Sometimes — a lot of the time — it’s the small steps that get us headed in the right direction.

That’s the thinking behind the Small Steps Web site  run by the government (the White House and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services).

Small Steps is a small but effective, non-overwhelming Web site that appreciates that people have various challenges to living a healthy life, not the least of which is making a second career out of trying to live a healthy life. It offers quick tips and suggestions for being more physically active and eating better. The site is divided into two components:

Small Step Kids Goal: eat healthy but fun, move for at least 60 minutes a day. To that end, it offers fun, healthy, quick recipies — a strawberry yogurt shake that requires unsweetened pineapple juice, low-fat yogurt, unsweetened frozen strawberries, a touch of granulated sugar and a power tool, a blender! — and fun ways to move, such as “Daffy Duck” (which is actually freeze tag gussied up with a Loony Tunes character). There’s also a section for teachers to make the classroom healthier.

Small Step Adults and Teens This is where the time constraints of modern living are taken into consideration. There’s a tip of the day (Today’s: Use vegetable oils over solid fats), which suggest small steps that go a long way toward fixing bad habits and suggestions for small ways you can be more active, such as:

• Take the dog for a walk rather than just letting her out in the backyard.
• Take the stairs, not the elevator.
• Play with the kids, rather than sitting on a bench and watching them.

Small Steps: A simple Web site with simple suggestions that can make a difference.