Grab every opportunity to instill good eating habits while your kids are young. Getting them to help cook in the kitchen is a great way to do this. So go ahead and put on your aprons, pick up your mixing bowls and whisk up a healthy future for your loved ones. Bon Appetite!
How many of you have been caught up in making “convenient” and “kid friendly” meals like me? With 4 young children, I have even made 2-3 different meals at a time to accommodate all their eating preferences. Crazy, right? I’m like my own little food court. Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, tacos, pasta, turkey bacon, cereal, mozzarella sticks and on and on. It’s like a processed food party where everyone gets sick. 😦
Can you imagine our parents doing that? Not on your life! It was “you eat what is served or go hungry”…or in my case, not leaving the table until I cleared my plate. Do you think that in pioneer or colonial times children would have tons of meal options? Can you imagine Laura telling her Ma she didn’t want the meal that she had worked hard to prepare all day long?! I don’t think so!
One of the problems parents face today is giving in too easy and settling for quick and convenient packaged meals or fast food for their kids. So what can we as adults do to get our kids to eat healthier?
First, change what is in your cabinets. Keep forbidden and processed foods out of sight, out of mind and out of your home!
Second, start by changing just one meal at a time for a while. For example; make paleo friendly pancakes for breakfast instead of regular ones, introduce veggie and fruit smoothies, then slowly incorporate healthy new options replacing gluten filled cereals, toasts, muffins, etc. Then move onto lunches.
Third, talk to your kids about healthy choices. Teach them to read their labels. If it has more than 5 ingredients, or you don’t know what the ingredients are, it’s a “no” in our house. If there is corn syrup, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, dextrose, etc. it is not allowed. Yup, that means no twinkies…No nutrition in any of those kinds of things.
Fourth, Be prepared! Always have real and healthy food choices accessible and ready at all times. Keep a bowl of grapes/fresh fruit in the fridge, nuts in the car and homemade snack packs (larabars, dehydrated fruit, beef jerky) always with you. Plan ahead and prepare your food in advance so you always have a meal to grab and go.
Fifth, let the kids help in the kitchen. Kids are much more willing to eat food that they helped to prepare. Plus it is a wonderful bonding opportunity 😉
Remember they are kids, not adults. They do not need as much food as an adult and we need to get out of the mindset that they must clean their plates. When they are full, it’s ok for them to be done.
Oh and final a brief note on fast food, don’t waste your money or affect your health by eating there. It will literally take you 5 minutes to run into a grocery store and hit the salad bar for a healthy option on the go when you are in a pinch. Where there is a will, there is a way and if you want the best for your kids, clean eating is the real meal deal!
Ok, now that I am completely acclimated into the Paleo lifestyle, I am finding it harder to shop at our local grocery store…and actually, if I continue to respond the way I do, you may soon see my “NOT WANTED” poster on the front doors. The more I reasearch and educate myself about the error of our eating ways, I just can’t help myself!! (well unless I shop with duct tape on my mouth and blinders on my eyes).
I need to back up just a bit…I used to go shopping and just try to get in and out without a care in the world. (Not caring what I put in my carriage or what the other 500 shoppers put in theirs.) But now that I have seen how food truly affects every aspect of a person’s health, I WANT to help save everyone. I find myself biting my lip on every shopping outing, I can feel my muscles stiffen watching people pile processed junk into their carts and i want to throw all their “healthy weight loss tv dinners” on the conveyor belt back in the freezer aisle. The other day, I almost went over to a man loading his trunk with cases of soda to give him my help, (not to put them in his car, but to offer him some life saving gallons of water instead). I am sure he would have told me just what he thought of my help…and I don’t think it would have been to thank me;) Another time I got into a big discussion with the cashiers and baggers regarding meat and their lack of “grass-fed products”. One proceeded to tell me they were laughing about people who buy grass-fed meat. Well, what I had to say to them didn’t leave them laughing or wanting to eat their (animal by-product, antibiotic treated, hormone loaded, grain filled, chemical laden) meat any time soon.
It’s not just at grocery stores either, it’s at schools, restaurants, gatherings…I just feel the need to pull out my “Paleo soap box” and save the world. I’m a teacher, it’s what we do, we educate people right? My main objective is not to judge or make anyone feel bad, but to help people on a personal journey to a healthier and longer life.
I have found that I do much better shopping at health food stores, farmers markets, whole food stores or ordering items online. It’s just good karma for me, it puts me in my happy place, I’m with my people…lol.
So I will leave you with one piece of advice, if nothing else…please try to avoid products with High Fructose Corn Syrup or Corn Syrup. Oh, and if you see a lady walking around your local grocery store with duct tape and blinders on or in disguise, it might just be me, the one banned from the grocery store.
As hard as it is to post these before pictures, it’s even harder to believe that this was what I looked like just a few months ago. Wow! I was truly shocked.
But let’s face it…paleo works. Not only do I physically look better, my health has improved 100%. I would love to help you on your path to a happier and healthier life. Slow and steady! Love your reflection and keep going in the right direction!!
What caused you to start on the path to a Paleo lifestyle?
So I have mentioned in my 1st blog, what my driving force was to go Paleo, but so many people ask me how I did it. The answer is simple, one step at a time. Here is how I went from GLUTEN GIRL to PALEO PRINCESS.
In Feb. 2013, I started out giving up one of my all time favorite beverages, diet coke. Then in April 2013, I decided to give up all sodas, all artificial flavored waters and all fast food. I was feeling better already and knew that my body was responding positively to the changes.
So what was next for this carb queen to do? Now I have to say that I was a pasta loving, bread indulging, cereal junkie and processed foods snacker…BIG TIME! NEVER did I think I could live one day without these things…but guess what, you can. Shocking I know, but once you change what you put into your body, it no longer craves those items.
At the end of May 2013, I knew it was time to say goodbye to gluten. So I started out trying a few gluten free pastas, breads, snacks and treats. Most supermarkets have a well stocked gluten free product line in the health food aisle. Plus gluten free menus are available at most restaurants if you just ask. Thanks to a co-worker, I decided to get rid of all white flour, white sugar and began making smoothies. (More on these another day) 😉
In June 2013, I began reading a lot about the “Paleo/caveman” lifestyle. The writing was on the wall and I knew I was going primal. I gave up dairy (including milk my second most favorite beverage-I consumed a gallon every couple days) and all processed foods (even the gluten free stuff). I switched to raw whole foods, organic fruits and veggies, grass fed meats, free range eggs and nuts. I was wild about my abundance of food options and what I could eat.
So here it is July of 2013 and I am LOVING my paleo life…learning new things everyday (so much of what we have been taught is a lie-more on this soon) and trying out new recipes. I can’t tell you enough how great I feel, how different I look and how easy it is to do ( and I have 4 young very active kids and work, if i can do it, you can too-no excuses!)
So what is on the horizon for me? Adding a workout regimine that is free, effective and in phases. It’s time to get physical, tone, train and condition.
Fitness finds favor with this female and I will forge ahead to whole body health…one step at a time!
We are so fortunate to live in a country where clean water is easily accessible to everyone by simply turning on a faucet or picking up a gallon or two at the local store. Unfortunately, the abundance of our water is often unappreciated, wasted and overlooked. Just like oxygen is to breathing, WATER is to living and clean water is a human right and necessity for EVERYONE.
Did you know that the human body is made up of about 75% water, the brain about 90% and our body only produces less than 9%? Our bodies need this vital life source for every aspect of our body to function properly. Yet far too many people are not drinking enough water. Instead, people are filling up on empty calorie and artificial beverages. Here is some primal advice…put down the processed libations. This means avoid chemical laden flavored sports drinks, pass on the poison filled sodas, stop the sugary syrup saturated juices and deny the dehydrating alcohol and coffee.
Save money and improve your health by drinking refreshing, purifying water. Or you can try making your own naturally flavored water. Some great things to add to your water are a variety of fruits (melons, citrus-lemon, lime, orange), berries (raspberry, strawberries, blackberries), herbs (mint, basil, rosemary) and cucumbers. This website has some great flavored water combos you can try. Bottoms up! http://www.52kitchenadventures.com
By switching to water and cutting out the afore-mentioned beverages, you will physically feel better plus your hair, skin and body will be healthy, hydrated and refreshed. So drink a glass of water before you go to bed and one right when you get up in the morning, then sip-a-dee-do-da-wat-er all day long.
Please check out these sites for ways in which you can help others enjoy clean water and eliminate plastic bottle waste and pollution. http://www.charitywater.org and http://www.banthebottle.net
CHEERS!
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. ~Unknown
Preparation and planning is key to success.
Jen Sturm, Eat Play Live
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