Help your kids be heart healthy

As a parent, teacher or caregiver, you want your children to be the healthiest they can be. Encouraging your children to be physically active and eat nutritious food are the best steps you can take toward that goal. But in recent years, you may have become concerned about reports of children being overweight and obese.

In Canada, studies have shown children and youth are getting larger and less active. Over the past 30 years, obesity rates have tripled. One in four children and youth are either overweight or obese. Even more worrisome is the fact that less than 10% of children are meeting the recommended 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity each day.  

And yet regular physical activity is so important for any kid’s growth and development. The benefits include: improved social and learning skills, stronger friendships, improved concentration and memory skills, and a positive impact on self-esteem.

Without a balanced, nutritious diet and regular physical activity, children may gain weight and harm their heart health. Studies show that children or adolescents who are obese are more likely to remain obese as adults, leading to serious risk factors for heart disease and stroke. They may be prone to developing high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes.

If your child’s lifestyle habits include eating too many unhealthy foods low in nutrients and high in calories such as doughnuts, potato chips, French fries, pop and candy and getting too little physical activity, we encourage you to speak to your healthcare provider for guidance.  

At the Heart and Stroke Foundation, we are committed to ensuring that all children and youth grow up healthy with access to physical activity and healthy eating where they live, learn and play through a variety of programs and initiatives.

What you can do

Healthy habits begin at home. From the time they are born, children need our help to learn about healthy eating physical activity.  Peer pressure influences children and youth of all ages, but is particularly strong in the early teen years. As a parent, teacher or caregiver, you play an important role in helping your children stay healthy now and throughout their lives. To help your kids develop healthy eating and physical activity habits, you may wish to follow these easy tips:

  • Encourage your children to eat three well-balanced meals a day at regular times. Choose one food from each of the four food groups from Canada’s Food Guide: 1) vegetables and fruit; 2) grain product; 3) meat and alternatives; 4) milk and alternatives.
  • Provide them with at least four to six servings of vegetables and fruit a day (depending on their age). Five servings might look like this: a small apple, half of a banana, a handful of baby carrots, a small bowl of peas and a stalk of cooked broccoli.
  • Offer them water, low-fat milk (1% or 2%) and 100% fruit juices instead of pop and other sugary drinks.
  • Serve fresh fruit, veggie sticks and lower-fat yogurt after school and on the weekends instead of high-fat, high-calorie snack foods such as potato chips and doughnuts.
  • Encourage free outdoor play such as a pick-up game of baseball or tobogganing while limiting their screen time in front of computers, video games and TV. Read the Canadian Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for children. 
  • Help children get pleasure out of being active by encouraging them to choose activities they love – is it dancing, basketball, hockey, soccer, swimming, rollerblading, biking or jumping rope? Read about children's physical activity needs.
  • Schedule active family outings such as hiking in a provincial park trail, swimming at the local community pool or snowshoeing in your neighbourhood.
  • Get your kids cooking – they usually like to eat what they have fun making.

Try our heart-healthy recipes for children.

For more tips on getting your kids active and eating heart-healthy foods, subscribe to our free e-newsletter, Healthline for Parents.

For information on encouraging physical activity, visit Health Canada’s Guides to Physical Activity for Children and Youth. 

Read the Heart and Stroke Foundation position statements on:

Schools and Physical Activity

Schools and Nutrition 

Last updated: July 2011.