Week 12: Physical and Emotional Health

Physical and Emotional Health

All saints who remember to keep and do these sayings … shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; and shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge.

Doctrine and Covenants 89:18–19

CLICK HERE for this week's lesson from LDS.org

A few ideas from Lindsey:

Ideas to teach choosemyplate.gov
Teach your family about the new "my plate" that took place of "mypyramid".
Teach correct portion sizes.
Put some examples of food on the table and have family members order them from least healthiest to most healthiest. For little ones you could hold up two items and have them choose which is better for them to eat. For example, fruit roll up vs. a dish of  fresh berries.
Have each family member create their own plate. Glue cut-outs of food from magazines onto a paper plate (or just draw them) Template and coloring sheet
Do any of the following KIDS ACTIVITIES (mazes, coloring, etc.)
Check out the section for physical fitness
Use one of the calculators/food planners
Use Food-a-pedia to look up the nutrition facts of over 8,000 foods
Check out the section just for PRESCHOOLERS...or PICKY EATERS
Pregnant and Breastfeeding Moms out there...? Here is your link!

A few more ideas...
Challenge your family to a month long fitness challenge (perhaps add up total hours of physical activity in one month)
Teach your family the wellness pyramid with physical, emotional, and spiritual being at the corners.
Go outside and physically do something athletic together
Relay Races
Sing songs that require physical activity and movement


Excellent Ideas from Elder's Quorum:

Emotional and Physical wellness is important to our overall spiritual wellness. Staying physically and emotionally fit will allow us to feel the spirit more and be more intune to our bodies needs and desires. As we strive to stay fit will be able to recognize our weaknesses, find areas we can improve and build resilience against the storms of life. Staying physically fit will help our emotional heath. Staying emotionally strong will improve our relationships with friends, family and with all those we interact. It is somewhat of a spiral that builds upon itself ever climbing higher. It too can spiral downwards if we choose to neglect our bodies physically and emotionally. Payl spoke to the people of Corinth about taking care of these beautiful temples that house our spirits. 1 Cor. 3:17.

Here are some tips and activities for your Physical well being:

1. Try to get some sort of physical activity for 30 minutes each day. This can include but not be limited to walking, jogging, weight lifting, playing sports or weeding a garden.

2. Start somewhere. Make a plan to accomplish your goals. If you haven't been too active for some time, start slow and try increasing your activity by 10 minutes each day.

3. Work together. Increasing activity with a spouse, family members or friends can be a great way to build relationships, be an example to others and get in a good workout.

4. Try new things. Doing the same activity repitiously can get boring so try spicing it up with a change of scenery or doing something different.

Here are some tips for Emotional well being:

1. Meditation and prayer. Taking even a few minutes to clear your mind and focus on a happy thought, a spiritual truth or a plain color will allow you to train your mind and improve your focus.

2. Strive for optimism. Being optimistic isn't always easy. There is something to be said for always trying to find the good of each situation and having faith to endure.

3. Gratitude. Being thankful for each and every blessing allows us to see how amazing our Great Creator is and how richly he has blessed us.

4. Journal writing is way of clearing our thoughts and improving our focus. It allows us to retrospectively ponder our amazing blessings.

Activities for families with childeren:

Physical- Hold a family olympics with short races, number of push ups/ sit ups, most jumping jacks and squats. Hold these quarterly, semi- or annually and remember to record results as champions may vary from year to year.

Emotional-

1. Show a solid colored piece of paper to everyone. Have everyone sit quietly with their eyes closed and focus on that one color for 1 or 2 solid minutes. Instruct them to not let their thoughts stray for those few moments and if they do they are to redirect their thoughts back to that color until it's over. Then discuss how challanging or not it was to keep focused on the one color. Let each child take a turn describing their experience.

2. Take a few moments to record the most important events of the day.

Here are TWO blogs with great ideas for the word of wisdom (thanks Erin!):
http://www.mormonmommyblogs.com/2013/06/family-home-evening-lesson-word-of.html

http://lifeinthemotherhood.blogspot.com/2011/08/fhe-idea-word-of-wisdom.html

Next week's Lesson: Repentance