Kimberly King - Finding Your Fit: A kid-to-kid Guide to Fitness, Food, and Feelings

Finding Your Fit

a kid-to-kid guide to fitness, food, and feelings

Reviews

Finding Your Fit is a thought provoking and interactive resource for kids, parents, and teachers. The topics coincide with my school curriculum and the illustrations make the message fun for kids. This book is a must for anyone looking to promote overall health and wellness!

Scott Kamholtz, B.S. in Kinesiology and Physical Education,

Physical Education Teacher, John B. Dey Elementary School, Virginia Beach, VA.

Find Your Fit is a gentle guidebook to help kids with a topic that can be hard to discuss... childhood obesity. It gives concrete suggestions for fitness, nutrition and self-esteem, and also provides workspace to make a plan. Use this as the starting point to talk about making healthy choices with kids.

Mia Wenjen, Mommy Blogger at www.PragmaticMom.com

I love that Finding Your Fit is interactive and can help to facilitate a dynamic early on between parent and child where the link between nutrition, fitness and self-esteem is discussed. In my opinion, this will then help to increase the likelihood that the child would feel comfortable bringing up these subjects with their parents again in the future if he/she was starting to feel insecure about something. It also gives parents the chance to notice if maybe their child has started to develop some unhealthy beliefs about one of those areas and to potentially re-direct those beliefs before they set in at a deeper level. Self-esteem is often not talked about much until high school so it is wonderful that you this book brings up that concept with kids at a younger age.

Sandy Hogins, Psy.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist

www.drsandyhoginstherapy.com

Filled with clear and considered advice, Kim Kings book helps guide kids through the key elements of staying fit. As a father and educator, I can easily and heartily recommend this book to anyone looking for accessible advice on staying fit in the most holistic sense

Aliya Weise, Doctoral Candidate, Educator, Yoga instructor

This book is a great place to start for any child that is beginning to become interested in what it means to be healthy. It is also a great tool for any parent who wants to help their child form lifelong healthy habits. It opens the doors for some great discussion between parents and children around many important issues that often go ignored. Id recommend this book to all of my younger patients and their families!

Alexandra Jatzke, Registered Dietitian, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Finding Your Fit

a kid-to-kid guide to fitness, food, and feelings

by: Kimberly and Gabby King

Illustrated by: Darcey Shumaker

Copyright 2017 Kimberly King

Images Copyright 2017 Darcey Shumaker

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-63393-526-6

Published by

An imprint of

210 60th Street

Virginia Beach, VA 23451

212-574-7939

www.koehlerbooks.com

In association with

Kid2Kid Publishing

P.O. Box 4252

Suffolk, VA 23434

www.kimberlykingbooks.com

PREFACE

This book is intended to help children understand the importance of fitness and nutrition. When children are young, it is vital for parents or caregivers to instill a healthy mindset. Child health is much more than a number on the scale its about staying active by incorporating cardiovascular and strength activities, eating nutrient-rich foods and loving oneself.

FITNESS: There is one prescription to help people find a healthy weight range, increase life expectancy, decrease the probability for cardiovascular disease, and improve psychological wellbeing. Physical exercise!

NUTRITION: Making food choices for a healthy lifestyle can sometimes be the hardest part of the equation. Its important for children, and all members of the family, to eat well-balanced meals. With creativity, motivation, and lots of time, families can eat restaurant-quality healthy food at home. Making meals from scratch or nearly from scratch will ensure that kids are eating real food with minimal preservatives. As a guide, half of your plate should be filled with fruits or vegetables, about one-fourth with lean meat, poultry or fish, and one-fourth with grains. To round out the meal, add fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt or cheese.

SELF-ESTEEM: Self-esteem and body image pertain to how we feel about ourselves and our bodies. As a parent or caregiver, it is important to help children develop a positive body image. Whatever their size or weight, children can develop either positive or negative views of their bodies. Negative body image can begin as early as preschool. Caregivers play a vital role in promoting the kind of positive body image that can help children to feel more comfortable and confident. Rather than obsessing over food or weight, children with good self- images tend to have the energy and attitudes they need to enjoy physical activity, while children with negative body images feel more self-conscious and tentative and are at a greater risk for weight gain or eating disorders. Nutrition and fitness are great goals because they equip us with the physical and mental energy to do the things we want to do. Whatever our age or size, we feel better when we take care of our bodies.

Jim White

Registered Dietitian, American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Health Fitness Specialist, National Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and owner of Jim White Fitness & Nutrition Studios.

DEDICATION

To Gabby

This one is for you. I love you.

To Chelsea Roff of Eat, Breathe, Thrive

You are inspirational and you are doing amazing things.

To Laura Marcinczyk MSN, FNP-BC

For putting the pieces together for us.

To all children and adults who struggle with negative self-esteem, distorted body image and eating disorders. We hope this book is a starting point

toward lifelong health, self- acceptance and happiness.

Kim

CHAPTER 1

MIND BODY PUZZLE

Hi! My name is Gabby, and this is my mom.

I had a really hard time this year. I was eating unhealthy foods and felt like I was in a total slump. I was always tired and had trouble sleeping. My energy was gone and I was not myself. I felt sad and down about myself pretty much all the time.

My mom and I decided we needed to go see my doctor for some help. Our doctor suggested we change a few things to live a healthier lifestyle. We talked about fitness, nutrition and how to feel good about myself again. Why dont you take a minute to talk with your mom or dad about how you are feeling about yourself right now, or write about it in the back of this book?