Nowadays, TV, computers and video games are replacing the physical sports and activities that children enjoyed. They used to exercise for the sheer fun and enjoyment of playing games. Due to our children's' lack of exercise, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes are becoming hideously prevalent among today's modern kids. Fitness has become an anachronism for many of us; we must continuously strive to get our children moving, running and laughing with each other before they succumb completely to unhealthy lifestyle patterns.

Researchers have found an existing relationship between the amount of TV watched and a child's accumulated body fat. A healthy diet and vigorous exercise are needed as much by our nation's children as they are by their sedentary and under active parents. You should know exactly what's appropriate for your child and how to instill the fun and repetitive behaviors that create a lifetime of pleasure and good health. You need to become a lasting, visible role model by demonstrating these capabilities outwardly, or they won't take hold with your child.

There are basically two types of exercises that experts want you to consider: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic exercise burns fat, and it can be very fun and involving for all ages. It causes rapid increases in your child's breathing and heart rates, and must be performed over at least a twenty-minute time period. It takes that long for your child's body to start burning its stored fat reserves. Aerobic exercise includes most team sports such as basketball, soccer, hockey, rowing, swimming, and running. It also includes individual sports such as bicycling, cross-country skiing, jogging, karate, rollerblading, and tennis.

Anaerobic exercise causes a short burst of exertion followed by a brief rest, and tends to develop stronger muscles. It complements the fat-burning aerobic exercise. This includes weight training and strength training, such as that done with free weights or standing equipment, and standard "training" exercises like pushups, crunches, pull-ups and other such floor exercises.

Most healthy children have little trouble working out for twenty to thirty minutes, three to four times a week basis. But if your child is overweight and sedentary, he or she needs to workout much more. You should also make sure that your child exercises at his appropriate ability. Use the talk-sing rule. If while exercising, your child cannot sing but can still talk, he or she is moving around at a proper rate of pace.

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The diet of America's youth has gone completely down the gutter. Kids are eating a diet that is very high of processed foods. Refined sugars, white pasta, rice, and glucose-fructose (also known as high fructose corn syrup) all contribute to the decline in our children's proper nutrition. Just a few decades ago, every meal our children ate was made by their mothers. The lack of processed foods also helped us receive proper nutrition from what we ate. Nowadays, many mothers are out in the workplace, while restaurants and fast food are extremely popular. While restaurants are easy, timesaving, and sometimes very affordable, they have been stripped of much of their nutritional value. Soft drinks and "fruit juices" also lend a hand in making our children overweight. Concentrated juices give our kids more sugar than they need, and soft drinks add calories without giving them anything but sugar!

Children need to imitate their parents and older siblings, and that means you should also participate in physical activities. Use family participation to stress the rules of active fitness, while stressing variety, freedom and joy. Avoid overly regimented and competitive activities, and show your kids that being active is fun. You should plan outings that involve activities such as taking long walks at the zoo or a national park. Encourage your kids to play extended outdoor games and easygoing supervised organized sports. Try your best to hold meals at home as much as you can, stressing complete, balanced meals. Also eliminate soft drinks and start drinking water instead.

Our children are our most cherished treasures, and as such that should be taught a lifelong appreciation of good diet and physical fitness. How can we sit idly by and take no action when the quality and decency of their lives is what's truly at stake?

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