Consuming enough fruits and vegetables, as well as setting aside time to exercise, can sometimes be a tough task, even for the most health conscious.
Getting kids off the couch and eating their veggies can be a whole different story.
This is one of the reasons why ambassadors from Alberta Health’s Healthy U 5&1 campaign set up shop at Servus Credit Union Place on Tuesday, to help parents introduce the concept of healthy living to their children through games rather than guidelines.
Teams of university nutrition and physical education students – also known as the Healthy U Crew – teach kids between the ages of six and 12 the importance of eating five fruits and vegetables per day and participating in one hour of exercise, using 42 “epic, creative and off-the-wall” experiments.
Activities range from playing baseball using a beach ball and having kids build a house out of hummus and carrots, explained Daniel Edwards, a Healthy U Crew member. The crew also taps into kids’ love of gross things to engage their interest.
“My favourite (activity) gets you to eat asparagus and then wait 15 to 20 minutes and pee. You then smell your pee (and) see what eating asparagus has done to it,” he said, adding kids are also encouraged to eat beets and see the visual impact it has on their urine.
Another experiment outlines a mini boot camp for kids and tells them to sniff their underarms afterwards to see if they’re “toxic.” The 42 activities are to be completed in three weeks, encouraging children to make healthy eating and active living part of their daily routine.
But the Healthy U 5&1 campaign isn’t just for kids. Crew members test the knowledge of parents by asking them to name the four food groups of the Canada Food Guide or how big a serving size of hummus is.
With right answers, families can win prizes such as gym bags, yoga mats, skipping ropes and buttons that say, “I bench press my kids” or “I linger in the produce aisle.”
This is the fifth year the Healthy U Crew has toured Alberta cities and towns, making stops at events, grocery stores and recreation centres in 30 communities.
The team that travels in Northern Alberta will be back in St. Albert on Aug. 6 at Servus Place and Aug. 14 at Fountain Park Recreation Centre from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to share more healthy living tips, games, information and prizes.
