National Healthy Weight Week

Wouldn’t you know that they’d make the third week of January Healthy Weight Week? It’s like they knew we’d all be looking at our resolutions and slapping that one onto the list. In fact, losing weight, getting healthier, and improving our lifestyles are all resolutions that always make the top ten of people’s desires.

So, What Do We Do?

Two weeks ago we discussed how to make a resolution that works. Remember: baby steps. Actionable goals.

But, you can’t make a reasonable goal without information. What IS a healthy weight? And, how do you get there?

Nutrition from the Daily Living Skills series is a good way to answer those questions. This week’s free lesson, “Calorie Counting,” will help students understand the calories-in/calories-out equation of weight, helps them find their own BMI and helps them calculate their calorie intake.

Just the Facts

This lesson is not meant to be prescriptive, but rather, helps students to understand how weight works and how they can affect their weight and health by the choices they make when eating and exercising.

It is a snapshot into the complex world of nutrition, but provides them with a basic tool to understand their bodies. By further exploring this workbook, students can learn about food groups, portion sizes, vitamin intake, food labels, MyPlate and other food programs, the value of exercise and how to create healthy meals on the cheap.

Make it Fun

If your students are resistant to exercising, this might be a good time to introduce the unit, Enjoying Recreation. This book explores dozens of options for playing, exploring, and enjoying oneself while getting the benefits of the outdoors, movement, and socialization. In addition to describing different forms of recreation, this unit also describes appropriate behavior at each venue, the kinds of equipment that might be needed, and other considerations. Enjoying Recreation is an easy way to expose students to all the various options of healthy living that are available in their communities.

For More Information

Like all books in the series, Nutrition and Enjoying Recreation are written on a 3rd/4th grade level with lots of bullet-point information and airy pages, yet still honor a teen’s maturity and sensibilities while meeting Indicator 13 goals and federal mandates for transition skills. To learn more, or to purchase these books, go here.