How Small Changes Can Make a Big Impact on Our Families Health
This post brought to you by American Heart Association. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Mommity.
Two years ago, I hit rock bottom with my health. I was the heaviest I’ve ever been, my blood pressure was high, and my doctor was suggesting medication if I couldn’t get it under control. My kids started to worry and would ask questions about heart attacks and how long would I be around for them. 
This is when I found my “Why” (my reason for wanting to live a healthier, longer life) and decided to take a few simple steps toward a healthier lifestyle. I want to be around for my children, see them grow up, and enjoy all of those moments along the way.
What mom doesn’t want this? 
I wanted to not only make this healthy initiative a priority for me, but for my entire family. I’ve greatly changed the way I eat, and I exercise regularly in order to show my children the importance of being healthy and active. 
We have control of our own destiny. We all have our “Why” and I encourage you to dig deep and find it. Big decisions and small changes can have such an impact on our family’s health.
When I found my “Why” and decided to take that step, they were small (but very impactful) steps.
You can improve your heart and brain health by encouraging your friends and family to take these simple steps:
- Increase consumption of fruits and veggies
- Decreasing consumption of sodium
- Decreasing consumption of sugary sweetened beverages
- Increase physical activity
- Check and control blood pressure
My children are young and they are learning lifelong habits now. We talk about sugar all of the time and treat it as a drug. We talk about fruits and veggies so much that my youngest will ask for an apple, banana or baby carrots before asking for crackers. My children will go with me to the gym and they count down the days before they can have their own gym membership.
The thing is, the conversation can’t only happen at home. In order for kids to be healthy, they need to see healthy environments everywhere they go. They spend a majority of their waking hours in school, so it’s crucial that the conversation about health continue there, and be acted out. PE in schools gives the opportunity for EVERY child to learn about a healthy lifestyle, as they should.
We need to be advocates for our children, and for PE to be a part of their school curriculum. In addition to the obvious health benefits of PE in school, research shows that children who are active do better in school!
If you agree that kids should have PE in schools, show your support on Thunderclap!
Are you ready to take the next step?
Together, we can make an impact! The American Heart Association has my back in this initiative and I have yours. Visit the Life Is Why website for health and fitness tips, resources, recipes and information that will make living a healthier life easier. You can even create a photo like mine and share it to social media!
The American Heart Association is also on Pinterest and their boards are chocked full of recipes, fitness motivation, mom hacks, family health and more. Be sure to follow them!
I’ve joined this movement with The American Heart Association to empower moms like you and me; we all need the encouragement to choose LIFE and to take the next step so we can all be healthy in both heart and mind.
Everyone has a reason to live a healthier, longer life. What’s yours? Comment below!
You know this is something I always didn’t bother about until recently. My husband has cholesterol and I have no choice but to think about healthier food options at home.
Your are doing awesome! I need to make some goals and make some changes myself!
Your life is an inspiration to me and to moms everywhere. I need to make eating healthy more of a focus in our home. I agree that PE needs to be a priority in all schools.
How inspiring! One of my reasons for living healthier, longer is because of my family. I want to be able to keep up with them!
Wow, you look absolutely amazing! I’ve wanted to loose some weight, but was depressed. Well now I have some health issue that have caused me to lose 30 pounds in the past 3 months… a steady 2-3lbs per week. With no effort, it is not as joyous as it sounds. I can NOT keep/maintain weight, while that is not an issue just yet, I fear if I start to workout and tone my body (so I’m not saggy from the weight lose) that I’ll lose even more weight.
You have done an amazing job. I am losing weight too. I have lost 15 lbs so far. It feels amazing already.
Holy cow, you look amazing! I really need to start following in your footsteps… I just hit my heaviest and it’s been kind of miserable. Things have changed since the doctor just put me on something for ADD (and subsequently it fixes some depression and anxiety issues, plus the major side affect is loss of appetite so win win there haha) so I need to get my butt moving.
I have been living a healthier lifestyle this year. I have made so many small changes that have helped me so much. My whole family is seeing a difference.
We’re mid-move right now (temp housing) and it’s killing me to not have a “home city” so I can get back into yoga. I want to be able to keep up with my kids and not constantly be aching. They are my “why”.
This is such a wonderful post. I have recently been trying to be more healthy too. I’ve been exercising more then normal. I’ve even cut out a lot of junk food.
After my husband had a heart attack in January, we’ve been doing all those things except the exercise. We still haven’t started that one. Soon, we will! :)
You are an inspiration. Last year, I was diagnosed with a gallstone. Since then my family has been eating healthier food. They’ve also joined me in exercising.
Your story is so inspiring! I love that your motivation isn’t to look great (which you do!) or feel great — it’s too be around and healthy to enjoy your kids as they get older. That’s the best motivation in the world!
Small changes can often have the greatest impact on our health. Just the simple act of making healthier choices can do a lot.
I have been focusing on small changes all year It really is amazing the difference the little changes can do in the long term. Congrats on your successful weight loss
I love this post! Everyone always jumps to making big changes, but all we really need to do is start small to improve our health.
I just got out of a 2 month hospital stay and I can’t wait to get back to a fitness routine. There is no better stress reliever than a good workout!
That is awesome! Way to go girl!! What a great motivation to me to keep going. I need to get a little bit more healthy not really lose a lot of weight, but my goal is to live longer and healthier too.