Staying Active and Healthy With Your Children

All busy moms often must pick their battles when it comes to their parenting responsibilities balanced with their work and personal needs. Sometimes you may look around your messy house and wonder how you could've let it get this way; then you look down at your kids' smiling, makeup-smeared faces (your makeup) and know that it's all worth it. Of course, making sure you're healthy, calm and on top of your game can make a stress-filled situation (and what mom's life isn't a little hectic?) a little less so in terms of how you deal with it.

Use your kids to keep your exercise and healthy diet resolutions. They need exercise even more than you do, and most kids get into the trap of playing video games and surfing the Web rather than getting outside and playing. Motivate them with a bike ride or a walk around a local park then treat all of you to frozen yogurt afterward. Make weekend chores around the house a chance to burn off some extra calories and steam. Send one of the kids around the house with a broom to sweep cobwebs off the ceiling, vents and in corners while another thins out their toy chest or clothes closet for donation items. Send them outside to weed the garden and if they're older, hand them a pair of pruning shears. Washing the car is another great way to keep them busy and out of your hair while you get some things done around the house. Reward them with a movie, a trip to the roller rink or a dinner night out with a half-off coupon, and always heap praise on them since that can be the best reward of all.

To keep up with your kids you need all the energy you can get, and this is where vitamin and dietary supplements come into play. B-complex vitamins are critical to proper metabolic function and a healthy immune system. If you're following a vegetarian diet, you need more amounts of B-12, which is used to produce red blood cells. Consider Enzymatic Therapy's Daily Energy B Complex Capsules, which promote a good night's sleep along with increased vitality. Another concern of an active mom may be anemia, which is an issue in vegan women who exercise, even if it's just running down the street chasing after a kid. Unless you and the kids enjoy eating a lot of Swiss chard or liver, you may not be getting sufficient iron in your diet. Check out Nature Way's Alive! Whole Food Energizer Multivitamin made with lemon grass and blue-green algae, along with a blend of Japanese mushrooms known for their restorative properties. 

As we age, our bones decrease in density; studies have shown that, in particular, Asian and Caucasian women have twice the chance of developing osteoporosis than any other demographic, and women who drank diet soda in their youth are at greatest risk due to the phosphorous content, which eats away at calcium. So after getting rid of sodas from your diet and limiting your kids' intake, you should consider calcium supplements, such as Douglas Laboratories' Osteo-Guard Plus Vitamin D Tablets made with collagen to shore up the connective tissue lost in your bones. For an easy to take calcium supplement, try a spoonful of Enzymatic Therapy's Liquid Calcium Magnesium in delicious vanilla. Chasing after your kids is also good for your bones, as it's considered a weight-bearing activity, so enjoy your workout!