By Carly Krause 
I broke a sweat today at the Florence Western Medical Center as the kids, Roz and I ended our bi-monthly children’s program physical fitness session with crunches and pushups. Roz, an amazing and energetic personal trainer and instructor, helped us all get our heart rates up with fun games and dance moves. “We need exercise everyday! Exercise helps strengthen our hearts so we can live long, healthy lives”, Roz reminded us as we get into our groove learning a salsa routine. Roz also helped develop the kids’ hand eye coordination with a rubber ball activity. We each had a ball except Roz and we had to quickly pass them around the circle without dropping them. It was a lot of fun watching the kids work together to stay alert and on task. After a cool down and some stretching, we sat down for some healthy snacks and story time. We read “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (the kids’ choice!) and my personal favorite, “I will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato”. This story was in preparation for our next activity – constructing a food pyramid. I provided handouts of the new pyramid and we went through each category. I explained why we need to eat a well balanced diet and how the right foods helps us, along with exercise, to grow up and lead healthy lives. I asked everyone to share their favorite healthy foods and we practiced categorizing them. For kids with dietary restrictions, we discussed other foods beyond dairy and meat products that are good sources of calcium and protein. After our discussion, I provided blank food cut outs for us to decorate and asked the kids to help me create a giant food pyramid for the office. It looks awesome! The kids are so much fun to work with and I am always re-energized for my week after spending some time with them on Saturday. They are always so excited and ready to learn. On another positive note, we had two new visitors and they plan on returning for our October 16th session! Their grandmother even offered to help us publicize the clinic and program! I’m really looking forward to seeing even more new faces next time.
To read more about Real Medicine’s Los Angeles Outreach Programs please visit our website http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/
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