It’s fun to think about looking good on the outside, but what we need to focus on is our insides. Remember, you are valuable and need to be healthy to fulfill your purpose in life. Take care of your insides and the outside will follow.
Something to Talk About
1. Why should we think about more than just our outward appearance when it comes to our health?
2. Do you have any physical symptoms that might indicate you are unhealthy in some area? Do you get out of breath easily or do you get tired during the day at school?
3. Name three things you can do to keep your insides healthy.
Tip of the Day
Cardio exercise—such as running, swimming, and playing sports like basketball and soccer—is good for your heart and lungs. Try to do some type of physical activity five days a week.
DAY 12–“NO” MAY MEAN “I LOVE YOU”
A Word from Amy
Something to Think About
Can you remember a time that you really, really wanted something and your mom or dad told you no? Chances are, you were pretty upset. You may have even had a little pity party, stuck your lip out, or slammed a door or two.
When you don’t get what you ask for, it can make you sad or even mad sometimes. That’s a normal reaction. But here’s the scoop. When your parents say no, it’s usually because they love you and are trying to protect you.
For instance, your mom might say no at the grocery store when you beg her to buy you cookies or your dad tells you no when you beg for candy at the checkout lane. Even though it doesn’t feel like it at the time, by saying no, your parents are taking care of your health.
Did you know that because sugar is high in calories, too much sugar in your diet can be a contributing factor in a disease called diabetes? Diabetes is a condition where the body can’t process sugar properly. Sometimes people who have diabetes have to take insulin shots every day to make them feel better. You wouldn’t want to have to do that, would you? So the next time your mom or dad says no when you ask them for a sugary snack or drink, remember that they are really saying, “I love you.”
Something to Talk About
1. Discuss a time or two when your parents told you no.
2. How did it make you feel? Mom or Dad, explain to your child your reason for saying no.
3. Why is eating too much sugar bad?
Tip of the Day
Type 2 diabetes is a disease that affects more and more children. Do some research as a family about this condition so you can understand it better.
DAY 13–MY FEET ARE KILLING ME!
A Word from Amy
Something to Think About
Most of us know that when we are overweight, it makes us feel bad physically; we usually feel tired and sluggish. We also know how bad it is for our heart, lungs, and other organs. What we don’t think about very often is how extra weight is especially hard on our feet.
Our feet are amazing little machines, but God built them to carry only so much weight. When we carry extra weight on our bodies, especially when we are young, it can cause us to have problems with our feet. We may get flat feet, a condition where our feet have little to no arch in them. Having flat feet can lead to an overload on our joints and tendons. This can cause our feet and legs to be in pain all the time. When we are in pain, the last thing we want to do is exercise. When we don’t exercise, we become inactive and lazy. See how this vicious circle can hold you back from being healthy?
What can you do to change this? You can make sure you maintain a healthy weight or lose weight if you need to. You also need to make sure that you are wearing proper shoes so that your feet get the right support they need. A good pair of running shoes will fix this problem.
So pay attention to your feet and take care of them. They are the only ones you have!
Something to Talk About
1. Why is it so important to your feet that you maintain a healthy weight?
2. What can happen to your body if you carry an excessive amount of weight?
3. What are some ways you can take care of your feet?
Tip of the Day
Try to buy your shoes at a store that caters to runners and other athletes. The people who work there can help you determine the type of shoe that’s best for you.
DAY 14–A MATTER OF THE HEART
A Word from Amy
Something to Think About
I recently met a young man who weighed over 400 pounds. He knew he needed to change his life and was making plans to work on his weight. He was funny, sweet, and full of life. He was the kind of guy you would want to be friends with. Three weeks later I got a message from his brother telling me that this young man had died from an enlarged heart.
I was shocked by the news. Although I know that we need to take care of our health so we can live a long life, I had never been touched by the reality of it in this way. This guy was so young and would have had his whole life ahead of him had he started taking care of his health as a child. He will never have the chance to live out his dreams. It’s a great loss.
When we eat the wrong foods, don’t get any exercise, or carry too much weight on our body, it puts stress on our heart. We can start now to make sure we protect our heart by eating right and exercising regularly. We need to keep our heart healthy. It truly is a matter of life or death.
Something to Talk About
1. What are some ways to keep your heart healthy?
2. Do you have any people in your life who have or had heart problems?
3. Exercise plays a big part in protecting your heart. Discuss some active things you can do as a family that will help keep your heart healthy.
Tip of the Day
Jumping rope is a great cardiovascular exercise. Have a jump-rope competition as a family. See which member has the most consecutive jumps. The winner gets to choose what you have for dinner. (Make sure it’s healthy!)
DAY 15–RUN YOUR RACE
A Word from Amy
Something to Think About
Have you ever challenged your sister or brother to a race? When you were running, I bet you didn’t carry a heavy toy or put on your heaviest coat. I’m sure you had on your best running shoes and you threw off your coat or sweatshirt so nothing would hold you back. You couldn’t afford to have extra weight slow you down. You wanted to win!
Did you know we are running a spiritual race? The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1 (NLT), “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
What does that mean? I believe some things can hold us back from living the life God wants us to live. Eating junk food and not getting enough exercise could be some of them. So can being disobedient to our parents or mean to someone in our class. We must lay those things aside because those weights can hold us back from winning in life. Just as you wouldn’t run a race carrying something heavy, you don’t want anything to prevent you from living your best life.
Sometimes our bad choices, bad habits, or bad attitudes can be like weights. Don’t let bad choices, habits, or attitudes negatively influence your life. Get rid of them!
Something to Talk About
1. What kinds of choices can you make that can help you run a good race in life?
2. What kind of choices have you made that are not so good?
3. How can those bad choices weigh you down when you’re running your spiritual race?
Tip of the Day
Run a race in the yard with your friends. Try it first carrying something heavy and have your parents record your time. Then run it again without the weights and see how much faster you can run!
DAY 16–THE HEAVY BOOK BAG
A Word from Amy
Something to Think About
Have you ever had to carry your book bag when it was full of all your books and papers? Maybe you had a lot
of homework that day and had to stuff it to the max and carry it home from school. I bet it sure was heavy. Maybe so heavy that it made your back and shoulders hurt. What a relief when you finally got to take it off!
Now imagine if you had that much extra weight on your body all the time. It would be hard to run around and play. It might even make you tired, cranky, sluggish, or sick. This is why we need to watch the foods we eat and keep our body active. If we just lie around on the sofa, watch television, and eat potato chips all day, before we know it we can put on extra weight (just like stuffing our book bag full). But unlike the book bag, which we can take off instantly, it’s much harder to take extra weight off of our bodies.
Extra weight puts pressure on your lungs so it becomes harder to breathe. It puts pressure on your knees and joints so they hurt more. And it makes you tired. Who wants to feel all that? So think about how heavy that book bag feels when you’re carrying it, and let it remind you to keep your body healthy.
Something to Talk About
1. How does it feel when you have to carry around a heavy weight?
2. Name a few things that carrying extra weight can do to your body.
3. What types of activities do you like to do that having extra weight could prevent you from doing as well?
Tip of the Day
Stuff your book bag full of heavy books. Put it on your back and walk around the house for an hour and see how it makes you feel.
DAY 17–CHART YOUR COURSE
A Note from Phil
Something to Think About
Have you ever pretended you were a great explorer who was going to travel to faraway places? If you did, the first thing you might have done was gather some friends to go with you and look at a map (even if you drew it yourself) to plan the route you were going to take. You probably described to them the treacherous terrain, vicious animals, and evil villains you might encounter along the way. I’m sure you also bagged a lunch and some supplies to take on your journey.
Did you know that life is really a big adventure? It’s full of wonder and possibilities and good things that you can do and see. But you have to be prepared. You have to chart your course to help guard against pitfalls that can come. Some of those pitfalls can include eating too many sugary snacks and drinking too much soda. They can make your blood sugar drop and can make you really cranky. They can also be a factor in developing type 2 diabetes, which you know is a serious disease.
Think of poor health as an evil villain you can defeat on your journey by eating more fruit for snacks and drinking water rather than sodas. You don’t want to get defeated on your journey, so chart your course for success!
Something to Talk About
1. What are some things you can do on your journey to make sure your future is healthy?
2. Name some foods that can contribute to diabetes and heart disease. What are some foods that are good for you?
3. Why is taking care of your health one of the things you need to have on your map for your life?
Tip of the Day
Help your mom pack a healthy picnic basket or your lunch bag for school. Talk about which foods are healthy choices and which foods are unhealthy choices.
DAY 18–BE A WINNER
A Note from Phil
Something to Think About
Don’t you love it when football season comes around? I sure do. I love the chill in the air that signals the beginning of fall, the energy of the crowd in the stadium, and watching the players run down the field in their new uniforms. You can feel the excitement in the air as people cheer for their favorite team to score the touchdown or kick the field goal that wins the game.
It must be really cool to be one of those players on game day and have everyone cheering for you. But in order to play in the game, those players first have to train. Did you know that football players train really hard for many hours a day to get ready for a big game? They run sprints, they lift weights, they participate in drills, and they practice again and again the plays they’re going to use in the game. It’s hard work!
In order to be a winner, you have to train for it. In order to be an athlete, you need to be willing to do the work. In order to be healthy, you have to focus on the things you can do to be healthy. Often it’s not easy, but hard work and training are the difference between being average and being a winner.
The road to good health may be hard sometimes, but don’t give up. Stick it out so you can be a winner!
Something to Talk About
1. Have you ever played a sport where you had to practice really hard? What kind of things helped you be a better player?
2. In what ways can you train to be a winner in your health?
3. What types of activities can you do that will help make you strong?
Tip of the Day
Go outside and throw the football around with your parents. It’s good exercise and a whole lot of fun.
DAY 19–SINGING THE BLUES
A Word from Amy
Something to Think About
Some days you just get up on the wrong side of the bed. Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s the kind of day when it seems as though nothing is going the way you want it to go, and it makes you feel pretty bummed out. Everyone has blue days every now and then. This is normal when it happens occasionally. But if you’re feeling low a lot, then the culprit might be what you’re eating. It’s true! Food can affect your mood more than you may realize.
Let’s pretend you’re a car. In order for a car to run, it has to have gas, right? Well, our bodies are similar. We have to put the right food in our “tanks” so that we run properly. If we don’t eat foods that are nutritionally balanced, it’s like putting the wrong kind of gas in your car. It will drive sluggish and slow.
Why does this happen? Because our bodies need the proper nutrition to keep our blood sugar stable. Have you ever eaten candy or cookies and for a little while you had a whole bunch of energy? Then before you knew it, you got really tired and cranky. This happens because sweets raise our blood-sugar level for a short time, but then it drops.
We can keep this crazy ride from happening by eating meals that are good for us and that include a combination of protein, carbohydrates, and a little healthy fat. Keep this in mind when you put “gas” in your tank, and it will help you fight the blues.
Something to Talk About
1. Talk about some foods that you like. Which category do they fall into: protein, carbs, or fat? See how many balanced combinations you can come up with.
2. What does your blood sugar have to do with your mood?
3. Think about times when you felt sad or down. Could they have had something to do with something you ate?
Tip of the Day
Prove the blood-sugar theory. Next time you eat a bag of candy or some other sugary treat, pay close attention to your emotions. Do you feel the roller-coaster high and then sudden low?
DAY 20–DEFEATING THE LAZY MONSTER
A Word from Amy
Something to Think About
If you are like many kids (including mine), I bet you love to play video games. It’s fun to play in another world and become a different person. Some of my kids’ favorite games are the kind where they defeat a bad guy and become the hero who saves the day. Who doesn’t want to defeat bad guys?
Well, did you know there’s a bad guy who wants to take over your life and make your body unhealthy? I like to call him the “Lazy Monster.” The Lazy Monster comes around and whispers in your ear, “Why don’t you lie on the sofa and watch TV? It’s so comfy!” or “You can play outside when you get to the next level on your video game.” The Lazy Monster’s main goal is to keep you from being active. He wants you to be lazy and unhealthy.
But you can be the hero and defeat the Lazy Monster! How can you do this? You can choose to be active and play outside instead. You can call your friends and go ride your bikes. You can play basketball and other sports. If you defeat the Lazy Monster, you ca
n also defeat his partners in crime—the Diabetes Dude, the Heartbreaker, and Mr. Grumpy. These cohorts are very dangerous to your health. They love for you to be lazy because then they will be in control and defeat you.
Don’t let them do that. Get active and be your body’s hero!
Something to Talk About
1. What are some ways that you can defeat the Lazy Monster?
2. Why should you move your body?
3. How can you bring activity into your life every day?
Tip of the Day
Play a game of HORSE on the basketball court with your parents, siblings, or friends. It’s a fun way to be active and defeat the Lazy Monster.
Phil Parham Page 11