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Five Great Ideas

for Family Exercise

Tone up with team sports. You don't have to have 10 kids to have a basketball team. Take traditional team sports and pare them down to fit your family roster. For example, you and your partner could team up against the kids in a game of soccer in the park, or you and your daughter could play a game of one-on-one basketball.

Get some action this vacation. Have you considered turning your annual vacation into a family fitness adventure? Try camping, kayaking, canoeing, and hiking.

Take your kid to gym class. Your gym class, that is. Many fitness centers and gyms allow children older than 13 to lift weights, use the pool and cardio machines, and participate in club sports. Find out your gym's requirements, and consider bringing your older child along for workouts.

Track your progress. If your local running track has a grass infield, take your children with you the next time you head out to do some sprints. Your kids can play on the infield, time your laps, and walk with you during your cool-downs.

After-dinner fitness. Turn off the TV after dinner, and instead ride bikes or walk around the neighborhood. You'll have better conversation and be doing something good for your body at the same time.

Helping Your Child Eat Healthy and Balanced Meals (cont.)

Food Safety

Preparing food safely is just as important as creating meals and snacks with nutritious ingredients. Food safety starts in the grocery store before you even get the food home. Buy nonperishable food first, and make frozen and fresh fish, meats, produce, and dairy products your last stop before the checkout line so they spend the least amount of time un-refrigerated. If you live more than a few minutes from the store, keep an ice-filled cooler in your car to keep foods cold on the ride home. Check that the expiration date on all meat, poultry, and fish hasn't passed, and place all meats, poultry, and fish in plastic bags so the juices don't leak onto your other groceries. Buy only fruits and vegetables with unbroken skin because bacteria can enter through the cracks. Avoid un-pasteurized juices because they may have bacteria in them that can cause food-borne illness. If you have an infant in your home, you'll also want to avoid feeding him or her honey, which can cause botulism in children under 1 year.

If you know you're not going to use meat, poultry, or fish within 2 days, store it in the freezer. Stay on the safe side and discard meat that has turned brown and fish that has developed a fishy smell. Cook all meat, fish, eggs, and poultry thoroughly. Invest in a meat thermometer for your kitchen, and follow the USDA guidelines for cooking meat:

Cook roasts, steaks, and chops of beef, veal, or lamb to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit for medium rare and 160 degrees Fahrenheit for medium.

Cook fresh pork to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cook whole poultry to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, as measured in the thigh.
Cook ground poultry to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cook hamburgers made of ground beef to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Before food preparation begins, wash your hands thoroughly and ensure that all cooking utensils and surfaces have been cleansed with hot, soapy water. If a utensil or dish has been used in the preparation or cooking of raw eggs or meat, do not let it contaminate cooked foods that will be consumed. Wash your hands again after handling raw foods, and clean all countertops thoroughly with hot, soapy and disinfect with a bleach solution.

Ronald A. Christensen, M.D., Medical Advisor

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