Intentionally Healthy

So I was debating writing a blog about this.  I am in  no way an expert, nor a licensed nutrionist:)  Although I do hope to be be certified in nutrition and fitness in the next couple of years.  But I felt the Lord's leading to write about this from my perspective as a mom and share the health journey we have begun as a family.

I grew up with a health concious Mom and I'm so grateful for that.  We ate mostly cheerios, homemade breakfasts, sugar free treats and definately no soda:)  So, I have remained somewhat true to that with my kiddos through the years.

Over the last couple of years I have become sort or a fitness obsessed person, some people might say:)  As a result of that I started doing some research online the last few months on nutrition as well.  And I have been seriously challenged by the Lord that it is my responsiblity as a parent to teach my kids to eat healthy and BE healthy.  After all our bodies are the Lord's temple and so it's one of our many repsonsiblities as parents.  We need to teach our kids to grow into healthy adults.

It is super hard these days with the bombardment of advertisers and all of the nasty foods out there.  It all looks so appealing especially to our kids:)  I challenge you to sit down and really look at the labels and research what is in what you're feeding your famillies.  I thought I was doing pretty good, and I was.  But still, some of it was pretty shocking to me as a mom. 

So, where do you start right??  It can be pretty overwhelming not to mention what about the cost?  Isn't it more expensive to do organic you say??  Sometimes and for some items yes.  I will just share my journey and my thought process.  I think that you have to look at your family, your budget and start there.  But isn't it worth living longer and beng healthier??  I think so.

So, where I started was with dairy and meats.  We do all organic dairy now and yes it is a little more expensive but to me it's worth it.  We do not eat red meat anymore.  With the exception of Ruth's Chris maybe once a year. I'm a sucker for a Ruth's Chris filet:)  We also will go out for a burger every once in a while, but we found a fabulous place here in Folsom called Burgerocity.  They use all grass fed organic beef and cheese.  Love that!! We do eat pork and chicken (not fish lovers), I make sure it says on the package that there are no hormones.  Pretty soon I plan on doing all organic on that as well.

We have always done whole grain bread, so my kids actually don't know any different on that.  But we switched last year to whole grain pasta as well.  We have also cut out most processed foods.  Emma loves mac and cheese.  So I do organic on that as well.

Tons of fruits and veggies.  I cannot say that enough.  I keep, cuties and strawberries, blueberries, carrots, spinach etc on hand always. You can throw all of that into a smoothie and I promise your kids will love it.
My kids have been limitied in their like for veggies, I'm not gonnna lie and so have I for that matter!!  But you know what?  If their hungry they'll eat it.  And if it's not here they can't eat it:)  So I've been introducing a whole bunch of new veggies lately.  And most of their meals are eaten at home, so I figure most of the time they're getting super healthy stuff. 

Other practical things to do:  Get rid of the breakfast items like Pop Tarts, and sugary cereals.  Make them some oatmeal, or a whole grain cereal.  Popcorn is a great snack but not if it's microwave popcorn (more of my research).  So I bought an air popper and would you believe the kids like it better than the micrwave kind?:)  You can get organic corn in the bulk section at Whole Foods even, SCORE!!:)  Cut out the soda.....omgoodness, it's so bad.  We haven't ever let the kids  have soda at home and only a special treat sometimes if we go out.  We do water, milk, and sugar free lemonade. Switch from regular yogurt to greek yogurt which has no fat, less calories and more protein.  You're probably starting to think my kids are super deprived!!  I don't want them to feel that way.  Practical things I do to make sure their sweet tooth gets satisfied: Organic 5 grams of sugar chocolate chip cookies, organic granola bars and Dole sugar free fruit bars.  They love them all:)

I was telling someone today.  I think that you have to look at your family and your needs, and take some small steps to change things.  Figure out where the most important place to start for you is.  Then take those small steps.  Lots of small steps equals big change in the long run. 

We have to be creative and get out of the "box" that the advertisers have put us in.  Think healthy whole foods without preservatives.  Think the less ingredients on the label the better.

Let's get as passionate about our families health as we are about other things in our lives that are a lot more trivial.

Our bodies are the Lord's temple.  Let's be intentional in treating them that way and leading our kiddos to do the same.