Preventing Holiday Weight Gain - Managing the School Holiday Period

School holidays can be a challenging time for parents, so here are some tips to keep your family active and focused on your healthy eating habits over the break:

• The availability of a large amount of food coupled with less physical activity leaves children vulnerable to weight gain.
• Keeping your child as active as possible is a positive way to help prevent excessive weight gain during school holidays.
• Encourage your child to be physically active outdoors doing vigorous activity for at least an hour each day. Vigorous activities are activities that make you "huff and puff" such as running, bike riding, skateboarding and swimming.
• Swimming is a great summer holiday activity, as is bike riding, bush-walking and school holiday camps:
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• Limit television, video/DVD and computer access to no more than two hours each day.
• In order to help prevent overeating, encourage your child to maintain his or her school pattern of eating with breakfast, recess, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner rather than adopting a grazing style of eating.
• Consider packing lunch and morning and afternoon tea ahead of time each day, just like you might on a school day. Store the prepared food in the fridge.
• Try not to over purchase high calorie, high fat foods such as chips, chocolates and lollies as if they are kept in the house, your children will want to eat them.
• Keep diet soft drink and cordial at home, rather than sugared varieties.
• Ask relatives not to purchase the children extra lollies and chocolates.
• If your child does have treats, ration them out over the course of the week or holiday period.
• When eating out, ask for lower fat alternatives to deep fried foods such as chips and nuggets, and instead choose foods such as wraps, sushi, low fat smoothies and grilled chicken burgers.

• The school holiday period can leave children vulnerable to weight gain.
• Keeping children active for at least 1-2 hours each day is a key way to prevent weight gain during the school holiday period.
• Try and stick to structured meal and snack times during school holidays to avoid overeating.
• If on holidays and most meals are eaten out, encourage healthy choices and include vegetables. Good options include sushi, stir fries, lean meat burgers and wraps.