Need 20 healthy challenges for elderly ladies

Kattarra

I'm co-leader for a weight loss/healthy living group of ladies, most of them are elderly and we want to start an activity where each week everyone will pull a challenge out of a jar and that is their assignment for the week. My job is to come up with 20 challenges. So far I have:

Eat at least 2 servings of vegetables each day
Eat at least 1 piece of fruit everyday
March in place for 5 minutes everyday, can be broken up
Swap a whole grain for a refined grain at least twice this week
Try a fruit or veggie you have never had before

These are mostly elderly ladies in their 70's so they must be doable but also a little challenging. I would love to hear your ideas.

shaumom

Exercise-wise, anything involving hands is a good one. Hand flexibility and strength is one that can deteriorate with age and they could use some help keeping up. So opening and closing the hands a certain number of times a day, or you could get some youtube videos of some hand motions for hula dancing and belly dancing, as these can involve flexibility.

If these are earlier challenges, then LATER challenges can involve something that they hold for arm strength. But building up the hand strength first will be useful. Later, could be lifting a can up above the head a certain number of times, or as high as they can (if no bad backs).

food challenge -
eat a salad every day

make one face out of veggies on your plate every day (having fun or playing with food can help to enjoy the challenge)

You could come up with a couple dozen simple but healthy dishes and they have to choose one to make every day for a week

Pick two of your favorite dishes and try to make them with one or two ingredients substituted by a healthier ingredient (you could give suggestions, like olive oil for butter, or a while grain for a refined grain, that sort of thing)

substitute water for a drink full of calories

drink 6-8 glasses of water a day (fruit infused water is fun for this)

Try a vegetable dish from a different culture - like plantain dishes (cuban), vegetable stir fries(japan, china, or thailand), lentil and roasted veggie dishes (Ethiopia, various middle eastern countries).

Use a non-dairy homemade salad dressing this week.

Use avocado as a condiment this week instead of mayo or butter.

Kattarra

These are great! Thank you. I had the meeting last night where I introduced this topic and apparently mine were too easy so I will incorporate these into the mix. Thanks so much.

mountainmare

As a group try a new type of exercise. I have been studying Tai Chi for seven years and have seen dramatic changes in my friends. Think about TC or gentle yoga. (I think TC has more benefits)
Start to do something with weights--start with soup cans.
Start to learn dances--or every so often have someone come up with a dance to learn (belly dancing..the hula???)

While eating is certainly important to good health I think that exercise is the magic bullet. I have a friend who started Tai Chi in a wheelchair and just sitting because of extreme arthritis, now she is walking (with canes but still--walking).

The first priority is to laugh and have fun!!