For the first time in the history of our species, the next generation is predicted to have a shorter lifespan than the current generation.Obviously, this is a HUGE issue for all the parents out there – I’m sure you want your children to lead healthier, happier, longer, more extraordinary lives than what is currently being suggested.
But how do we take control of this situation?
Where do we look to help safeguard our kids from a life of chronic illness and disability? This seems like an insurmountable task at times, but it has to start with YOU.
So here’s 4 crucial factors that will change your child’s health forever
- Fuel Up
Childhood obesity rates are soaring. According to Statistics Canada, in 2011 31.5% of Canadian children were overweight or obese. This is a terrifying number! But the solution is not as simple as calories in, calories out.
The types of food you serve up and the quality of the ingredients really does matter when it comes to fuelling your body to produce health. All of the essential building blocks for our body come from the nutrition in the food we eat – so it’s EXTREMELY important to look at what your family is eating and make sure there is adequate nutrition in your meals to support growing bodies.
The best way to achieve this is to eat the way you are designed to. Eating By Design means fulfilling your body’s nutritional requirements, producing healthy weight and body composition, as well as giving your body everything it needs to thrive.
Join us at our next Eat By Design seminar to learn what foods are By Design and which you want to avoid at all costs.
- Move
Kids are made to move. A lot.
The daily movement requirements for kids far exceed the amount of time allocated to them at lunch and recess during the day.
A 2012 report found that 46% of kids aged 6-11 get 3 hours or less of active play per week, including weekends.
In fact available data shows that only 7% of Canadian children and youth are meeting the minimum requirements for physical activity set by the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (a measly 1 hour per day of non-sedentary activity – which essentially means anything at all which doesn’t not involve sitting).
Get your kids moving – this doesn’t have to mean organised sport. It might be as simple as committing to go for family walks daily or every other day.
- Build Confidence
Low self-esteem is endemic in our society. Nathaniel Branden, known in psychology circles as the Father of Self Esteem, is quoted as saying:
Apart from a disturbance whose roots are biological, I cannot think of a single psychological problem – from anxiety and depression, to underachievement at school or at work, to fear of intimacy, happiness or success, to alcohol or drug abuse, to spouse battering or child molestation, to co-dependency and sexual disorders, to passivity and chronic aimlessness, to suicide and crimes of violence – that is not traceable, at least in part, to the problem of deficient self esteem. Of all the judgements we pass in life, none is as important as the one we pass on ourselves.
It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to champion your kids at every opportunity – this doesn’t mean inflating their egos as that can be problematic in its own right – but making sure your kids know that they are good at some things, and not good at others – and THAT’S OKAY!
- Get Connected
In order to raise truly healthy kids (and adults), you HAVE to make sure that their brain is properly communicating with their body.
This may seem like a ridiculous assertion.
You may be thinking, ‘Of course their brain is talking to their body!’ But what if it wasn’t?
What if there was a break down in the communication pathways in your brain or your child’s brain, kind of like having bad cell phone reception on a call.
What if this kind of disconnect was affecting the part of your child’s brain that controlled their attention span and energy output?
Or the pathways that control immune function?
Does it make sense that maybe your child doesn’t have behavioural issues, they just literally doesn’t know how to manage their energy?
INSERT CHIROPRACTIC HERE
Chiropractors help to maintain the brain-body connection so that your body can function at its highest capacity.
This list of four things is definitely not exhaustive. Obviously, there are a multitude of specific strategies to improve the health of Canada’s (and the world’s) next generation. But these four areas (diet, exercise, mindset and brain-body connection) will be KEY to combatting the chronic disease epidemic currently affecting Canada’s children and adults alike.
Dr. David Hawkes is a wellness expert and martial arts enthusiast. Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia, Dr Hawkes’ passion for health and wellness has led him here to Kanata, literally halfway around the world. After graduating from Murdoch University, Dr. Hawkes ran a successful practice in Perth’s western suburbs before moving to Ottawa. Dr. Hawkes has a special interest in family wellness, as well as Peak Performance. He is passionate about helping individuals and families lead their extraordinary lives.
