Welcome to the Third Annual Triple Play Fit Family Challenge

Welcome to Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s (BGCA) Third Annual Triple Play Fit Family Challenge. We are so excited to have hundreds of Club families across the country participating in fitness and nutrition activities for a chance to advance and win top prizes at the national competition.

The Triple Play Fit Family Challenge is designed to help families from across the country incorporate principles from Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s (BGCA) signature health and wellness program, Triple Play, into their lives over a period of three to six weeks.

In line with the three components of the Triple Play program, families that participate in the Challenge will learn and practice healthy eating habits (MIND), be more physically active (BODY) and spend quality time with each other (SOUL). Challenge activities include earning the Presidential Active Lifestyles Award (PALA) from the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition; participating in fitness and social activities as a family; and trying new fruits and vegetables and eating smaller portions.

The top five families will be selected to advance to the Triple Play Fit Family Challenge Finale on January 12, 2013 in California, including an all-expense paid trip for the entire family.

We want to hear from you! Click on the comment button below and tell us what your family enjoyed most about Phase One? What are you looking forward to about Phase Two? Were there any activities that worked well for your family that you plan to continue in Phase Two?

Good luck!

Comments

[Brittney Collyar]

Phase 1 was great to help establish a foundation of mind, body and soul skills. I love how it helped to educate our kids visually how our plates should look. They are now able to use their mind to make better food and beverage choices. We are looking forward to challenging our bodies more now that we have established a foundation in phase 1. Our goals are going to be loftier. So far so good this week, we are on a roll!

The Collyars

[The Bonds]

Having continued this program for 5 weeks now, it is really exciting to watch the girls make choices as their habits change. (And they are vocal now about calling out good choices and bad choices!) The older one is reading labels now and is very aware of sodium and trans fats. She is asking excellent questions about carbs, sugar and proteins and the more she learns, the better her choices. And the younger one is listening! Through the choices we have made and the fun we have had in actively exercising ... my blood pressure has dropped over from 138/88 to 101/77. And that right there means we doing something really right!

[The Takanishi Family]

To the Collyars: You folks sound like you're doing an awesome job and are having a ton of fun, too! Congratulations!

That ideal plate with healthy portion sizes was an eye-opener, not only for our children but for us as parents! Since we've started the Fit Family Challenge, we've had so many "aha" moments and now we each can take better charge of and be accountable for caring for our minds, bodies, and souls.

A key change since the start of our participation was in our decision to "hand over the reigns" to our children. Prior, I used to "create" their plates, putting foods on them, for the girls to eat. Now that we all "know better" about what a healthy plate looks like, we serve ourselves with a close eye on variety and portion sizes. The girls are becoming more self-directed and accountable for the food and beverage decisions they make. This has been so empowering because parents cannot always be there to make choices for their children--and we want our children to be able to make sound, informed decisions even when out of the sometimes-too-watchful eyes of their parents.

The second thing I see that I love is that our daughters are sharing the new knowledge they've gained about positive, healthy behaviors with their friends and our family members. They are nine and eleven years old and quite empathetic so they comment in positive ways about other's plates. For example, instead of telling Grandpa that his portion of starch was way too large, Kylee (11) told him that it was great that he had so many colorful vegetables on his plate. Then she showed him the "ChooseMyPlate.gov" picture and told him about portion sizes, food groups, and how he can set goals to help improve his eating habits. Lauryn (9) chimed in and said it was good that he was drinking water with his dinner, but then went on to interrogate him about how many glasses of water he already drank today and how many more he should drink before going to sleep. It was all pretty funny (but Grandpa did learn a lot)!

Well, this Triple Play Fit Family Challenge is a ton of fun and it's a fabulous life-changing opportunity! We are surely in a better place and are going in the right direction because of it!

[The Takanishi Family]

Hi Bonds--Lisa, Hannah, and Rebecca!

It's been great meeting and getting to know you and participating in Jeric's Boys and Girls Club of Honolulu programs. They sponsor so many engaging and enriching activities and we've enjoyed them all! We really had a great time playing Parents vs. Kids and Charades with you last week at the "Board Game Night!" Your girls are fantastic--such great sportsmanship and they are amiable and polite! Kylee and Lauryn really enjoyed their company!

Nice to see you last night, too, at the "Ohana (family) Art." Dani, the project leader, was so enthusiastic and sweet! And those ornaments came out so pretty! The next step for us is to find a tree!

We'll see you tomorrow night at the Boys and Girls Club Christmas Parade. We've watched it together in past years from the sidewalk along Waialae Avenue but we've never actually participated in the parade so Kylee and Lauryn are absolutely thrilled!

Hope we can get together for more games, arts and crafts, and hope to see you next week at the "12 Days of Christmas Activities" and the "Gingerbread House Construction/Decorating." Yay! 'Tis always the season for so much fun at the Boys and Girls Club of Honolulu!!!

[Becki]

As we began phase two of the challenge, I took some time to reflect on our experiences and goals for our future challenge participation. One key thing I have noticed, is that for us, it hasn’t been about molding our life to fit the challenge, but meshing and adapting challenge activities into our daily life. The thing I find most valuable about this, is that this sort of adaptation and change, is a sustainable change… and I am looking forward to continuing to enjoy the benefits offered by participating in the challenge long after it is over. Because for us, the changes have been done in a way that fits our life, enhances our life, and have been a celebrated part of our life.

As we go forward, I am looking forward to putting more emphasis on the Body component of the challenge. Single parenthood leaves me squeezing in a lot in the two hours we have together each night. The mind and soul components integrated well into the “things we have to get done” each night. Each night we have to eat and we have to bond. It keeps our family unit unified and has been our saving grace. So, those aspects of the challenge integrated nicely into our routine.

The body piece has been more of a challenge…. Homework, dinner, and bonding each night pretty much take up the two hours we have together. To meet the challenge during phase one, we started family Pilates before school and dancing during family cleaning night. As we progress, mama is going to have to be more creative on meeting the increasing physical challenge. And mama is looking forward to the opportunity to creatively do exactly that.

I have to say, the I am beyond excited about how this challenge has enhanced the cohesiveness and contentedness of my family. We already actively participated in our club. We already had the nutrition component, and the challenge enhanced that.. But seeing my boys engage so positively with a unified goal has been a fantastic experience.

[Lisa Lang and family]

We are excited and inspired to see the family photos. We really liked the 5k idea. This week we decided to try new fruits and log what we liked. We are also going to commit to a sit up challenge. Not against each other, but against ourselves. So we will chart how many we get one night and then try to increase it the next night. We have snow here now so moving our activities indoors :)

We also got a new puppy Cooper that we have incorporated into fun exercise. Daily walks makes it fun.

[The Takanishi Family]

Your sit-ups challenge sounds fun! What a great idea!

Enjoy your newest member of your family! Pets bring so much joy and fun to the family! We have a Beagle and she, definitely, keeps us active.

We live in Hawaii and our daughters have never been in snow. We hope to, one day, add skiing and snowboarding to our list of fit family activities. You can surf in many different places, but come to Hawaii where the ocean is warm and you can surf Pipeline on the North Shore if you're an expert, or the gentler waves off Waikiki!

Keep up the great work!

The Takanishi Family
Dale, Stacey, Kylee, and Lauryn

[The Austins]

One thing my boys have really loved is family cooking night! Our resident chef, my youngest who is almost 7, facilitates meal preparation based on recipes he learned from a cooking class he took at our local club. It was absolutely adorable to see him take charge of his older brothers and make his banana and peanut butter tortilla wraps come together!

[The Takanishi Family]

Wow! Banana and peanut butter tortilla wraps sound delicious! When you have time, please share the recipe. Do you do anything with it like toast it or just eat it as it is?

Our daughters made "red ants on a log" with celery, peanut butter, and dried cranberries. (You can also use raisins for "regular" ants on a log.) We all enjoyed it, especially Mom and Dad since the girls put the snack together themselves! Yay for independence, interdependence, and healthy choices!

Have fun, everyone!

The Takanishi Family

[The Bonds]

I wish my kids would eat bananas and peanut butter! I am a bit jealous! Last night we made fudge to give to the teachers for the holidays. In years past the girls have been real excited about making the fudge and sneaking around to eat it. This year, they were very aware of the 3 cups of sugar, 3/4 cup of butter and the chocolate and marshmellow cream. The oldest read the recipe and then began to read the content of the ingredients. She was amazed at just how many calories were in the fudge. As we cut it up this morning to put in the gift bags, she said... "Mom, they only get 6 small squares. I don't think our teachers need any more calories than that! It just isn't healthy!" I did a taste test and asked them if they wanted to try ... they both backed away! Then this morning, as I was getting ready to take the trash out, I found their Halloween candy stash by the garbage can. Almost all of it has gone uneaten. Kind of neat to know that a little knowledge, healthy habits and team work do in fact work to transform families.

[The Takanishi Family]

I love your fudge story! That was so funny! And yes, knowledge goes a long way--empowers you to make good decisions. And moderation is the key--six small pieces over time is much better!

I like your Halloween story, too! A year or two ago, there was an organized collection/donation of Halloween candy after Trick-or-Treating and the purpose was to send the candy to our troops overseas. I'm all for donating...but candy??? That was crazy! Why would we want to give empty calories to our troops? Anyway, we donated toothpaste and toothbrushes to our local Institute for Human Services organization instead. :)

[The Austins]

The recipe book my boys use was published by Cooking Matters, a 6-week cooking program my youngest participated in through our Club this past October.

Peanut Butter and Banana Pockets:
3 ripe bananas
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 whole wheat flour tortillas
non-stick cooking spray
Lay tortillas flat. Spread with peanut butter, drizzle on honey, sprinkle on cinnamon. Peel and slice bananas and layer on the tortillas and fold in half. Coat skillet with cooking spray. On medium-high heat, cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Been a great six weeks. Blessings and good health to all!

[The Bonds]

Sounds yummy .... We always try something new when for our New Year's Eve get together. I think we have the Bond family recipe. The older cousins will quickly alter this by adding chocolate or something really rich to the mixture, but for us, this will be RICH enough!
Blessings to you and your family too!

[The Bonds]

Sorry about the addition of too many words with poor grammatical structure... We always try something new for our New Year's Eve get together.

[The Takanishi Family]

Thanks to the Austin Family for sharing your recipe! There's honey in it, too! I've heard that honey has healing components that boost your body's immune system and one of my colleagues at work adds it to her tea every day. She was also telling me about different grades of honey. Has anyone heard of the health benefits of honey and what's real or a myth?

Honey is gathered on the Big Island of Hawaii and the beekeepers there say that because the bees forage for nectar on the rare Ohia Lehua blossoms and Macadamia nut tree blossoms, the honey produced is special. They also say that their honey is "raw and organic," that is, unheated and unfiltered. Does anyone know how much of the nutrients are lost if the honey is not organic and raw?

Thanks and the best to all of you!!!

The Takanishi Family
Dale, Stacey, Kylee, and Lauryn

[L. Bond]

Stacey, my oldest has severe hay fever. I have been told by many people that if she takes a teaspoon or two of honey that is from the area we live each day, then she may form a resistance to the pollen issue. Those that have said this have been insistent that the honey come from close by -- within about a 50 mile radius. We tried it, but she does not like sweet things and it was a battle I did not want to fight. She does not have hay fever now, but next year we will see if it redevelops. If it does, then I will definitely try the homegrown honey. It is really supposed to be excellent for maintaining one's health. *That being said, I do not think this can be said about the grocery store variety.

[The Takanishi Family]

Thanks, Lisa, and I hope the hay fever goes away for good! Your older daughter is so active and athletic that bouts of hay fever must get in the way. Let me know how it all turns out!