Tips to keep your little elves active over the festive period

FRIDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tips to keep your little elves active over the festive period

The Paediatric Overweight Service Tayside (POST) offers some festive tips to help children become ‘active elves’ over the coming weeks.

At this time of year it is difficult to avoid those tasty higher energy foods such as mince pies, selection boxes and Christmas pudding. Although it is important to watch what we eat, it is also important for families and their little elves have fun over the Christmas break.

It’s easy for children to inadvertently increase their energy intake with all the Christmas goodies on offer. Consider how many selection boxes your child eats over the holidays. To burn off the energy from one small 94g selection box would require two hours of non-stop walking. A medium 168g selection box would take four hours of non-stop walking and a large 253g box would take six hours.

Dr Laura Stewart, POST team lead said, “We wish all Tayside families a merry Christmas and a healthy New Year. Part of staying healthy is about keeping up activity levels over the winter months. Santa’s elves maintain a healthy weight by staying active at this time by helping to make all the toys for your children, as well as looking after Rudolph and his friends, so we are encouraging families to be active and try to get out and about over the holidays.”

Here are NHS Tayside POST team’s top tips to help you and your elves maintain a healthy weight and keep active:

    • Do you want to build a snowman? Take advantage of any snowy weather and go outside and play. Have a competition to see who can build the most realistic snowman.

    • Ask your elves to help you to put up some homemade Christmas decorations.

    • Ask family and friends to give children toys that promote physical activity and fun for example a football, goalie gloves or a skipping rope and encourage children to play with their new outdoor toys.

    • Don’t forget about the dog - take him/her for a walk with the rest of the family on Christmas Day before or after your Christmas meal.

    • Use Christmas shopping and the Boxing Day sales to increase your activity levels - even if you are just window shopping.

    • Invite friends and family over on Boxing Day and have a friendly sporting competition outside before enjoying all those leftovers.

    • Start your New Year the right way – take any visitors for a walking/cycling tour of your local area.

    • Consider setting you and your elves activity-related New Year’s resolutions and see how long you can stick to them.

    • After all the parties have finished and the visitors have left, why not rope in your elves to help you clean the home, all ready for the new year ahead.

Look out for the launch of Fun Fit Arbroath and Fun Fit Dundee groups in January 2015. These free groups offer a friendly, family setting to support you in making healthy lifestyle choices and keeping a healthy weight.

If you have concerns about your child’s weight, you can contact POST on 01738 473784 or by email at post.tayside@nhs.net. More information can be found at www.funfittayside.org.uk.

Contact:

Gaynyr Dickson

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 740716 

12 December 2014