8 Tips for a Healthier Holiday in Nyack and Piermont

Happy Holidays from the Rockland County Department of Health! Follow our tips for a healthier holiday season:

• Ask friends and relatives to give gifts that promote physical activity and movement for your children.
• Chilly weather? Bundle up for comfort! When children catch a cold, it is usually from germs, not from a drop in temperature. Unless the temperatures are frigid, send the kids outside to play. Better yet, join them!
• After a meal, go for a walk with your family to see holiday displays in your neighborhood.
• Water is the best thirst quencher. Always offer water as a beverage. Having a pitcher of water readily available is a sure way to help your child avoid over consumption of sugar sweetened “juice type” drinks and sodas.
• Cut down on the sweets! Provide healthier options such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds rather than high fat, sugary foods such as chips, cookies or candy.
• Bake healthier! Replace ¼ cup of the butter, oil or margarine in your favorite drop cookie and muffin recipes with the same amount of mashed banana, pumpkin puree or unsweetened applesauce.
• Have healthy foods readily available and easily accessible. Sliced, ready-to-eat fresh fruit and vegetables are a sweet substitute for candy or high-fat snacks.
• During this busy time maintain your child’s regular meal routine: breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. Children (and adults also) need balanced meals throughout the day.

“These tips are good to follow not only during the holiday season, but year-round as well. Also, it’s okay to remind family, friends and guests to remove their shoes and wash their hands when they enter your home! Hand washing is the best way to stop spreading germs,” said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, Rockland County Commissioner of Health.