack-for-lunch dilemma hasn’t. If you’re like most parents or caretakers, I bet the lunchbox is one thing you’re not looking forward to during the school year.



Busy parents are taxed with figuring out what to pack for lunch that will be quick, economical, healthy and kid-approved! And I’d like to add eco-friendly. With all the pre-packaged goodies, it’s tempting to pick them up and toss them in a lunchbox. (I’ve done it!) Considering it takes anywhere from 450 – 1000 years for a plastic bottle to decompose http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/how-long-does-it-take-for-plastics-to-biodegrade.htm, adding ecological to the lunchbox requirement list is pretty important.


That’s a pretty hefty list: quick, economical, healthy, kid-approved, and eco-friendly. Trust me! It can be done. Here are my 8 quick-and-easy tips for variety and taste that kids love in school lunches without making parents go mad (or broke)!


1. Plan Ahead:  Don’t get caught on a Sunday night, tired, in the grocery store, grabbing school lunch items. If you plan, weekly, for school lunches, you not only save time but money. Take an inventory of school lunch items from your fridge and cupboards every week before grocery shopping, and write a list.  Use what you’ve got and complement that with new items. This way, less food goes to waste.


2. Get Kids Involved: When kids are part of the lunch-making process, they may just enjoy them a little more. Have kids be part of the selection and preparation of their lunch boxes.

3. In-Season Crunchy Veggies

http://www.maryjanedetroyer.com/registered-dietitian-healthy-eating-farmer-market/ are less expensive and eco-friendly. Take a few minutes every Sunday to cut up carrots, celery, jicama and cucumbers to store in containers in the fridge. These are your go-to snacks for the school lunchbox. Add a little Tupperware of peanut butter, yogurt sauce or hummus and voila!



4. In-Season Fruits, like veggies, are less expensive and eco-friendly. Berries
http://www.maryjanedetroyer.com/new-york-city-nutritionist-6-tips-buying-washing-summer-fruits-berries/ and peaches are great for the beginning of the school year. Not sure what’s in season? Check out fruits and veggies, More Matters http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/what-fruits-and-vegetables-are-in-season to get a full list of what’s in season. Ask around at your farmer’s market, as they will only have in-season goods.

5. Roast a Chicken Sunday Evening:

To cut down on sandwich meats which can be costly, full of sodium among other ingredients http://www.maryjanedetroyer.com/dietitian-nyc-frankenstein-foods/, roast a chicken on Sunday. Cool and put in the fridge. This can be your go-to protein for everything from sandwiches to pasta salads. Tuna, roast beef, and roast turkey are other great options for healthy proteins.

6. Pitas and tortillas and bagels, Oh my!

Change it up! Roll a tortilla with peanut butter and apples. Bagels and cream cheese don’t have to be just for breakfast anymore. Pita bread with roast chicken, cheese, and greens is a yummy sandwich.  Make pumpkin or winter squash pancakes http://www.maryjanedetroyer.com/pumpkin-winter-squash-pancakes-recipe/ and pack them with a little bit of cheese or jelly. Swapping bread for other carb options is a fun, inexpensive way to keep lunches interesting and healthy.



7. Finger Foods are Easy and Fun: Kids love small bites and dips. So why not put together a Mexican lunchbox with avocado chunks, black beans, and whole grain tortilla chips. Or go French with little cheese bites, cherry tomatoes, grapes and cubes of roasted chicken to dip in a creamy sauce.  These are balanced, tasty, and inexpensive lunches.

8. Something refreshing: Water, water, water is the key to keeping kids hydrated and healthy. Get your kids used to drinking water. Juices, though tasty, are full of sugars http://www.maryjanedetroyer.com/best-nutritionist-nyc/  that kids don’t need.  Invest in a good, reusable water bottle. For hot days, freeze it at night so the water stays cool throughout the day.

Don’t despair. With the exception of that funky school lunchbox smell, things have changed! There are easy, economical, healthy, delicious and eco-friendly options for your kids’ school lunches this year. With just a little planning and imagination, you may just stay sane when your kid says, “What’s in my lunchbox, Mom?”

Here is a great site I found for creative school lunch ideas:
What Lisa Cooks http://www.whatlisacooks.com/blog/2015/9/16/and-here-we-go: Lisa posts photos of her kids’ school lunches, daily!

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