5 Ways to Encourage the Family to be Healthier

If your family is stuck in bad habits regarding living healthy lives and you think that doing something about it as a group will be beneficial, then knowing how to encourage others to join you in a health kick is the key to unlocking a better future.

Through meal planning, friendly competition, and fun exercise, there is no reason why you can't motivate your family members to do more for their bodies. 

Cook together

Cooking together is not only a fun bonding activity, but it also promotes meal planning and healthy shopping. If the evening meal is going to be an event, cooked by yourself and a family member, you are more likely to take time over the ingredients and preparation than simply purchasing a microwavable lasagna. 

If possible, get into a routine of meal planning for the whole week. This will make shopping lists cheaper and more efficient, as you can ensure you use up all of your ingredients. However, it also gives you the opportunity to cut out binge foods. 

Competitions

Starting friendly competition between family members is a useful device for encouraging a healthier lifestyle. For example, there could be a weekend reward for the family member who has eaten the least chocolate, run the most kilometers, or burned the most fat throughout the week. 

These competitions should not be seriously competitive - you are family after all - but should generate a level of motivation necessary for seeing results. 

Buy a gym membership

Purchasing a gym membership will encourage you and others to work out and exercise more. Until you have that monthly subscription fee, you haven't felt the pressure to use the facilities you are paying for. 

One way of encouraging a family member into joining a gym would be through gift cards from Gifts Vouchers, which could be used at gyms themselves - such as the Better group - or on exercise equipment and clothing. This would be a thoughtful present and, if you signed up too, the mutual motivation to go frequently would be highly productive.

Start running

If gyms aren't your scene, running requires no equipment other than some comfortable clothing and a pair of decent running shoes. A cheap form of exercise, running is also fantastic in groups, especially if one of you already has some experience in running to help train the others. 

Clear the cupboards

Once you've started cooking for yourselves and got into a regular form of exercise, you are taking positive steps as a family to becoming much healthier. One blanket reform that you can impose on your house, in order to encourage family members to be healthier, is to clear the cupboards of junk food.

Rather than throwing out food that you do not want to eat, first check if any local food banks would be willing to accept it, as food wastage is a major problem across developed countries. From there, fill your cupboards only with the types of food that you want to be eating on a daily basis to suit your new, healthier lifestyle.