Use this book to help you develop healthy lifestyle skills and habits that you can share with your family to set them on the path to good health and a long and happy life. Become a positive role model for your family.

Use this book to help you establish a realistic healthy eating and physical activity program that you can follow for years.

Use this book to learn how to balance your kilojoules in with the amount of exercise you do so you stay in the weight-loss zone.

Use this book to learn some fun and effective ways to exercise so that you become stronger, healthier and lose weight.

Use this book to establish habits that you can live with permanently, that are ‘good enough’, rather than aiming for perfection and falling short. Achievable habits are more realistic and are a predictor of long-term success in maintaining lost weight.

Use this book to learn how to build fun into leading a healthy family lifestyle, which will mean you are more likely to stick with it.

Use this book to learn healthy cooking techniques and how to make good food choices over bad.

BEFORE YOU START

CHECK OUT WHAT SHAPE YOU ARE IN

See your GP for a health check-up before you start any exercise or dieting program. Record you weight, waist and hip measurements, blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol (both the LDL or bad cholesterol and the HDL or good cholesterol) and blood sugar levels. Use the chart to record your measurements. Discuss with your doctor whether to do the same for your children. Check with your doctor if there are any health impediments to starting an exercise program.

SET A GOAL

If you are overweight, set a starting goal of losing 10 per cent of your current body weight. So, if you weigh 100 kilograms, aim to get to 90 kilograms in the next six months. We know that keeping off as little as 5 per cent of your starting weight long-term can halve your risk of getting type 2 diabetes. There is more information about goal setting in the Setting lifestlye and health goals section.

LEARN ABOUT THE TYPE OF DIET TO FOLLOW

Eating plans that are low in total fat, and especially low in saturated fat, while being high in fibre from vegetables, fruit and wholegrains deliver you the best volume of food for the lowest kilojoules. In practical terms this means you need to select the leanest meats that you can afford, plus skinless chicken and fresh fish or fish canned in spring water. Increase your vegetables, salads and fruits and try a fresh produce home delivery service so you have an extra incentive to use it up. Switch to skim dairy products, including milk, yoghurt and reduced-fat cheeses. Select breads and cereals that are wholegrain or wholemeal and choose high-fibre breakfast cereals. Drink lots of water and avoid soft drink, cordials, juices and other sweetened beverages. Read the section in this book about eating well and, feeding children healthy foods.

Allow extra time at the supermarket for your next few visits so you have time to discover the range of healthy foods that are available rather than mindlessly grabbing the usual products. Importantly, make sure you go when you are feeling full, not hungry.

WHAT ELSE?

Get organised for healthy eating. Throw away all the junk food and sweet drinks lurking in the pantry, refrigerator, freezer and any secret hiding places. Flick through the recipes and write out a rough plan for your week’s meals (see more about planning). Write your grocery list (see for a shopping list you can photocopy) from that plan and stock your cupboards with only the healthy stuff. Read the section on healthy cooking to learn how to make over your old recipes by using low-fat cooking techniques. It‘s important not to rush this stage – you need to allow time for your palate to adjust to the changes in your usual foods.

WHAT NOW?

Make a start using this book as a guide. Any effort, no matter how small, to work towards developing healthy lifestyle skills and habits, is doing you and your family good. You will be helping them eat better, live better and feel better. As a parent, this will also make you sleep better, knowing that you are doing the best you can. Enlist the support of the extended family, especially the grandparents, and make a start today! Your health and your family’s future depend on it.