Posted on

How to Get Kids to Eat Their Veggies!

This idea is really going to blow your mind! I mean…it’s just so BIG and ingenious, I can’t wait to share it with you…

blow_mind

If there is one thing that I’ve learned in my 15 years as a parent and another 7 years as an educator…kids are opportunists! And we as parents can use that to our advantage!

My kids will generally eat veggies when they are cooked and put on their plates for dinner. It can take some doing, and some kids are more receptive than others, but we have some sorta veggie at most every dinner. And usually something GREEN at that! My mom was a firm believer that every dinner plate needed something green on it! Even if that meant double (or TRIPLE) veggies, because she had already cooked carrots and cauliflower! If she looked down at the plate and didn’t see something green…she’d whip up a salad and sleep better at night! 😉

I guess that stuck. Because I kinda feel the same way. My body needs GREEN veggies!

My kids don’t feel that way…yet! But we’re working on it. Every day.

Raw veggies are something that most of my kids tend shy away from, usually. I do have one child who will eat most any veggie: cooked, raw, red, green, etc. She’s my salad eater. If I make myself a salad, she wants one too. Of course she wants hers slathered in ranch dressing, but that’s an issue for another day.

So in my challenge group the other day, I challenged my participants to set out some healthy snacks, like fruits and veggies, and just make them available to their kids without even suggesting they eat it. I decided to catch my project on hidden camera, and my kids played RIGHT into it! When they saw this video later, they all laughed and applauded my sneakiness! Take a look:

The bottom line is that if we make healthy foods available, easy to access, kids WILL go for it! Maybe not every time, but I believe over time you’ll see them grabbing foods you thought they might never eat on their own. No need to force or persuade. Just put them on your counter and see what happens. A good time for this is after school. Kids come home starving and start looking for quick snacks to stuff in their face. If there’s food RIGHT there, that they don’t have to search for, or prepare…chances are good that they’ll take the easy opportunity!

TRY it! 🙂

Monthly Challenge Groups are forming now! Join me for a month of focus on your health, fitness and nutrition, in a FUN and supportive accountability group (all done on Facebook!)

Click HERE to join my next group!

Posted on

Busy Mom Nutrition Tip – Healthy Alternatives

I don’t think I’ve ever tried posting a Vlog! But I’m going for it today!

If you’re having trouble convincing your kids to get on-board with healthier eating…I get it! Been there. Done that! My kids did not react well when I told them I would no longer be buying hot dogs or chicken nuggets at the store. That’s not to say that they will never eat them again. I am all for special occasion allowances. However, I just don’t add these items to my grocery list anymore!

I’ve found ways to substitute healthier alternatives, for the foods that they love. And of course, it’s a work in progress! We are always looking for new foods to try! The wonderful thing is that the kids are so much more aware of the foods that they eat. They read labels just like I do! And that makes my heart go pitter-pat!

So here is my vlog! What do you think?

This is one of the examples from the video:yogurt_compare

Which yogurt would you pick? Carrageenan is an ingredient that you will find in some yogurts, soy milk, ice cream, etc. It’s added to make foods thicker, creamier and to create a ‘fuller’ feeling to low-fat foods. The problem is that carrageenan could be causing inflammation, gut irritation and even cancer. Beginning in the 1960s, researchers started linking the ingredient to gastrointestinal disease in lab animals, including ulcerative colitis, intestinal lesions, and colon cancer.

Make sure you scan your labels! If you see the “c” word…RUN!

 

My weekly meal plan is FULL of healthy recipes and family-friendly foods! I’ll send it to you every week for FREE! Sign up below!

Get my FREE Weekly Meal Plan

* indicates required




 

Posted on

While I Sit and Wait…

I’m sitting here watching my daughter at gymnastics and can’t help but wonder…

Are kids being pushed TOO hard to be more, do more and compete more? Just wondering. I’m going to pull the ‘old lady’ card again. MAN! I swore when I was a kid I would NEVER say…”when I was your age…” But here goes:

When I was a kid, we played sports with our friends, after school or in summer recreation leagues (note the word “recreation”). We played sports on the weekends ONLY when we decided to play a game of pick-up ‘whatever’ in someone’s driveway or backyard. RARELY did we have a school-organized weekend game or tournament. A “travel team” meant that our moms drove us to someone else’s house to play for the day.  In school, we were encouraged to play multiple sports, because when one sport season ended, it was over – until next year. We had practices for an hour or so after school and 1-2 games/week during the season. I feel like we just had more free time. We had time to call friends and neighbors over on weeknights and weekends, to play ‘kick the can’ and ‘ghosts in the graveyard’. Sure, we played sports, but we also just PLAYED!

So back to gymnastics for a minute. We’re trying a new gym that’s a little closer to our house, but I’m not so sure we’re going to stick around. This place is run sort of like a military style boot-camp, which I’m not so sure is what my 7-year-old daughter had in mind. You see, she has natural ability. She’s incredibly, disgustingly flexible, and she thinks it’s FUN to tumble around the backyard and down the hallway and everywhere! But this is the type of place that could quickly make a kid forget that they ever thought gymnastics was fun. And that is precisely what I DON’T want!

Obviously, physical exercise and health are very important to me and my family, but not at the expense of family time, and free time. I want them to be able to enjoy physical fitness, doing what they find fun, exploring their talents, etc…but I don’t plan on any of my kids getting ‘free rides’ to college on a sports scholarship OR becoming professional athletes. Certainly, if that IS what they wanted to pursue, I’d be their biggest fan! But, I don’t think a young kid has all of that in mind when they join a gymnastics class or a pee wee soccer team. I just want my kids to be active, get exercise and have fun. Whether that’s in a gym, a field or our backyard.

I hear a lot conversations that go on between parents in the waiting room, or on the bleachers. Parents are already discussing the fact that “Abby” will never make it on the high school cheer team unless she gets started – at the ripe old age of 3-  in this competitive gymnastics class. Or that “Bobby” won’t make the school team unless he plays the travel team over the summer. And even then…it’s NO guarantee! The competition has never been more fierce than it is now!

We didn’t have travel teams, or off-season conditioning. We didn’t have to limit ourselves to playing one sport either. Now, it seems a kid has to pick a sport and devote their entire life to being a STAR at it! They practice after school, sometimes before school, and on the weekends, all year round! Even Mother’s Day isn’t sacred anymore! If you’re a mom, with a kid in a sport…you’re going to a tournament on Mother’s Day…and you’re going to be there ALL day! And it’ll probably be freezing and rainy! Happy Mother’s Day! 🙂 When one season wraps up, they’re on to a travel team, and then it starts all over! Parents are buying RVs to follow these kids around the country! What about free time? What about time to just be a kid, hang out and play!

Having been involved in team sports my entire childhood, I DEFINITELY see the value in playing team sports. Kids DO learn a lot about teamwork, dedication, reliability, being a good sport, winning, losing, etc…And it’s fun to be part of a team! I just wonder if we’re not sucking some of the fun out of it with all of the pressure that kids feel to be better, do more and WIN!

I dunno…the jury is still out on this gymnastics class. But if she says, it’s not fun…we’re outta here! I know there’s a lot of people who disagree with me about all of this, but it’s just something I think about and talk about. What are your thoughts about it? I’d love to hear.