By Suzanne Valdivia
Contributing Writer
Finding ways to incorporate exercise isn’t as easy as it used to be. And joining a gym or paying fees for kids to join a league isn’t always in the budget. But with summer coming, those extra hours of daylight at the coolest part of the day are a great time to get out and go.
McDougle Elementary physical education teacher Janis Basnight suggests that “families can run through the sprinkler, play kickball and softball, bike, swim, play with the dog, walk somewhere you usually drive to, hike our town trails.… Many families are planting gardens due to the economy. Gardening is a great physical activity.â€
North Carolina is ranked fifth-highest in the country for childhood obesity and 65 percent of adults in our state are either overweight or obese. The data is out there and we know that by staying fit we put our bodies at less risk for all kinds of health problems that could really slow us down.
But what if the daily schedule seems so jam-packed that scheduling a block of time for exercise isn’t possible? Squeezing in short spurts of physical activity, 10 minutes, three times a day, will go a long way to keeping you fit, reducing stress and increasing your energy level. If time is tight, combine exercise with other activities: bike to the nearest farmers’ market (ncfarmfresh.com/Directory.asp) or grocery store. When you walk out to get the mail, keep walking — you can read and sort the mail as you log one full block in your neighborhood.
If your neighborhood streets lack sidewalks or don’t seem exercise-friendly, pack a bag of sports equipment and take the family to a local park. Bring a family picnic and finish the evening with a short hike around a pond or park trail. Take the whole family to the local school track and each person can use their favorite method of getting around.
Last weekend, while jogging slowly around our local high school track, I was passed by a pair of 6-year-old bikers; one rollerblading mom; three walkers in animated conversation; a friendly, scooter-riding 9-year-old; and several much faster runners. Total cost for that workout: $0. Follow that up with a popsicle made from real juice (60 calories) and you’ve got a great low-budget summer outing.
A website sponsored by Healthy Carolinians of Orange County has lots of suggestions for ways to make exercise an easy addition to your day, along with recipes for healthy snacks and alternatives to soda. Visit co.orange.nc.us/health/esmmoc.asp for more information.
Making small changes in your usual routine can open up two or three little windows for exercise a day. Sometimes it just takes being creative. Just last week, with only a half hour to squeeze in a little exercise and pick up an onion I needed for dinner, I decided to jog to the neighborhood market and back. I felt a little funny padding down the sidewalk — onion in one hand, loose change in the other.
But then I got to thinking — maybe I can get this whole “onion relay†thing to catch on.
Suzanne Valdivia is a volunteer with Orange County’s Healthy Carolinians program.