Friday, November 13, 2009

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

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

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