Make Sure Your Family is Fuelled Up

If you and your family are going to do something which requires a lot of enegry or takes a long time, like cross-country sking, you need to be fuelled.

Here are some sport nutrition tips to ensure that all of you are power fueled before, during and after your physical activities.

1) Choose carbohydrate-rich foods as your best energy fuel. The following foods are chockfull of carbohydrates:

• Breads & Cereals (toast, crackers, granolabars, cereal)
• Vegetables & Fruit (fresh, frozen andcanned)
• Legumes (chick peas, lentils, kidneybeans, hummus dip)
• Milk and Yogurt (plain milk, chocolatemilk, fruit yogurt)

2) Be sure to include food choices that add protein. The following foods pack a protein punch when they accompany your carbohydrate-rich foods:

• Nut butters (Peanut, almond, cashew, sesame)
• Eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese
• Legumes, soy protein, lean cuts of meat, poultry or fish3)

How much you will need to eat and drink before and after physical activity will dependupon your age, weight, height, gender as well as the type, intensity and duration of the physical activities that you will be doing.

For more food ideas: http://www.caaws.ca/mothersinmotion/e/resources/index.cfm

Mothers in Motion Workshop in BC

We will be co-hosting a workshop at the Burnaby Family Life Metrotown in Vancouver.

This workshop is for professionals who work with low socioeconomic status (LSES) mothers. The program includes our findings and key learnings from 2008 cross-Canada focus groups, as well as physical activity tools developed to assist practitioners to better address community barriers with respect to accessibility, availability and affordability of physical activity opportunities for LSES mothers.

November 12, 2009 - Workshop in at the Burnaby Family Life Metrotown
RSVP: Kaitlin (tel: 604-659-2205; email: kburnett@burnabyfamilylife.org)

Workshops are approximately 2 hours in duration. Complementary resources will be provided to each participant.

Or contact us at: caaws@caaws.ca for information on upcoming workshops.

All Mothers Do Not Have the Same Opportunities

A growing body of evidence indicates that socioeconomic status (SES) (e.g. income, education, occupation, family structure and social support) is a strong predictor of health, including overweight and obesity.

Low socioeconomic status (not just low-income) mothers and their families are disadvantaged with respect to accessibility of physical activity opportunities.

We have developed some tools to assist practioners better address specific community issues and barriers with respect to accessibility, availability and affordability of physical activity opportunities for LSES mothers.

1. An easy-to-use 4-page summary of our cross-Canada focus group findings.
2. Checklists to assist practioners in assessing their community, and planning physical activity programs to address the issues.

For these tools and more information on this program:
http://www.caaws.ca/mothersinmotion/e/lowstatus/index.cfm

What activities are best for strong bones?

This has been the cause of much debate amongst health professionals. Bones get stronger with any physical activity that you do. Weight bearing activities such as walking and hiking, skating and skiing, dancing, tennis, squash and basketball are great ways to include some sport and active living into your “strong bones” plan. Strength training 2-3 times a week has been shown by Dr. Miriam Nelson (a researcher at Turfts University in the USA and author of Strong Women, Strong Bones, 2000) to halt and even reverse bone loss in women.

For more information on how to add strength training into your active living program go:
http://www.caaws.ca/mothersinmotion/e/baby/activity_strength_muscular.cfm

While physical activity is important it is only one of the key players for building “strong bones”, diet is also very important. The best nutrition plan for bone health includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and foods that are high in calcium and vitamins K (dark leafy green vegetables) and vitamin D (sunlight, fortified milk and soy products, organ meats).

Vitamin D is difficult to get from your diet along and Canadians do not get enough sunlight to produce sufficient Vitamin D. If you avoid dairy products or do not drink 3-4 glasses of milk or fortified soy beverages daily a multivitamin/mineral supplement or a calcium supplement with vitamin D will help you meet your recommended daily bone building nutrient requirements.

My child is a picky eater.

Some children are picky eaters, and it can be difficult to ensure that they are getting their daily nutritional requirements through diet alone. Here are some tips on Healthy Eating, use Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating to help plan and prepare meals. It is an excellent nutritional guideline for children and adults.

• Use colour as your guide when choosing fruits and vegetables as different colours indicate different combinations of vitamins and minerals.
• Food such as milk, cheese and yogurt provide calcium, which is very important in building healthy bones.
• A well-balanced breakfast remains an important meal of the day. Fruit, whole grain toast, whole grain cereal and eggs are a great start as are servings of yogurt and cottage cheese.
• Get your children thinking more about good food choices by involving them in shopping and meal planning. They are more likely to eat their chosen foods.
• Providing a child with a daily multivitamin formulated for children is also a good nutritional insurance policy. It ensures that your child is getting all of the vitamins and minerals needed every day.

For more information: http://www.caaws.ca/mothersinmotion/e/