I’m so excited, excited, excited to announce that I am working as a Together Counts Ambassador!

Together Counts, is a program created by Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a coalition that brings together more than 160 retailers, food and beverage manufacturers, restaurants, sporting goods and insurance companies, trade associations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and professional sports organizations, with the goal of reducing childhood obesity by 2015.

The core message of Together Counts is to bring families together to live a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

I absolutely love that. It’s such an important message and it’s incredible to see that they’re looking to make healthy changes in people’s lives.

When I was a little girl, my mom and my dad had one rule in our house for me and my 2 brothers and sister… we would ALL eat together. My parents were sticklers for creating a healthy environment for me and my siblings, and they would make sure we all sat together, ate and talked about our day. As a kid, sometimes it would drive me crazy! I just wanted to sit in front of the TV and eat my dinner like some of my friends got to do, but my parents would never (ever!) cave.

Now as a mom to my own 4 kids, I get exactly what they were doing and I’m on a mission to do this in my own family.

My husband gained 80 pounds when we first moved to NYC in 2000. It wasn’t good. It wasn’t a healthy weight gain. When we started to have our children in 2004, he was still struggling with the weight. It wasn’t until 2008 when my husband was able to get it under control. He lost his weight through healthy eating and exercise. As his wife and a mom of 4, in 2008 I vowed that I wanted our children to grow up in a home that was a healthy environment. My husband and I have worked very hard to keep our boys active and eating healthy throughout the last few years. As they’re getting older (they’re 4, 5, 6 and 7), they are becoming more and more aware of the food and activity choices around them. Fortunately my sons love to be active… in all honesty, I can hardly keep them still!

I have a few tips that I do with the boys that I’d love to share because I feel like these things are working with us right now:

1. Every night in the summer after dinner we take the boys for a walk around the block. We don’t go fast, but we literally get the boys out and moving. One lap around our block is a 1/2 mile. I try and think of fun things for us to do along the walk (find rocks, count cars, find flowers, etc).

2. On Sunday, we take bike rides. It may just be around our neighborhood, but I love getting them all out and about. Henry still rides on the back of Matt’s bike, but the other 3 guys have their own bikes (with training wheels), and we just get them on the sidewalk near our house and ride. It’s a FUN time!

3. Beach walks. We’re lucky to live in Rhode Island and to live 1 mile from one of the beaches. We love taking the boys at night and letting them run around along the sand, skip rocks, jump waves, go for a late evening dip, etc! The beach is so serene and beautiful, and it’s just incredible to come and let loose!

4. We bought a new table for our kitchen. The table EASILY fits all 6 of us and allows for us to all sit in a big square. It’s perfect for eating together and being able to sit and talk and laugh and engage and just BE with each other. I’m KEEN on bringing the family together and keeping us in the loop with everything that’s going on. I love it!

I’m just so honored to keep blogging and spreading the message of Together Counts. It’s an incredible thing and I’m so glad to be part of it!

This is such a perfect fit for me and my family!

Disclosure: I’m working as a Together Counts Ambassador