Holidays mean a lot to your health

Happy and healthy kids make happy and healthy holidays! Get your kids learning more about staying healthy with Makulay ang Buhay. Catch all episodes on the GMA Playground YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ZfW2mbiXc&list=PLLYaldfT7P2Srl7yZg8HP
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Filipinos love holidays, and Christmas is the biggest and longest holiday season to celebrate. This year, with everything that has happened and the growing importance of wellness, we can find different ways to enjoy the holidays while making it meaningful and healthy for you and your family.

Make your feast colorful

Holiday meals usually mean preparing the family’s signature holiday dish. Expand your tradition and find time to explore healthy options to introduce into the food line up. Color your holiday spread with delicious vegetables by balancing out fatty food and sauces with dishes like mashed kamote, sauteed greens, grilled eggplant, and malunggay soup. Healthy vegetable dishes not only do well as sides, they can also steal the show when they are fresh and prepared well. It is not only more budget-friendly, it is also showing the younger ones that eating healthy is special, that it is not meant to be some form of ‘punishment’ after eating too much during the holidays. Create a new tradition with a healthy family meal.

Gifts to keep them busy

Colorful packs of assorted sweets are favorite giveaways and gifts during the Christmas season, but are filling tummies with too much sugar and empty calories over vacation. This year, find new forms of gifts that can bring long term rewards and not just a quick sugar rush and crash in one afternoon. Find seed starter kits or vegetable growing packs that can teach kids that growing your own garden at home is a fun and valuable present. It teaches patience and responsibility resulting in fruits of labor that can bring health and wellness through food. Back-to-basic coloring books and board games are also great gifts. Find activity books that have fun puzzles and games to lessen screen time while keeping little hands busy, just like these kiddie activities:

You can download the activity here

You can download the activity here

Quality time during the holidays

Aside from the food, what makes holidays special is spending it with your family. Find bonding activities that everyone can easily do and be part of. Put up the Christmas decorations together. Set up a family greeting for relatives and friends through chat, voice, or video calls. Teach the kids your favorite Christmas carols. Take an annual holiday family photo. Holiday fun will be different for every household but it will always be the little things that make your time together mean a lot. Forming good relationships and memories between family members is always healthy for both mind and body.

Creating these simple holiday memories are truly meaningful to your health. Be an example to your kids and show them that meaning and happiness need not be just in expensive or complicated things, but in taking care of others and taking care of ourselves. Find out more ways to teach kids about how to care for their health with Makulay ang Buhay on the GMA Playground YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ZfW2mbiXc&list=PLLYaldfT7P2Srl7yZg8HP
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