healthy life Archives - Dad of Divas

7 Ways for Hardworking Dads to Live Healthier

January 7, 2020 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Fatherhood, like motherhood, comes with a wave of new responsibilities and scenarios that completely change your life forever. Becoming a dad is huge, and being a supportive partner to the mother of your child comes with its pros and cons as well. Much like everything in life, we tend to take on too much when big changes happen. And thinking that you can continue to carry all the responsibilities that you had previous to being a father or mother doesn’t do anyone any good.

This is why we have rounded up a list of things that hard-working dads can implement to live an overall healthier lifestyle in this new stage of fatherhood.

1. First and foremost, you might want to consider getting a bigger bed. Yep, we said it. With fatherhood comes children, and with children comes less bed space for a few years. Do yourself a favor and get as much quality sleep as you can because more than likely you won’t find much time to rest for quite a while. However, getting quality rest is important to decrease stress, mood swings, and to better focus on the tasks you need to do the next day. So make it easy on yourself, instead of deciding whether it’s absolutely necessary to do this, just trust us, you’ll need it. Now for the easy question. Which is better, a California king vs king-sized bed?

2. Save, save, save. Another huge fatherhood tip that will make your life easier and more prepared for whatever life throws your way is to save. Now, of course, you still want to be able to enjoy living your life and taking your family to beautiful places, but there are some really neat ways you can save money without it hindering your actual day to day life.

3. Give yourself some downtime. As a father, you might not really think about your mental health because you might be more focused on the wellbeing of your family, or what work you need to get done tomorrow. But it is crucial that you take some time, even if only for a few minutes, to focus on yourself each day. This could be working out, getting outside, or taking a moment to be still and just think about your day.

4. Eat something healthy every day. You not only want to remain healthy for your family, but you want to live a healthy lifestyle for yourself. A burger might sound delicious, but too much red meat can lead to heart disease. Try opting for healthier options with leaner meats and more greens. No, it doesn’t always have to be a salad, but maybe try a turkey sub with lots of leafy greens and vegetables for a change.

5. Get creative. Take your family out to new places to enjoy and experience life together. It can be so easy to get sucked into a routine without any respite. This can be as simple as visiting a new town thirty minutes away where you can enjoy a coffee with your partner and stroll through a new town.

6. Find camaraderie in others also experiencing fatherhood for the first time themselves. It can really be helpful in spending time with other people that are going through similar life changes as yourself. You are able to share experiences with one another and find support for issues that you might be facing as a new dad.

7. Enjoy each day. Be present in your days and remind yourself of all the things in your life that bring you joy. This simple act can help you feel more positive, motivated, and gain a new sense of overall gratitude and happiness. While this might seem very simple and unimportant, you have to remember that a big life change can shift a person’s emotions quite drastically. It’s important to consider your mental wellbeing just as much as your physical health.

We hope these tips have helped you find some new ways that can help you live a happier and healthier life as a new dad. These tips might seem easy and small, but with consistent practice of each one, you will be able to find a little more balance in understanding how to be healthier all around.

Kicking That Dad Bod This Summer

August 13, 2019 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Are you amazed at how quickly your partner managed to get back into shape after giving birth and wondering what her secret was? You don’t know how it happened, but one day you looked around and found you couldn’t see your toes anymore. It’s only to be expected for mom to put on a little weight when she’s pregnant, but where did your extra pounds come from? If you’re wondering how to get back into shape, so you can enjoy running around after the little ones, here are some tips that might help.

Skip the Late Night Meals

Do you find yourself overeating unhealthy snacks late at night? Do toasted waffles, tacos, potato chips, and pancakes get the better of you in the evening? As a busy parent, you’re going to use your evenings for chilling and relaxing, but that doesn’t mean you should be eating as well. Eating late in the evening is not the best time if you want to kick your dad bod. Consuming extra food at any time of the day is not great for the waistline. Your metabolism slows down when you sleep, which means your body is digesting and using calories at a much slower rate.

Drink Light Beer

If you regularly enjoy a few beers after a long day at work, you might not realize, but you’re consuming large amounts of unnecessary calories. If you really can’t ditch the habit all together, consider switching out to much lighter beers. Try to limit your intake to one or two beers a day or only drink on Friday and Saturday nights.

Quit Snacking

Life can become very hectic when there’s a baby on the way. This often means regular meals get replaced with unhealthy snacks. The problem with snack food is that it only fills you up for short periods of time and it’s not long before you’re reaching for the potato chips again because you’re hungry. Find the time to eat proper meals, and if you need some extra help, consider weight loss meal delivery from Jenny Craig.

Be Active

One of the best ways to lose those extra belly inches is to be more active. It’s possible to exercise at home but if you need added incentive or encouragement, consider joining your local gym. There are lots of other ways you can exercise; for example, joining a sports team, kickboxing, running, swimming or cycling. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it gets your heart pumping at least once every day. The trick is also to keep as active as you can. Rather than driving everywhere, try walking. Take the stairs rather than the elevator. Take every opportunity to take your new addition out in the pram and show everyone in the neighborhood what a proud dad you are.

Don’t spend too long gazing in the mirror, wondering where all your extra inches have come from. Get out there and do something about it. With a little bit of effort and a few small changes, you can have a bod you’re proud of.

Tips for Looking After Your Child’s Health

March 6, 2019 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Parents want what’s best for their children, and one of the most frequently encountered problems for moms and dads is when their child falls ill. You can’t avoid your kids catching colds and tummy bugs, but it’s distressing to see them unhappy and in pain.

Illness is good for kids

That might sound like a contradiction, but in fact, experiencing childhood illness is an essential element of your child’s long term health. Their growing immune systems need to experience a range of different types of bacteria and viruses in order to develop defenses against them. A child who has never been ill will have a weakened immune system that may not be able to fight off a severe illness, so if you’re tempted to wrap your children in cotton wool, think again.

Healthy lifestyle

Eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise is just as important for kids as it is for adults. Access to unhealthy snacks is so easy that it encourages kids to eat candy and chips, and the increase in indoor based entertainments like TV and gaming means many kids don’t get much exercise.

You need to encourage your kids to be as active as possible, taking them out for walks and bike rides, going swimming, doing dance, gymnastics, or martial arts, or whatever else they take a fancy to! Get them to help you in the garden, and make all these activities as enjoyable as possible to show them how much fun physical exercise can be.

Take a look at what they’re eating, and if you can see they’re not getting their five a day, for instance, have a think about how to increase their intake of fruits and vegetables. Disguising them in pasta sauces is one proven method, and you’ll find plenty of books and websites offering other hints for getting kids to eat their greens. You might have more luck with fruit, as children tend to enjoy fruit more, but try as many different foods and recipes as you can to help you find the ones that your child will eat.

Looking after a sick child

When your kids do get ill, make sure you know what warning signs to look for that might indicate a more serious illness. If you’re in any doubt, you can call your family doctor for advice. For most childhood illnesses, rest, plenty of fluids, and some TLC will see them back to normal in no time. In the unfortunate event that your child became ill or was made worse by misdiagnosis or negligence on the part of their healthcare provider, contact a specialist solicitor like Minton Morrill for expert advice on whether you have a valid claim for compensation.

You won’t be able to protect your child from every injury or illness, and as already noted, it wouldn’t be good for them if you did. As long as you know how to prevent problems such as childhood obesity, and give your child the best of care when they do get sick, you’ll have a healthy happy child who’ll grow into a strong, healthy adult.

Tips and Tricks for Spreading Health Awareness in Your Area

February 12, 2019 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

How often have you been told that you need to look after your health? It could have been something you heard from friends or family members, but what about from your neighborhood and the community in which you live? Do you ever see people going for runs in the evening after work or in the early morning hours?

Staying healthy is what will allow you to cope with illness, remain happy, and even reduce your daily stress among benefiting you in other ways. That is why it is incredibly important to adopt healthy habits, but not everyone is familiar with what this entails. Not everyone understands what it means to eat well-balanced meals, especially if they have been taught from a young age that eating processed food or sugar is acceptable.

It is, therefore, important to make an active change to your community. Leading a healthy lifestyle is one thing, but to help everyone around you too, can change a person’s life.

Talk to your friends and family members about it

The very first group of people that you can turn to are your friends and family members. These are individuals that you speak to often on a day to day basis, and if you want to start helping others, you should start with them.

For instance, how often do you talk to your family about the importance of physical activity? There are exercises you can do from home, such as even jumping rope, that if maintained, will keep you fit for the rest of your life. However, rather than simply talking to your loved ones about these healthy habits, you must offer information as to why they should adopt them, namely, that it will improve their well-being.

Once you have spoken to these individuals, you can move on to other groups. You family may also help you spread the word, too.

Help organize community events

Have you ever considered organizing a community event in your area? Some people may not be adopting healthy habits simply because they state they don’t have time. However, if you group a lot of people, it can also be more fun to exercise or go for a run, given that you have company to do it with.

Of course, you’ll need to consider the various logistics that goes into planning this type of event, but if you feel strongly about the health benefits of running and want others to do it, why not plan a large-scale event that will also be fun to participate in? This event should include everything from food, refreshments, and other activities.

Create a strong social media platform for it

Social media is a powerful tool, especially when spreading a message. In this case, you can use it for business purposes or personal, and spread the word about health and wellness.

Start an Instagram account that details your fitness goals. You can ask people to share their before and after photos along with what works for them; by having a community of people showing apparent changes, it can spur people on to follow suit.

Put together a website

Coupled together with social media, you can start putting together a website that contains various tips and tricks that allow you to live a healthy life. This can include anything from prepping meal plans, and what types of physical activity people can participate in.

In other words, you could establish yourself as a blogger in health and wellness, and you can eventually turn it into a larger-scale business venture with time.

Create a podcast

If you feel that writing isn’t your forte when it comes to spreading awareness, you can always choose to create a podcast, instead. This simply requires you to record your voice, although it is still essential for you to post the podcast on an online source, preferably on a website that you have been working on.

Always follow healthy habits yourself

We are living in an age of transparency, where people want to see the evidence before putting time, effort and money into something, be it a product, service or the word of a blogger. Therefore, there is little point in preaching the word of fitness if you, yourself, do not practice in it, too.

Eat nutritious food

The next time you go grocery shopping, make sure to only purchase items that are organic and that will improve your overall health. Stick to a well-balanced and nutritious diet that is filled with vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and always drink plenty of water.

Working out

It is crucial that you always devote some time to working out on a nearly daily basis. If you want to maintain your energy, you will need to exercise, go for runs, walk around your neighbourhood or even frequent the gym. While you don’t need to try out every work out in the book, sticking to at least a few will allow you to be physically healthy.

Only once you do this can you even become more knowledgeable on the topic, and thus tell others about what has or has not worked for you, as an example.

Become a professional fitness trainer

If health and fitness is something that you are interested in, you can always choose to pursue a career in this field, as well. You would also be seen as an expert by others, and people would come to you in order to get your help. Essentially, you can start your own business as a personal trainer or work for an existing company, although you will, regardless, need to get certified to do either.

Depending on the city you live in, there are plenty of organisations that offer these services such as how you can take the Leeds fitness courses today. These qualifications will allow you to help as many people as possible to achieve their healthiest and best selves. Not to mention, you will be fully knowledgeable on how to help yourself, as well.

If you feel strongly about health and wellness, why not spread the word about it? Moreover, if you feel that it is your passion, you can just as easily form a career around it, if you want to help more individuals than simply your immediate friends and family.

At the end of the day, there is always something you can do to spread awareness about a topic that you feel particularly strong about.

How to Keep Your Family Healthy and Happy

November 23, 2018 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Living a healthy life is something that people aspire for. This is not only something that benefits yourself, but your entire family as well. Wouldn’t you want your loved ones to live long and happy lives? Everyone has bad habits that they pick up now and then, but overall, the goal should always be to pursue what makes you personally most happy.

The question remains, how can you keep your family well and happy? Although everyone needs to care for their own wellbeing, it is important to encourage one another in the process. Smaller kids, for instance, need their parent’s guidance, until they learn to be responsible adults who look after themselves. Talking with each other is key, spending quality time together, straying away from bad habits and continuously helping each other in times of need. For more information on all of the aforementioned, continue reading.

Talk With One Another

When was the last time that you spent a few hours talking to your loved ones about life? The conversations could include anything, so long as you verbalize your thoughts. Talk about your day, what you want to do in the future, events that happened in the past and so on. In particular, there are two things that you should always do when talking to your family:

Tell your family you love them

Whether you tell your parents you love them, parents tell their children, you talk to your aunts, uncles, cousins, or any other family member, you should always tell them that you appreciate and love them. Although the affection is felt even when it is not said out loud, it is something that you should always make a point of saying. You will notice the smile creep up on the person’s face as soon as you voice it.

Voice the stress

Everyone has to deal with stress at certain points, and when you do, it’s important that you talk about it. Stress harms your health, and it’s often times your loved ones that know exactly what to say in order to brighten your mood.

Go on Trips Together

When was the last time that you spent some quality bonding time with your family? While sitting down together for dinner is important, there needs to be more occasions where all of you are together. Consider planning and going on more family trips together, for one. This is something that will create a lifetime of memories together, and of course, make everyone happier as well.

Keeping Away from Bad Habits

When you or a family member becomes succumbed to bad habits, it’s important to be there for one another. From the very beginning, parents should teach their children the importance of living healthy lives, and what types of bad habits they should stray far away from. It’s not only a matter of education but leading by example as well.

That being said, if something were to happen, whether it’s alcohol or drug addiction, your loved ones will need help. Treatment centers are best equipped to do this, with one example being the services offered by Inspire Malibu, who help individuals get their life back on track.

At the end of the day, remember to never take one another for granted. Your loved ones are an important part of your life, and in order for everyone to be their happiest self, it is important to encourage each other. Something as simple as saying how much you love and appreciate one another will reduce everyone’s stress and make for a happier family.

Teaching Your Children How To Live a Healthy Life

April 25, 2017 by dadofdivas 2 Comments

As parents, we all understand the importance of teaching our daughters how to count to 100 and tie their shoes. Over the years, we have spent countless hours reading picture books with them and helping them develop proper social skills. While all of these concepts are vital to their well-being, in all the hubbub of getting our kids school ready or college bound, we might have overlooked teaching our kids simple ways to live a healthier life.

Papa Don’t Preach: 5 Ways to Encourage A Healthy Life

Our kids need us to lead by example and embrace a healthy lifestyle right alongside them, because our actions speak louder than any of our words. Children and teens don’t want to listen to us lecture about eating our fruits and veggies or exercising daily. Afterall, they get those health basics in school. Healthy living today encompasses so much more than eating five servings of vegetables a day.

Thankfully, we can include the following suggestions to get our daughters learning about healthy relationships with food, boys, and electronics – leading to a healthy life overall:

Use your relationship with her and her mother to model appropriate relationships with men. Children need their fathers and how you perform this job will most likely determine a daughter’s self esteem, how she handles adversity, and how she will interact with future romantic partners. A dad’s role is crucial when it comes to setting a child up for a lifetime of healthy choices. Experts recommend using verbal encouragement, being consistently present, listening to her feelings, and taking time to show interest in her activities. This presence, while it seems pretty normal, can help build a young woman’s self-esteem which can protect her from depression, poor body image issues, self harming behaviors, substance abuse, and abusive relationships. That’s a lot of pressure, but it justifies taking time for a tea party or taking her out for a date night to the local ice cream parlor.

Teach her ways to relax. Stress is an unavoidable part of life and our children will experience it at some point. Chances are fairly high, that they have already encountered pressures on the playground, at school, or in the home. Stress can lead to a whole host of unhealthy conditions and wreak havoc on our bodies. That makes it essential that we teach our kids ways to cope with stress. We recommend talking to her about coping with stress, taking up a soothing hobby, or joining a Yoga group together. All of these suggestions will give her healthy options to use throughout all walks of her life.

Give their eyes a rest. It’s no secret that our children spend a massive amount of time looking at screens. Whether it is a Smartphone, computer, tablet, or television they are watching a screen of some type. Teach them that it is alright to take a break from their beloved electronics and screens. Besides the obvious lack of activity, our kids are placing a lot of extra strain on their eyes throughout the day. Help them care for their eyes by following the 20-20-20 rule. For every 20 minutes of screen time, take a 20 second break to look at objects 20 feet away.

Foster an appreciation for wholesome foods. Most kids love to eat, so we can use this love of food to foster healthy eating habits. Most kids understand the food groups, but putting this knowledge into practice is a whole other process. Tend a garden or visit the local farmer’s market for access to fresh foods. Learn new recipes and make it a new family tradition to cook together. Make it a point to limit take out, except for the occasional evening, and reacquaint everyone with home cooked family meals. This sounds simple, but breaking bread together will create countless opportunities to learn nutrition while bonding.

Enjoy green spaces together. Head outside for some family fun and to take in the world of Mother Nature. Being in the great outdoors has been documented to reduce stress, combat depression, develop spacial awareness, recharge the mind, and more. Plus, fresh air is good for young children and getting out of the house can encourage physical activities like hiking, running, and biking. Thankfully, you can uncover these benefits in your backyard at the local park.

Looking Ahead

Instilling the foundation for a healthy life doesn’t require a lot of special tools or a lot of money. It comes down to parents who take the time to listen, communicate, and interact with their children and the world around them. What tips do you have for teaching your kids to embrace a healthy life for themselves?