My journey to becoming a healthier family has a lot of proponents to it! It is a total lifestyle change. I will start by giving some ideas of things that we have changed food wise! It is a slow process, one that requires research and some dedication!
1. The first thing that I found to be the MOST helpful was Meal Planning and Food Prep. This has been our families key to eating good for the week!
I start by filling out my Meals for the week on my nifty little template and also list out all of our groceries! I have began to only shop the perimeters of the grocery store!! I was so proud of this list because the frozen food section was completely blank!! We are not perfect we still have pizza night (the delivery kind :) every Friday night but we are SO much better than we used to be!
Once I get the groceries I usually take a few minutes each night to pick out our meal and go ahead and thaw, marinate, cut, dice, etc... the ingredients. I usually do this after the kids go to bed. Not only does it help us not use the excuse of "we don't have anything ready to eat" but it frees up time with the kids!
2. We just recently really started experimenting with our middle child and what causes triggers in her behavior. It seems she has an extremely high sensitivity to dye, sugar and caffeine in the foods we were giving her. I had NO idea that the package of cinnamon rolls and Red, Yellow and Blue dye in them! I have become very intentional about trying to buy organic snacks, check ingredients and go back to the "basics" of cooking. No more processed waffles or pancakes. I use Bisquick mix and make them "homemade"
Example of our dinners now. Salmon, homemade broccoli casserole with NO cream of anything, Edamame and brown rice...
3. Probably my favorite habit I have made is my morning tradition. Every morning I start off with a HUGE glass of lemon water. Lemon water has SO many health benefits. I love the taste and everything about it!
After my lemon water I go straight to using my magic bullet for my "green smoothie" My recipe is usually 1/2 unsweetened almond milk 1/2-1 cup of Vanilla Greek Yogurt, 1-2 cups of fresh baby spinach and then any fruit you choose! I PROMISE you can not taste the spinach, even the kids LOVE them!! They taste delicious!
The last thing that I have done is been very intentional about my vitamins. Thru this process I had blood work done and found out that I was extremely deficient in both Vitamin D and Vitamin B two Vitamins that can cause a lot of unwanted side effects if your body doesn't have enough. I started taking the right dose of both vitamins and I also started researching different seeds and supplements. I am a huge fan of Chia Seeds. I add these to my smoothies, salads, etc... I can honestly say that this year I have been sick less than any other year in the past! I rarely get my sinus infections that had become a monthly problem, I don't get as many headaches and just all around I feel SO much better!
It does take time and it is more expensive in some ways but once you get the hang out of it and you realize all of the benefits and how much we save not going thru fast food places or out to eat all of the time it is well worth it! I am loving our lifestyle change and I love that my kids are starting to ask "is this healthy?" It is a great foundation for them to have a good relationship with food and fitness!
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