FUEL: January 20, 2014

When do we start the “Fit Life”? Thoughts from an expecting father

With only 7 weeks until my wife is due to deliver our second (a son this time!), for the first time in this go ’round, she seems to be “nesting”.  All of a sudden the cleaning supplies are out, and things “have to be organized”….in all honesty, it’s music to my ears…I’m a big fan of organization to keep life as simple as possible.  Maybe I can thank my Dad who drilled “put things back where you found them” into the heads of my five siblings and I growing up…or maybe it’s because, well…I’m a bit “type A”.  But regardless – Amy’s mad dash for organization, and various trips to all the stores I love to hate provided plenty of “daddy-daughter” time for my two year old and I to CONNECT on Sunday….and after a day that included a trip to our “BaseCamp31″ training facility so Emma could MOVE (run around, hang from the pull-up bar, and bounce on the stability ball in between practicing some core exercises some of our PT friends showed us), a celebratory fruit smoothie for FUEL, and a 2 hour RECOVER(y) nap….it got me thinking…when does / should the “Fit Life” start if we’re to set our children up to ENDURE a long and full life?

The answer?  Well, for those not interested in reading further – as early as possible…..as in before the child is even born where possible.

For those seeking a bit more fact instead of just my opiniong – consider the following articles and research that has come across my “desk” (aka incredibly overfilled email inbox) recently.  According to an article recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine: Preschool-age children whose mothers did not smoke or gain excessive weight during pregnancy and who were breast-fed for at least 12 months and slept for at least 12 hours per day during infancy had a predicted obesity prevalence of 6%, as compared with 29% among children for whom the opposite was true for all four risk factors; the rates were similar (4% and 28%, respectively) when the children reached 7 to 10 years of age.

Or how about this research review by nutrition expert Michael Greger (you should definitely subscribe to this guy’s Youtube channel), where he provides us the data that supports the linkage between meat and egg intake and the increased risk of gestational diabetes in expecting mothers, while providing further reasons to consume more plant-based foods. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysCuZT2t7XM#t=176

The “Fit Life” relies on our ability to balance our MOVE, FUEL, and RECOVER…and if we do it right we’ll set our children up for the same, so that as they grow we may be a society who CONNECTS around these ELEMENTS, and ENDURES a long and fulfilled life.

-E