Earlier this month, researchers published the results of a study designed to understand if adults with children are healthier than adults without children. Before I get into the details, ask yourself….were you healthier before you had children? I commonly hear parents share how they “used to work out” and “used to eat healthier” before the arrival of The Children. Well, guess what? That’s exactly what the study proved, but specifically for Moms! Seems that that group of people most commonly in charge of being the example of health for our future generations is the unhealthiest of them all! The study showed that moms have a higher body mass index (more likely to be overweight or obese) and poorer diet than all other adults.

Of course, healthy lifestyles go far beyond just what we eat. Real, complete, holistic health is about how we eat, how we sleep, how we move, how we think, and much, much more. Here’s one plausible crime scene theory: Who eats the rest of that mac-n-cheese, grabs the one dollar sweet tea to make it through (I mean, to) another baseball double-header, skips the gym in favor of adding another activity for the children, and forfeits good, healing sleep to hold it all together for The Children? MOM!

When I step back and look at the data and the reality of family life, here’s the elephant in the room: Moms are supposed to set the example for what their kids would grow up to be. Said differently, healthy habits are caught; they are not taught. We shouldn’t be feeding our children mac-n-cheese and juice. We should make time to exercise and instill it as part of a healthy lifestyle to our children from the start. I know you guys know this, it’s almost too simple to blog about, but knowing it inside and seeing it presented as a clinical study are very different. The evidence makes it much harder to ignore this intuition you might have had!

Here’s my proposition…..this Mother’s Day, make the ultimate commitment to step it up and lead by example! Not only will your family flourish in health, but you’ll feel so much better about yourself and the examples you’re setting. Remember, moms are the health care leaders of their families. So ask yourself, are you steering your family towards a healing paradise or are you headed for turbulent, disease-filled waters?

No doubt that change takes time and patience. But, we can reverse the ‘unhealthy Mom’ statistic! Tonight, my little one and I happily made a 5 vegetable casserole for the family. Working with her proud Mimi, she grinned as she served her big sister and father her deliciously healthy, homemade meal. If you have ideas for leading a healthy lifestyle while juggling family life, share them with all of us – we’d love to hear them!

Happy Mother’s Day from one Mom to another!