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Healthy Families with 5-2-1-0

Raising a healthy family is as easy as 5-2-1-0. That's five fruits and vegetables every day, two hours or less of screen time, one hour of physical activity and zero sweetened beverages.

Five fruits and veggies

Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. They’re the basis of a nutritious diet and eating them is an easy way to help prevent disease and maintain a healthy body weight.

Helpful tips:

  • Wash and precut vegetables. Bag them up so that they are ready for use when a quick snack is needed.
  • Try using peanut or almond butter and bananas as a breakfast pita pocket option. Add fresh berries when available. If buying pitas or wraps in bulk, try freezing half the bag and defrosting the rest as needed.
  • Buy vegetables and fruits that are in season, or on sale.
  • Make sure to drink lots of water when eating foods high in fiber. This will help with regularity.

Two hours or less of screen time

This habit provides us with an easy way to reduce the risk for becoming overweight or obese by cutting down on screen time to two hours or less per day.

Dance or take a walk instead of watching TV or playing video games. Use our tracker to monitor screen time (TV, computer and video). Each day, write down how many hours and minutes you’ve spent on screen time.

Helpful tips:

  • Talk to your family about a plan to cut down screen time and agree on a time frame that is reasonable for everyone.
  • Turn on the radio or play your favorite music and dance. Invite others to join in and create a new dance move.
  • Use your unplugged time to visit with a friend, cook a meal, read a book, clean a room or rake leaves.
  • Get together with friends and develop a fun dance routine to some of your favorite songs.

One hour or more of physical activity

One of the best ways to begin increasing your family’s amount of physical activity is to schedule time for it. Start by identifying at least three 30-minute time slots this week for activities like taking a walk, playing sports or doing active chores. Choose times of the day or week that work for all members of the family. That way you’re more likely to help stick to a regular schedule.

Helpful tips:

  • Take a walk after breakfast on the weekends or after dinner each night.
  • Play tag, swim, toss a ball, jump rope, hula-hoop, dance to music or even play a dancing video game. It doesn’t have to be an organized sport – just get your family moving! Walk the dog, go for a jog, go on a bike ride, take the stairs or head to the park and let kids run around for a while.
  • Train as a family for a charity walk or run. Check out our 5K resources.

Zero drinks with added sugar

You can see how many grams of sugar there are per serving in some of your favorite beverages by reading the food label.

Helpful tips to drink more water:

  • Limit your purchase of sugary drinks because not having them in the house means you will not drink them.
  • Drink 100 percent juice without added sugar – fruit juice is sweet and tastes great on its own.
  • Choose 1 percent or skim milk.
  • Make water exciting by adding a slice of lemon, lime, cucumber or watermelon. Or try sparkling water.
  • Add a splash of 100 percent juice to water or sparkling water.
  • If you’re having soda or juice for a treat, choose the small size.