A Nurse’s Guide to Health, Nutrition and Fitness

Health Practices for Kids and Teens

Help Your Child Grow Up Healthy and Strong (PDF) – There are a lot of components that make up a healthy lifestyle. This packet details what parents need to keep an eye on and what they can do to encourage kids to create great habits.
Teenagers: How to Stay Healthy – From physical health to mental health, the site details how teenagers can maintain and even improve their current health.

Health Practices for Adults and Seniors

Health Tips for Older Adults – This guide offers information on maintaining a healthy weight, making healthy eating choices, and the importance of physical activity.
Leading a Healthy Life: 6 Steps to Living Long and Staying Healthy – In addition to touching on the importance of a healthy diet and increased activity, this site mentions the importance of a healthy mind and things that should be avoided to prevent health risks.
Healthy Sleep Habits – While diet and exercise are important parts of a healthy lifestyle, getting enough sleep can also have an effect on health as well as how a person feels about his or her day.

Nutritional Guidelines, Healthy Diet Plans and Easy Nutritional Recipes

Recipes for Healthy Kids: Cookbook for Homes (PDF) – It isn’t always easy to find healthy recipes that kids will enjoy. This cookbook was designed with kids in mind, offering fun and unique names for recipes along with ingredients that are low in fat and sugar.
SuperTracker Nutrition Lesson Plans for High School Students (PDF)- Learn more about SuperTracker, a website that helps teens keep track of the foods they eat and the activities they participate in to create a healthy lifestyle.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020 – In addition to an explanation of how nutrition and health are closely related, an explanation of healthy eating plans is described. This can be valuable information for you and your future patients as you work through an online Doctor of Nursing practice degree.
Healthy Meal Plans – Sometimes a meal plan can make it a lot easier to stick with nutritional goals. This handout offers information on planning the right type of meals and gives examples of how to incorporate the different food groups.
Your Guide to Nutrition Basics (PDF) – This guide helps calculate what a body needs and offers assistance creating a meal plan with just the right components.
Healthy Snacks – Kids are always coming into the kitchen looking for a snack in between meals. This video explains what a healthy snack is and gives several examples.
Healthy Food for Kids – Consider these tips for helping a child or teen eat healthier. Learn more about how healthy food choices benefit the body and how to encourage healthy food habits.
Nutrition for Your Preteen: Ages 9 Through 12 Years (PDF) – With a lot of changes going on in their bodies, it’s important that preteens get the nutrition they need to stay healthy. This document gives you some daily nutritional goals along with tips on how to incorporate them into a preteen’s diet.
Obesity: Nutrition and Exercise (PDF) – Teenagers struggling with obesity often have a range of health concerns that can be addressed with a change of diet and the addition of more activity in their lives.
Preventing Childhood Obesity: Tips for Parents – With the number of children struggling with their weight increasing, it’s important that parents know how to determine if their child is overweight and what they can do to help.
Healthy Eating Tips for Seniors – Several videos offer practical advice on things like eating healthy on a budget and making healthy food choices. An infographic organizes the tips to make it easier for seniors to understand more about nutrition they need.
10 Healthy Lifestyle Tips for Adults – Even adults need to pay attention to what’s on their plates and the exercise they are getting on a regular basis. These simple tips can have a huge impact on overall health.

Fitness for Kids

The Importance of Physical Activity – The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition offers information on why physical activity is so important and facts on obesity in America.
Make Physical Activity Part of Your Family’s Daily Routine – There are multiple activities and exercises that families can do together to create healthy fitness habits. These suggestions can be helpful to patients you see once you’ve completed online Doctor of Nursing practice degree and begin working with patients and educating others in the medical profession.
The Many Benefits of Exercise – Kids’ ideas on exercise don’t involve a gym or a treadmill. Instead, it’s important that they understand that they can do a variety of things to stay fit and improve their strength.
11 Ways to Encourage Your Child to Be Physically Active – It’s no secret that many kids aren’t getting enough exercise. These tips help you promote fitness and get kids off the couch and doing something fun.
Youth Fitness: Games for Kids – Ever wonder what activities that parents can do with a child to keep him or her active? These videos demonstrate things that kids can easily do while having a little fun along the way.

Fitness for Teens

Easy Exercises for Teens – Fitness doesn’t need to be a time consuming matter. Instead, it can be something to fit in throughout the day with these easy exercises.
Fitness for Teen Girls – Learn everything from fitness basics to what to wear to work out. The site, geared for teen girls, answers lots of different questions that teens often have about health and wellness.
Center for Young Women’s Health: Fitness – Learn more about exercise including how the muscles work, how to stretch, and exercises that can tone the body.
Physical Activity for Youth – Children and teenagers should be active for around 60 minutes per day. If they aren’t, this article helps explain how inactive youth can get started and what types of exercises and activities are ideal.

Fitness for Adults

The Adult Fitness Test (PDF) – Not sure where your fitness level lies? Check out this test and an explanation of what your results mean.
American Heart Association Recommendation for Activity in Adults Infographic – Adult fitness is simplified with these recommendations, including moderate activity, vigorous activity, and high intensity muscle strengthening.
Be Active Your Way (PDF) – Not all activities are enjoyable to all people. Instead, this guide helps explain how much activity a person needs, how to get started, and how to be consistent while working towards a goal.

Fitness for Seniors

Yoga Poses for Your 50s, 60s, and 70s – and Beyond – When it comes to choosing beneficial exercises for seniors, yoga has a lot to offer, including improved balance and flexibility.
Walking as a Way of Life – Seniors don’t need to go looking for anything complicated or expensive to stay active. Instead, walking offers a wide variety of health benefits.
Exercise Helps Ease Arthritis Pain and Stiffness – Aging comes with all sorts of challenges, but staying active can help with the symptoms of arthritis.
Osteoporosis Exercise for Strong Bones – Many times seniors think about exercise as something that’s good for their hearts. But, there are also certain exercises that can help with building and maintaining bone density.
Physical Activity Guidelines for Older Adults – How much activity does a senior need to stay healthy? This article outlines different types of exercise and the benefits of each.
Strength Training for Older Adults (PDF) – Just because a person is getting older, it doesn’t mean that he or she needs to put aside the weights. Instead, it’s important to do activities that are age and fitness appropriate.
Exercise for Older Adults (PDF) – This comprehensive guide to fitness for seniors offers specific exercises that can be done to help promote flexibility, increase strength, and help with balance.

Health and Fitness Mobile Apps and Calculators

BMI Calculator for Kids and Teens – Based on weight and height, the body mass index calculator helps parents and medical professionals gain a better understanding of a child’s body fat percentage.
Move! Coach – This app, designed for veterans and their families but available to everyone, offers a 19 week program that can help with weight loss through health education.
This is My Food: Nutrition for Kids App – From the nutrition wheel to the interactive sandwich builder, kids get the opportunity to learn more about the food they are eating and even goes so far as to explain how digestion works.
HRmax Calculator – Do you know what a person’s maximum heart rate is? As they look to meet their fitness goals, this is an important number to keep in mind. Answer a few questions and learn more about your personal heart rate.
My Nutrition Calculators – Find a starting point for a healthy lifestyle with a website that offers several different calculators including body mass index, target heart rate, and a healthy body weight.

Interesting Reading Material on Health and Fitness

What Does “Healthy Eating” Mean? (PDF) – Individuals that want to set a goal to eat healthy need to understand how to do it. This document offers easy guidelines to follow.
101 Health and Wellness Tips for College Students – With tons of tips to choose from, this site offers health and wellness information that can actually benefit anyone. This can also come in handy as you work through your (Online Doctor of Nursing Practice) degree program.
Healthy Aging: What it Means and How to Do It Well – Most people want to age well, but they may not really know what that looks like. This transcript offers insight into maintaining a quality of life while growing older.
5 of the Best Exercises You Can Ever Do – While there are lots of ways to get in some additional activity, why not make sure that every minute counts? These five simple exercises can make a huge impact on overall wellness.
Demands of Exercise Different for Children and Adults – Not all exercise programs are created equal. There is a difference between what kids need and how their bodies respond to exercise.
13 Healthy Habits to Improve Your Life – There are several simple things that can be done to make a difference in the way a person looks and feels. These tips are easy to follow and each one comes with an explanation.
Healthy Habits for Healthy Families – One of the best ways that parents can help instill healthy habits in their children is to model them. Here are several ideas for parents.
The Math of Fitness (PDF) – A great resource for kids and adults alike, this document offers information on the different mathematical formulas that can help establish BMI, an ideal resting heart rate, and rate of perceived exertion.

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