By Heather Cabot, The Well Mom

Just as the First Lady launches her new “Move It” campaign to combat childhood obesity, a new book is out to help parents try some under the radar ways to entice the whole family to be more active.  Like a lot of parents, I encourage my twin four-year-olds to walk as much as we can and take the stairs instead of the elevator.   Many evenings, we just turn on loud music and have a dance party.  But even in my household, it’s not always easy to make calorie burning seem fun or just plain, second nature.  In their new book, Sneaky Fitness: Fun, Foolproof Ways to Slip Fitness Into Your Child’s Every Day Life,  exercise and nutrition expert Larysa DiDio teams up with “The Sneaky Chef” Missy Chase Lapine to offer a lengthy list of age appropriate ideas to entertain and inspire kids (and grown ups) to get off the couch and get moving.

From making a music video (#58) to balancing an ice cube on their heads (#27)  to jumping around on bubble wrap (#42), the authors suggest 100 different ways to get you and your children to burn off some energy.  As a recent transplant to New York City from sunny LA, I can also attest that these are great ideas for making the most of snowy or rainy afternoons.

The two authors met by chance when DiDio was describing to a fitness client some of her “sneaky” tricks for getting her own children to add more activity into their day, like telling them the elevator is broken.  The client introduced her to Chase Lapine who, coincidentally,  lives in a neighboring town and was looking for advice to help her own daughter become more active.  DiDio and her husband own a gym in Pleasantville, NY that tailors fitness programs to young people.  The two moms hit it off.   They immediately began exchanging ideas, including Chase Lapine’s nutritious chocolate chip pancake recipe which DiDio now serves her own six-year-old, who has a reportedly wicked sweet tooth.   That was three years ago.  Through it all, the two women bonded over their personal experiences and agree that the key to getting families fit and healthy is making the habits enjoyable.

“I have a tween client who loves Beyonce.  So we made up a routine to “Single Ladies”  And we do sit ups and push ups on this part of the song and then at that part of the song we do squats,” DiDio says of one of the young women she trains.

The book also includes new recipes from Chase Lapine’s bestselling book The Sneaky Chef,  which helps parents covertly boost their kids’ intake of vegetables and fruit by mixing nutrient rich purees into kid-friendly foods like adding cauliflower to macaroni and cheese.

Despite the inventive twist on healthy living, DiDio says all the creativity in the world isn’t going to make an impact on children if parents aren’t leading the way.

“It’s really hard for kids to become healthy if we are not role models,” says DiDio.   For parents who feel overwhelmed by starting a weight loss or exercise program of their own, she says it’s best to go one step at a time.  “Get rid of cookies, make smoothies from scratch…make some healthy swaps like getting rid of regular soda and instead, do juice mixed with soda water,” she advises.

It’s hard work to change lifestyles.  But DiDio says the added incentive for busy parents is that the activities in the book can also help out of shape adults slim down, too.

“A mom can get her fitness activity done for the day and get her kids in shape by doing the fun activities that we mention in the book – all without going through the trouble of changing clothing, driving to the gym, doing the exercise, driving home and showering.  It gives a mom more time to do the things that she loves to do!”

Sounds good to me.

Do you “sneak” fitness into your kids’ days — and yours?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 3:08 am and is filed under well-toned. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.