Healthy Habits with Girl Scouts Journey & Together Counts™

This is a sponsored post on behalf of the Girl Scouts. All opinions are my own.

#HealthyHabits

As a young girl I enjoyed being involved in the Brownies/Girl Scout troops with my friends. Not only did we have great fun together, but we did a lot of great stuff for the community. We were also always learning useful life skills – thanks to Girl Scouts I know how to properly sew on a button and make a pair of boxer shorts, balance a checkbook, and make a healthy meal – so I wanted to make sure my girls to have the same great learning experiences (and fun) that I had; so they joined girl scouts as soon as they were able.

The Girl Scouts still teach all the great things I learned when I was a kid; and they also have adapted to the needs of this generation with their lessons. Kids face a whole new era of challenges that we didn’t even dream about. That is why I am so grateful for the Girl Scouts Healthy Habits Journey – and their partnership with Together Counts™. The Together Counts™ campaign—a nationwide program by the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation to inspire active and healthy living via physical activity and nutrition, a fundamental underpinning of efforts to reduce obesity. The principle behind the program is called Energy Balance, which just means balancing the calories we consume with the calories we expend. Through the use of these free resources for Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors, Girl Scout volunteers and families can guide girls in fun, easy ways to achieve “energy balance

o Energy In: the calories you get from eating and drinking.

o Energy Out: the calories you burn from physical activities.

You can download a copy of the Healthy Habits Journey here.

The free booklets help guide girls on their Journey as they learn to lead active, healthy lifestyles.
Through the use of these free resources for Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors, Girl Scout volunteers and families can guide girls in fun, easy ways to achieve “energy balance.”
The three Healthy Habits Journey booklets available for download include:

o Between Earth and Sky with Healthy Habits

o WOW! Wonders of Water with Healthy Habits

o Get Moving! with Healthy Habits

Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. The percentage of children ages 6-11 yrs in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12-19 yrs who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period (information gathered from the CDC). Our children spend more time in doors then outside. Playing games on the computer, instead of in the back yard. Our food is more processed, and fast food is sometimes more affordable than homemade. The Girl Scout Journey / Together Counts™ gets our girls educated, motivated and moving to break the cycle and become active.

Be sure to follow Girl Scouts and Together Counts™ on their social media accounts to keep up with all the great things they are doing!

Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital Twitter: On Twitter, GSNC shares council information including awards, resources, highlights from council events and volunteering opportunities.
Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital Facebook: Similar to Twitter, the GSNC Facebook page shares photo albums of troop activities, news from around the region, and partner content from Together Counts.
Together Counts Website –The website is consumer friendly—aimed at parents and educators and provides resources, tips, recipes and more.
Together Counts Blog – The Together Counts blog is the main source of all consumer-friendly news including HWCF campaigns, announcements and content from HWCF partners around the topic of healthy eating habits and incorporating more physical activity.
Together Counts Twitter – On Twitter, Together Counts shares everything from digital assets (video, infographics) to industry or conference news related to food in addition to campaign and partner news.
Together Counts Pinterest – Together Counts’ resource for sharing recipe inspiration from across the network, family activity ideas and pins from partners that relate to family eating and activity including Girl Scouts, Healthy Dining Finders, etc.